Deschutes Brewery's 8th Annual Crabfest

The 8th Annual Deschutes Brewery Crabfest sold out so fast this year that they opened up a second day. I was smart and got my reservation in nice and early so we were locked into the traditional Saturday event. When we heard that the second day was on Friday, I was a little worried that we'd get left over crab.

Turns out they threw all of the left over crab from Friday night out. Deschutes has this new policy that employees are not allowed to take food home which is probably an attempt to keep them from making extra just so they could take some home. But throwing it out? That just seems so wasteful.

Doesn't matter to me as long as I get mine. I'm selfish that way. So we had fresh crab for Saturday night but I did learn that on Friday night they went through 2.5 cases of Champagne and so we didn't have any for Saturday night. LAME.

Well I showed up and of the 4 beers on tap, only one seemed to fit for mass consumption of beer and crab - the Pub Pale (the original Mirror Pond). I got one and claimed my seat. Then sampled an appetizer.

Passed appetizer:
Dungeness Crab Stuffed cucumber
Dungeness crab stuffed jalapeno poppers wrapped with bacon




I'm not big on jalapeno poppers of any sort and chickened out on trying these. But I did go for the stuffed cucumber. Crab on a cucumber, fine. I tried one and then gave up cause I'm not here for cucumber.

Next up was the seated appetizer:

Free form Pasta Salad with Dungeness Crab, Cherry Tomatoes, Avocados, and Pistachios tossed in a buttermilk herb dressing


The two bites of pasta that I had were very good. I'd love to eat an entire plate as an entree but tonight, I don't want any of this. Well, I do want the crab. I took my fork and scraped the crab off the pasta, ate it with a bite of avocado and pistachio and then pushed the plate away. I feel sooo wasteful but then I get another beer and forget about it.

Up next was the soup course and it was beautiful. A bright red bowl of crab bisque with a dab of crab meat floating in the middle topped with creme fraiche and herb oil. I scooped out the crab with some bisque and grubbed it up. Had this been any other night, I'd have gladly had the entire bowl. But after feeling that I tasted enough, I pushed it aside. I was feeling pretty good so I forgot to take a photo. Sorry.

After the soup came the main event!
All you can eat Crab with Andouille sausage and corn on the cob. No one likes you CORN!!!


I destroyed either 23 or 24 crab legs. I lost count and stopped caring after a while. I have this great system for breaking down a crab and stuffing my face. I'll grab a leg and rip it up through the body to get a section of body meat at the end of it. I'll scoop the body meat out easily and break off the tip of the leg. The rip off the rest of the leg.

Crack it a couple times and presto, the entire leg is out. That little part of the leg is useless since there is SOOO MUCH CRAB! So I just chuck it into the shells bowl. Again, wasteful but now I'm tossed and I don't give a shit.

I'd run through an entire half of a crab this way until I had a pile of meat. Then I'd grab the coffee pot full of clarified butter and pour it over the top. Add a squeeze of lemon, then dive in. I did this about 4 and 1/2 times. It was awesome!

I ate one prawn but it was pretty overcooked. I stayed away from the corn, mainly for my twitter friends that dont want to hear my bathroom humor.

And finally we had a Fresh Vanilla Bean Cream Pie topped with fresh roasted strawberries and white chocolate drizzle.


Two bites and I couldn't eat anymore...but I put down a few more pints fo sho!