Nothing says a Friday night quite like getting waitstaff to help you with a plastic bib as you begin to break open crab legs, decadently dip them in drawn butter and watch as dancers hit the top of the bar and sway to "All About the Bass."
This may sound like the kind of night that only South Beach could provide, but it is a weekly reality in somewhat-sleepy Sunny Isles where Fridays are all about the crab at Kitchen 305.
Other nights -- like Wednesday -- are focused on the tail as the restaurant celebrates lobster night. But we joined them for all-you-can-eat stone crab.
There is a DJ playing music and the table of gentlemen next to us was unable to tell us how many plates of crab they had worked through. However, it was clear they left in a haze, fully satisfied and without feeling pinched in their wallets.
You have the choice of king crab for $49.95 or stone crab for $59. Or you can ask for both at the latter price. We chose that option so we could try each one before deciding on additional plates of one or the other.
The meal begins with either soup or salad. Due to the weather, we chose the Manhattan clam chowder which was slurped in a hurry in anticipation of the claws. Delicious.
The king crab from Alaska had sweet tender meat but was a bit harder to break open. The stone crabs, as usual, already had some break in the shell for quicker access to the meat. Our table was split, so we were glad to begin with the two kinds. Both were fresh and full of sweet flavor that was only enhanced by a dip in the butter or mustard sauce. There may have been coleslaw and tomatoes on the plate but it was easily overlooked.
In the later hours, after 10 p.m., the music got a bit louder and two ladies in costumes hopped on the bar and danced.
It was a perfect Friday night dinner with shellfish and a show. If you can make it through three or more plates of crab, you deserve dessert. The banana bread pudding is a recommended happy ending to the feast.
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