Question of the Day - 08 May 2008

Ahhhhh. Hot king crab!

Excuse us while we wax a bit rhapsodic.

Hot king crab is a merry old meal And a merry old meal it be; It's better than tripe, it's better than veal And it's better than fricassee. Every buffet should have its share Of king -- and hot at that; Oh there's none so rare as can compare With crab from a steaming vat.

Among Anthony Curtis' most memorable and favorite meal deals are several king crab specials. In the early '90s, Palace Station served a 16-ounce king crab dinner, with salad, potato, and vegetable, for $9.95; and the old Gold Strike in Henderson had a legendary but short-lived all-you-could-eat king crab buffet on Fridays for $8.95 (A.C. did some serious damage at that one). In 1998, the El Cortez offered a $9.95 king crab dinner and Ellis Island served an all-you-could-eat king crab buffet on Wednesday nights for $19.95.

As for Deke Castleman, in 1977 he hitchhiked from Boston to Alaska (by way of Florida), found gainful seasonal employment, worked in Anchorage and Fairbanks, and at Mt. McKinley National Park for the next 11 summers, and even wrote a guidebook to Alaska and the Yukon -- all in search of the perfect leg. (He found it on Kodiak.)

Does that establish our king crab credentials?

If it does, our vote for your hot crab leg fix is at Planet Hollywood's Spice Market Buffet. A long-time Las Vegas Advisor Top Tenner, this is the place for big juicy warm cracked legs of king. There's always a line at the seafood serving station at the far left (as you come into the room), but never one at the second serving island at the other end of the room.

Of course, for $26, you can eat crab till ... well, we won't go into non-table-talk detail. But you'll also find other good-looking seafood and fish dishes here (mussels, rock shrimp, crab-stuffed sole, halibut, catfish, salmon, seafood Newberg, and decent sushi). In addition, this spread's usual strong selection of veggies (asparagus, broccoli, mushrooms, polenta, yams, and salad mixes) keeps the Spice Market at the top for meat-averse buffet fans. The Middle Eastern selection with skewered lamb is still strong, as are the desserts.

Still, it's only the hot king crab that could ever inspire us to the heights (or depths, depending on taste) of versecraft, with our sincerest apologies to an 18th century Celtic nursery rhyme.

While looking on their Web site for something entirely different, we just noticed that Dick's Las Resort (Excalibur) offers a "Case O' King Crab Legs" (bucket of steamed king crab legs with garlic butter) for $25.99. We haven't tried them so can't recommend, and we know the joint's pretty rowdy (probably less so at lunchtime, however), but we just thought we'd throw it out there... 05/09/2008 Lots of feedback on this one:

• "I think you left out what I consider the best King Crab buffet of all time for the price. It was the Frontier on Friday nights and I think it was $5.99. Huge mounds of hot and cold king crab. This was a while ago, but still a great deal."
• "I have found that if a buffet has COLD crab legs (king or other), you can fill a plate and ask your server to have them steamed. I have never been refused and enjoy hot crabs legs at buffets often."
• "Your reader should know that he or she can still get crab legs at the GVR buffet, for a modest charge, I believe $3 for a half-pound or $5 for a full pound. The price of the buffet has been lowered, though I'm not sure by how much, so the additional charge for the crab legs doesn't even net out to $3 or $5. In addition, GVR offers a seafood buffet all day Sunday, which has lots of other great items in addition to the crab legs. This buffet also includes complimentary beer and wine. GVR is one of the best buffets I've had in Vegas and is well worth the price, even if you have to pay extra for the crab legs."
• "I called the Wynn and talked to the chef in charge of their buffet a couple of months ago and they will grill your crab legs if you ask them!"