the crab journey

edited front cover of "The Best Waterfront Dining" by TasteTV

2009-09-25T15:14:00.000-07:00

I edited the front cover of "The Best Waterfront Dining" by TasteTV.

a fun pic of Lobster Landing Vs. Crab Landing

cobras on highway 1 (CH1 2009)

2009-09-25T11:23:00.000-07:00

western state cobra club group meet

2nd annual cobras on highway 1 2009.

· shelby cobras

· shelby daytona coupes

· ford GT 40s

hosted by Crab Landing.

fun friday afternoon with beautiful weather on the coastside.

Cobra Club Meet Arrival from andrei soen on Vimeo.

Shelby Cobra Annual Group Meet 2009 from andrei soen on Vimeo.

sushi shots

2009-09-24T20:45:00.000-07:00

been working with arthur on a new sushi menu.. two new dishes he created today..

i bought a photo studio kit and i am learning and working on food photography..

hopefully i can get better at it..

dungeness crab salad, fresh mango rolled in cucumber and drizzling with a sweet mango sauce..

hamachi, salmon, spicy tuna rolled in english cucumber.. yummy!

cbs5 eye on the bay

2009-09-24T12:43:00.000-07:00

cbs eye on the bay "pillar pt. harbor" episode

Thanks for everything Liam Mayclem and crew!

The man himself: liam mayclem

jen the producer

filming the food.

getting ready..

some local fans of liam..

certified sommelier?

the crew!

one food shot for today! the kikkoman soy sauce experience! 300 years? thats crazy!

getting ready for the indian summer

2009-09-19T17:53:00.000-07:00

some pics i have taken over the last couple weeks.

in the kitchen, malou's review, banquet setups, food of course.

the arnold

2009-09-05T15:51:00.000-07:00

one of my fav drinks.. arnold palmer

july 2009

2009-08-08T11:25:00.000-07:00

· singapore · academy of science · food & beer ·

water front dining guidebook

2009-07-30T17:19:00.001-07:00

Crab Landing was selected to be in TasteTV's Best Waterfront Dining guidebook! YAY!

last week of june

2009-07-06T17:40:00.000-07:00

the tipsy pig entrance..

pretty much ordered the whole menu except for dishes with seafood/vegetables

it was packed!

tipsy pig logo

jalapeno poppers stuffed with crabmeat, bacon, bay shrimp

ritz carlton half moon bay

summer + beach access = super fun time!

princeton harbor

venison burger, sauteed mushrooms, swiss

summer is here...

2009-06-29T18:09:00.000-07:00

another beautiful day in the city. went to hog island oysters for lunch with alan & ben.

fruit tart breakfast from new leaf market.

back to the ferry building again...

our oyster shucker infront of the bar..

24 oyster bar mix.

hog island sweet water (pacific)

hog island kumamoto (kumamoto)

hog island atlantics (atlantic)

chelsea gems (pacific)

kusshi (pacific)

clam chowdaaaa,,. cooked with hog island manila clams which are alot smaller than the manila clams i've seen.

another good day in the city & hmb. perfect weather.

this is why im fat

2009-06-26T12:17:00.000-07:00

another day in the city

2009-06-24T20:57:00.000-07:00

only had my iphone today so i took some pics with it. not too shabby with the new 3.0 megapixel cam..

checked out taylors at the ferry building again. nathan's hot dog, wisconsin sourdough, onion rings, sweet potato fries

another trip to baccalone salumeria again for some proscuitto and lardo. next on my list is their prosciutto cubes and pork butter.

stop by cowgirl creamery. picked up some gruyere, emmi from the swiss alps of switzerland.

the cheese is smooth and rich with a slight hint of apples and pears

met everyone at a pinot tasting on folsom at a place called azie restaurant..

stopped by anchor & hope. have yet to try the food yet but i cant wait.

salt house

town hall. had some snacks there.

the town hall burger is pretty legit. taste just like the absinthe burger i had a couple weeks back. they use the same bun from acme bread.

had this butterscotch pot de creme. it was soooo good..

ferry building day

2009-06-22T18:33:00.000-07:00

one of my fav places to go to in the city. #1 farmers market in the nation that happens every tues, thurs, sat.

I always go to acme bread to pick up some brioche bread.

Boccalone Salumeria is an awesome place for artisanal salumi retail store. Love their prosciutto and lardo.

Cowgirl's Creamery Mt tam triple cream brie and pretty much all their cheeses.

Hog island oysters is like my fav place to go to. Fresh & delicious oyster and they got a legit grilled cheese sandwich too.

Tsar Nicolai Caviar has all sorts of caviar. Legit!

And many more and im too lazy to type.

Skyy Vodka Liquid Chef Competition

2009-06-20T10:35:00.000-07:00

Skyy vodka & KISS FM Liquid Chef Competition @ the sofitel hotel, redwood shores.

Our boy christian got into the competition and blew everyone away with his signature creation, the alchemist.

