In light of the devastation wrought by Hurricane Helene on many of our neighbors — restaurants included — a standard Friday Food Fight didn’t seem appropriate this week. So we’re publishing a rerun — about stone crab.

The post first ran in late October 2022 and was guest-authored by Tom duPont, founder and publisher of Registry Tampa Bay, and a stone crab enthusiast. The timing is right, too. Stone Crab season begins on October 15.

But there’s a more sobering reason that we chose to run Tom’s two-year-old stone crab FFF. One of the contestants was Frenchy’s.

The beloved Frenchy’s family of restaurants probably won’t be serving as much stone crab this year because many of its locations and brands were ravaged by the storm. Eleven locations — all within a mile on Clearwater Beach — “had significant flooding due to storm surge,” says a post on the Frenchy’s Facebook page. They will be closed until further notice.

All of the company’s Clear Sky locations, which are not on the beach, remain open, as does Frenchy’s Stone Crab and Seafood Market in Dunedin.

Many Frenchy’s employees now “find themselves without home and/or jobs,” the post says. The company has set up a Hurricane Helene Relief program to help them out. It asks for donations of money and many tangible necessities, which will be “organized and distributed directly to our staff who have been affected by Helene.”

Click here to donate and to see a list of essentials needed. If you’d like to contribute, please send or drop off money or items to: Frenchy’s/Clear Sky Hurricane Relief, 436 E Shore Dr, Clearwater Beach, Fl 33767.

Meanwhile, this rerun’s other contestant, Rumba Island Bar & Grill, escaped any appreciable damage. Both the Clearwater and St. Pete locations are open. Baystar Restaurant Group, which owns Rumba Island Grill, saw its flagship brand, Salt Rock Grill, “suffer little damage,” according to a Sept. 30 Facebook post, which went on to say that “we are currently waiting for power to be restored and cleaning and repairing damage to our on-site fresh seafood facility, Direct Seafoods. Hopefully, we will be up and running very soon.”

Yes, that was a long intro, but a necessary one. Now let’s revisit our stone crab Food Fight from ’22. In a break with FFF tradition, we are leaving out the choosing of a winner. It doesn’t seem appropriate. Hopefully, the column will bring to mind happier times and whet your appetite for the upcoming stone crab season.

FRENCHY’S SALTWATER CAFE

Although best known for its sumptuous grouper sandwich, all six Frenchy’s serve stone crabs — hot or cold; medium, large and jumbo. We chose to eat at Frenchy’s Saltwater Cafe on Clearwater Beach.

It’s an open-air, modified fish shack with a jovial environment, happy staff and a wonderful menu.

To start the evening, my assistant and I ordered the smoked fish spread. It came beautifully presented with a dozen wrapped packages of Lance’s crackers. (We also got a little cup to hold the discarded wrappers.)  An amazing chopped Greek salad followed, topped by Frenchy’s own special dressing.

It included beets, olives, onions, lettuce, a few banana peppers, and more. And of course, there was the obligatory scoop of deliciously creamy potato salad and a generous sprinkling of Feta cheese.

A fabulous start to our meal.

We ordered the Large stone crabs — cold and hot. They were properly pre-cracked, making it easy to extract the meat. Both were delicious and came with the standard mustard sauce or melted butter with lemon. The hot crabs had a bit more flavor.

The presentation was elementary, as you’d expect in an outdoor fish shack turned specialty seafood emporium. There was the customary basket for disposing of the shells, a mini-fork, and a set of plastic claw crackers for that final effort to consume every morsel. Two glasses of Chardonnay made the evening most enjoyable.

Our server was more than attentive and made sure we had everything we needed from start to finish.

RUMBA ISLAND BAR & GRILL

Located on corner of Gulf to Bay and Keene in Clearwater, this location is a slice of paradise surrounded by lush tropical landscaping. Authentic Island cuisine dominates the menu.

The seafood sanctuary is part of Frank Chivas’s Baystar Restaurant Group (which has 10 concepts, including Salt Rock Grill, Island Way Grill and Marina Cantina). Each of Baystar’s seafood restaurants has its own special aura. All of them have an exceptionally well-trained and friendly staff. And Baystar also has its own fleet of fishing boats (as does Frenchy’s, by the way.)

My assistant and I dropped by for lunch. The pleasant outdoor surroundings were wonderful on a sunny weekday. The place was full, a tribute to the restaurant’s quality.

We began our meal with the obligatory fish spread, which was quite different from the Frenchy’s version. This one contained small bits of bacon and was paired with saltines.

Next up: the main event. We ordered both hot and cold claws, of course. They came with the mustard sauce and melted butter with lemon. And we had a surprise side of delicious corn muffins with a bit of spice. The presentation was very attractive. 

Both the hot and cold claws were delicious — although the cold ones were very cold, which minimized their taste.

We easily and quickly consumed the fish spread, the corn muffins, and both versions of the claws. It all made for a wonderful lunch. When we were done there was nothing but empty shells.

If you’ve read this far, we appreciate it. And please consider contributing to the Frenchy’s Relief fund.