Angry Crab offers hands-on fresh seafood

CHICAGO (WLS) -- There's nothing quite like enjoying seafood on the coast plucked straight from the water and eaten with your bare hands.

A new restaurant on the city's Northwest Side not only has fresh seafood on the menu, but it's served in very Spartan surroundings - that means no silverware and plenty of napkins.

The plan to serve shellfish coated in spices and garlic and butter isn't new. But the family behind The Angry Crab in the Arcadia Terrace neighborhood on the far Northwest Side got the idea based on a brother's frequent trips out West.

"Every time he would fly back to visit us, we'd go eat at similar concepts in California. And he'd come back and he'd crave it," said co-owner Mark Nguyen.

So the siblings and their spouses opened this casual crab shack, selling most of the crustaceans by the pound. You could start with pristine oysters from British Columbia or just dive right into the hot stuff. Shrimp is done either headless or head-on, and the crab - both Alaskan king legs or whole Dungeness - are first boiled. Then you decide on the spice level (combined with melted butter), or alternatively, go with a fantastic garlic-butter sauce.

"I don't even know the recipe but my brother tells me there's somewhere around 29 ingredients that go into just the house boil itself," Nguyen said.

He rips off a giant sheet of butcher paper, and there's the tablecloth, which doubles as your plate. That's right, just open the bag and dig in, caveman-style.

"The idea is to eat family-style here, but a lot of people like to enjoy different seasonings and spice levels so they order separate as well," Nguyen said.

And when you're done, head over to the hands-free cleaning station where you can soap and rinse off the garlic, spices and shells that will ultimately linger awhile after you've left.

"No complaints so far," Nguyen said.

As you can see, you do have to kind of work to get to your dinner, but the payoff, once you get through these shells, is just remarkable - and delicious.

The Angry Crab

5665 N. Lincoln Ave.

(773) 784-6848