Live King Crab at New Sagaya's

New Sagaya's, a specialty food market with two locations, has live golden king crab for $8.99/pound this week. I prefer red king crab to golden, but the goldens are a bit smaller and easier to transport.


Supposedly the ones with barnacles on them taste better. It may have something to do with molting cycles or it could just be superstition.


Our crab weighed about 5 pounds and we ended up with about 3 pounds of meat.


Although it is cheaper to buy frozen king crab, fresh is much better. When the crab is fresh, stuff like butter or lemon detract from its flavor.

Marx Brothers' Cafe

Located in an old house on Third Ave, this is, in my opinion, the best restaurant in Alaska. Everything is inventive and correctly prepared. They use excellent ingredients. The menu changes daily. Pretty much everything is prepared in house from scratch (you'd be surprised how much frozen/packaged stuff is used in even the better restaurants around town). The wine and beer list is good, too.


Marx Bros. blows places like Orso and Simon and Seafort's out of the water.

We had:

caesar salad, prepared tableside
wild boar baby back ribs
rabbit rangoons
celeriac soup with tea smoked duck and marscapone
pan roasted breast of pheasant
seared Kodiak scallops and grilled prawns

and for dessert:

blueberry sorbet
creme brulee (best I've had in memory)
chocolate mousse (unbelievably good)