December 31, 2017

Try Argentinian Shrimp in Newton & Quincy Center at Shaking Crab

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Newton & Quincy Center’s Shaking Crab.

Please tell us about how you got started in the restaurant business.
Shaking Crab is the product of opportunity and action by putting one foot in front of the other. Founded by two partners with a finance and programming background, Shaking Crab was not a start-up that was planned and dreamed of, but arose from a mutual love for food and a desire to contribute to the city of Boston beyond the office day jobs that we both still work at.

Growing up in San Jose, California, I was no stranger to the concept of a traditional crab or crawfish boil as a summer stable in the community. Summer barbecues consisted of a pot of boiling crawfish or grilled shrimp and lobster to accompany the burgers and hot dogs. Special occasions were celebrated with group dining experiences at Cajun shellfish restaurants inspired by the traditional crawfish boils of New Orleans and these occasions were more than food, they were a whole experience. Crawfish season began in late February and lasted until the end of May, marking the arrival of summer by outdoor gatherings where huge vats of crawfish, corn and potatoes were dumped onto newspaper-covered tables to be peeled and eaten until gluttony took it’s toll. We were inspired by the communal aspect of this tradition and sought to bring it to the shellfish capital of Boston.

Stories of Boston told by my friends and stereotypes suggested that I should expect aggressive and angry drivers, awesome sports teams with an amazingly loyal fan base, a lot of colleges, the accent, and of course, the best lobster and shellfish scene in the world. But I wanted to see for myself, so after finishing college and moving to Boston for my first full time job, I sought to explore the city with an open mind with as little preconception as possible.

Being the fatass that I claim to be with some disposable income now, I went on a lobster eating binge during the first couple weeks in Boston, scouring the North End, Cambridge and Seaport areas for anything lobster, oyster and other seafood (I also found out about my mild allergy to shellfish, ironically). Stereotype confirmed – Maine lobster is amazing beyond comprehension compared to what I was used to in California and I came to recognize Boston as the premier shellfish capital of the US.

With that said, one can only eat so many lobster bakes, lobster with drawn butter and Chinese styled wok fried lobster before it gets old. I quickly found myself reminiscing childhood and craving for the occasional, but familiar buttery, garlicky, Cajun-flavored bags of shellfish from home in California. Monthly yelp searches yielded no results and the craving to mix the best shellfish in the world with bold Cajun flavors.

At the time, I was still freshly out of college and focusing on my career in finance. A year later I became bored with the company and its future prospects and decided to go for a change and landing a job at a different financial company, thinking that it would solve my boredom. Spoiler alert: it didn’t, but I did meet a talented programmer with an unfathomable work ethic who would later become my partner in Shaking Crab. Despite our obvious differences, we shared a love for adventurous food, especially spicy food and quickly became lunch buddies where we realized that we both carried an entrepreneurial spirit and laying the foundation of sharing dreams and working together to create something and just needed the idea.

The idea came when he returned from a vacation in Hawaii and Shaking Crab was born.

Being the bigger fatass, he asked me on his first day back from vacation where we could find this amazing food that he had eaten in Hawaii for lunch and it didn’t take a lot of descriptions for me to realize that he was referring to a crawfish boil. We lamented about the lack of options for Cajun shellfish in Boston and settled for another spicy food restaurant and by the end of our lunch we were joking about opening up our own location.

Fortunately, my partner likes to dabble in the real estate market in his spare time and decided to check out some commercial properties. Although the concept was still spoken of lightly in a joking manner, we did start testing recipes for the sauce as an excuse to eat seafood in a way we couldn’t. We looked at a couple commercial properties during this time, but didn’t see anything worth taking the risk until we found Francesca’s in Newton. It was small, thus affordable and manageable, came with a liquor license, and my partner even lives nearby! By then, our “tests” were tasting better and better and when we had the chance to test the recipe on some friends visiting from California, we had their approval and wrote the first check to turn the Shaking Crab idea into reality.

Has it been a smooth road to get to where you are today?
a. Translating and spreading the vision to the team. From the beginning, the vision that we had for the restaurant – Great food packed with flavor, AMAZING service, establishing a casual energetic communal atmosphere and treating our guests like one of our own set the path for every decision that would be made. We knew what we had to do and how we were going to do it. The difficult part was translating the vision to the rest of the staff, which took a lot of time and energy. My partner and I still have our day job right now, so in order to translate our vision to the staff, we dedicated every waking moment outside of our day jobs at, or for the restaurant in the first two to three months after opening. Sleep was scarce while we learned the is and outs of every part of the restaurant business, but the effort was rewarding. We were extremely fortunate that our team believed in the restaurant as a concept, and us as the leaders.

Tell us about what makes Shaking Crab special or unique?
The flavors are unique in the Boston area and the seafood is served in a bag instead of a plate to keep the shellfish warm while you crack away at them. With the variety of shellfish and sauces that we have to offer, you can try something new each time you visit and the restaurant has an ambiance and energy that you won’t find anywhere else.

We are a full contact hands on experience. Guests are encouraged to make a mess and despite intuition, first dates turn out REALLY well here – What better way to break the ice than to get down and dirty with food?

Speaking of messy, after everyone takes pictures of their food, the phones gone! Your hands are too messy to use your phone and this adds to the communal vibe of the restaurant.

We also have an awesome cocktail called the Fisherman’s Punch Bowl that features Swedish Fish candies to be shared by 3-4 people.

Most Popular Items

Argentinian Shrimp

a. The Argentinian shrimp is the best bang for your buck. Going back to our roots of broke students enjoying shrimp because he can’t afford anything else at a crab shack, we opted to price our shrimp low while keeping quality high to get plump shrimp that are easy to shell and yield lots of meat.
Dietary: Gluten-free
Dungeness Crab

My personal favorite is the Dungeness Crab. We serve it as a whole crab and it usually weighs in at 2 – 2.5lbs. You get everything here – claw meat, leg meat, body clump meat and even the head juices if you’re into that. Each section of the crab has a different texture and taste for an awesome variety of crab in just one entree.
Dietary: Gluten-free

Crawfish

When in season, these little guys are especially plump and soft. The flavor is amazing and after cracking through a couple of them you’ll be a pro at peeling and eating crawfish.
Dietary: Gluten-free

Whole Lobster

What’s not to love about Maine lobsters? When in Boston, eat Lobster! We get these live and the meat is sweet and plump, mixing well with any of our sauces.
Dietary: gluten_free

Garlic Noodles

The perfect side of stretchy egg noodles sautéed with garlic, butter and a hint of soy sauce. Dip it in your seafood sauces and forget all the other noodles you’ve had.
Dietary: vegetarian kosher

King Crab Legs

Not as much variety as the Dungeness Crab since you only eat the legs, but the meat is sweet and tender and boasts the highest meat-to-shell ratio of the crabs.
Dietary: gluten_freeParking Advice:
The Newton location only offers free street parking, but usually isn’t too difficult to find

The Quincy location offers metered street parking and also a huge and affordable outdoor parking lot. For the parking lot, the attendants leave around 9PM and the gates just… open.

Happy Hour:

Average Entre Cost:$20, though our entrée prices have a large range from $10 – $50 depending on the shellfish you choose

Address: Shaking Crab Newton
203 Adams St
Newton, MA 02458

Shaking Crab Quincy
18 Cottage Ave.
Quincy, MA 02169
617- 481- 0054

Phone:617-795-1630

Website: www.shakingcrabnewtonma.com

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