At Cravin’ Crabs, “we catch our own” isn’t a slogan. It’s how Paul Koluch, who owns Cravin’ Crabs with his son Barry, has spent more than 50 years. The crabs he catches start the day in his pots on the water and end it on a tray at your table. That’s what we mean by boat to throat.
More than 50 years on the water
Paul has been crabbing for over 50 years. He works out of Fort Howard, Maryland, where the Patapsco River meets the Chesapeake Bay. His boat, his pots and his slough tanks (the shedding tanks where peeler crabs turn into soft crabs) are all kept right in his back yard.
Before he and Barry opened Cravin’ Crabs on Annapolis Road in 2010, Paul supplied some of Baltimore’s best-known crab houses. Now his crabs come to his own counter.
How we catch them: pots on underwater lines
We only crab with pots. Paul runs them on underwater lines, so a whole string of pots sits on the bottom and comes up one after another. Each pot comes over the side, gets emptied into the culling box, is filled with fresh bait and goes right back down.
Sorted and measured on the boat
Every crab gets sorted right there on the boat. The crew checks size with a crab gauge, and anything undersized goes straight back into the water to grow. Only the keepers come home.
The crew
The faces in these photos are the people who actually do the work: Paul, Autumn and Austin. Long mornings, wet gloves, and a lot of pots.
From the boat to your tray
Once the crabs are in, they come to the crab house at 4609 Annapolis Rd in Baltimore, where we steam them to order. You pick them up hot, and the only thing between the bay and your table is us.
Call ahead and skip the wait: 410-636-2722. See today’s sizes and prices on our menu, read more about soft crabs, or plan a party with our crab feasts.
Hungry now? Call ahead and your order will be ready when you get here.