cook: open face crab melt

Whenever I go to the Sardine Can in my hometown of Vallejo, I order the crab melt: crab salad, avocado, and Swiss cheese slightly toasted and barely melted between sourdough bread. My other favorite restaurant in Vallejo, the Joy of Eating also makes a crab melt but it’s sandwiched between slices of their homemade buttery Pullman loaf. A crab melt is one of my favorite grilled sandwiches. And I order a crab sandwich whenever I see it on the menu. A week ago I met up with two of my favorite colleagues, Barbara and Sue who retired a year ago from the high school I still teach at. I asked if we could meet up at the Beach Chalet at Ocean Beach and Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. The weather was glorious. While most of the Bay Area was baking in a heat wave, it was a balmy 66 degrees on the coast.

And I love the Beach Chalet for the WPA murals and architectural features.  

It was great to see Sue and Barbara too.                                    

And glimpse the lovely view where we sat. Barbara said she was going to order the crab sandwich, and Sue and I both said oh that’s what I  want too. And I didn’t take a pic of it, but I liked my crab sandwich. A lot. The crab melt didn’t have avocado, but it was gourmet. Lemon aioli. Lots of crab. Open faced atop toasted sourdough bread with Gouda and cheddar melted to a bubbling golden brown. Sue and I ate crispy French fries while Barbara had ordered a side salad instead. However, there was a tiny bit of that green salad with some lovely fennel and perfectly dressed in a vinaigrette (champagne or white wine or sherry vinegar?). I aimed to make that same salad at home.            

Okay here’s how I made our Friday night supper. I made a lemon aioli with lemon zest, lemon juice, grainy and regular yellow mustard (couldn’t find the jar of Dijon), spring garlic, scallions, and Kewpie mayo and in which I folded in lots of lump crab meat. I buttered both sides of sourdough bread and broiled it in the oven. Once toasted, I topped the bread with a generous amount of the crab salad and then a slice of provolone and some grated Gruyère, which I then popped back under the broiler until hot and bubbly. I also dressed green and red leaf lettuce and thinly sliced fennel and cherry tomatoes in a lemony balsamic vinaigrette. Omg. This is gonna be my meal again today after sewing and before ceramics today.