The trendy ingredient on high-end menus these days is crab, especially the rarities imported from Japan. King crab is now going wholesale for $70 to $85 per pound, which would put retail consumers at a price north of $1,200 for a 10-pound Norwegian red king crab. There’s no real way for the crabs to get cheaper, for that matter; you can’t farm a king crab, and the ocean conditions they find hospitable are not getting more common. Some particularly elite restaurants are securing true rarities: Taiza gani, a snow crab found off the coast of Kyoto. The species is known as the “phantom crab,” and only five boats are permitted to fish for it. The crab is flown into New York for two nights only at a restaurant in Tribeca, where the tasting menu went for $1,295.
Matthew Kronsberg, Bloomberg
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