The alchemist:

Skyy Pineapple

St. Germain Elderflower

Lime Juice

Grilled Pineapple

He won the People's Choice Award. Fun times!

more fooooodddddd

2009-06-15T20:35:00.000-07:00

moreee fooooddd

hawker centers in singapore. always #1 in my heart..

seafood is one of my favs. a seafood restaurant concept like that in cali would be sick

tropical fruits at a market in ho chi minh city.. gotta love it

gotta love china.. i dont eat pork ears and all that weird shit but pork thighs! omg

eggs benedict @ the crab

dunman road wan ton mee.

siglap mee pok!

my fav breakfast! soft boiled eggs!

real mayo compare to the fake one?

foooooddd

2009-06-15T19:56:00.000-07:00

ive been too busy and lazy to blog about the opening of the restaurant and the whole process so im just gonna skip to pics of food and other stuff we've been working on.

grilled swordfish, fruit salsa, sweet potato strings

dungeness crab cakes, cucumber relish

ahi tuna tataki, garlic radish, ponzu, miso vinaigrette

johnnie's pastrami sandwich.. best pastrami sandwich in culver city =)

vodka & lime seared ahi, red miso glaze

fresh sushi

research

2009-03-03T20:32:00.000-08:00

as crab landing is still in the construction phase, we start meeting all these vendors for tasting of their products from wines to liquor to produce.

we got to taste so many wines, i've definitely trained my palette even though there's still alot of work to be done. we did alot of research by going to alot of restaurants, checking out how they ran their operation, their menus, wine list, wells for the bars as well as checking out their decor to almost everything you could think of.

we got to check out Southern Wine & Spirits warehouse which was located in union city and they distribute to pretty much the whole bay area. one of the biggest wine & spirits vendors in the US.

hog island at the ferry building is one of my favorite places to go grab oysters. love their concept and how they push their oysters. wanted to do something similar to our oyster bar as well so i took the whole team there to check it out, even brought my contractor so he had an idea of how an oyster bar should look.

jaime pineda from southern wine & spirits.. gave me a sample of the siku vodka..
vodka made out of 60,000 year old crytal clear ice from the Qalerallit Sermia glacier
in greenland.. have yet to open the bottle..

tasting with pacific wine & spirits at the oceano bar

having some fun

2009-03-03T19:32:00.000-08:00

construction was our lives for most of the day but once the sun set, noone had lights to work so we would head back for some food & wine tastings since we didnt have a kitchen at the crab yet.

check phahn in the back!

honestly the best rockefellers recipe - thanks to chef manoon.

having some fun on the top of the roof. this is mr andy lu, our wine
director and mr chinatown 2009.

More construction

2009-03-03T18:57:00.000-08:00

more and more construction. Glass railings on the upper level dining was getting installed, bars being built, staircase wielding, murals on the walls were getting complete, painted the floors on the patio, elevators getting installed. still so much more to be done. crazy but fun times.

problems that didnt need to happen but happened anyways:

patio was painted one color and an idiot decides to buy a different kind to paint the rest of the patio so we had to diff shades on the patio floors.

sealing the patio after paint was an even worse disaster. not done right and everything started chipping off.

ALL FIXED THOUGH!

elevator getting installed

upstairs bar being built

scaffold to complete the walls for the kitchen and where the rest of the
mural would be

the platform 45 ft in the air. not cool to climb up n down.

nice lil host stand

patio floors. as u can see theres 2 diff shades of paint color

Signage

2009-02-16T16:33:00.001-08:00

some reason i cant resize the images anymore. Heres the crab logo and the sign board for the front entrance. Looks even better once the night falls.

May-June 08

2009-01-23T16:44:00.001-08:00

The shell of the building was finally done and we could work on the interior and exterior of the building. The glass took a while to install. A total of 72 panels were installed.

One of the obstacles we had while constructing the restaurant was the four plain walls and a huge ceiling that was 45 feet up in the restaurant. We decided to get a mural artist, Jessie Topacio from aikon studios in the city to join our team. Working along with Jessie, we came up with a vision of portraiting the coastal lifestyle onto the wall with a little mix of vegas into the picture as well. Pelicans, seals, crabs, and all sorts of other creatures as well as beaches, maverick waves, yatchts, wind surfers, surfing and more. All were in the idea to make the wall feel warm when you enter the building. The process was not easy and it took jessie about 2 weeks just to paint the sky dome with clouds and blue sky. We wanted it to be like a vegas hotel sky. Climbin up a ladder that was a 45 ft climb straight up everyday wasnt the funnest or safest thing to do either.

Had a section of the mural dedicated to my dad as well.

April 08

2009-01-23T16:30:00.000-08:00

roof getting installed into the building. elevator walls getting done as well.

the month of april was hectic. getting architectural stuff finalized, selling Yellow Ginger Cuisine and officially closing it in april. moved to half moon bay for a closer commute as gas was 4.95 / gallon at the time. fell in love with the coast side. still waiting for the shell to be done and handed over to us so we could start interior construction.

March 08

2009-01-23T16:10:00.001-08:00

worked with our architect Charlie Holman to design the interior of the building. concept was to have an elegant, clean & classy place. it was hard to put everything together as the building was an octagon shape and it gets smaller as it got to the center of the building. we had to come up with an efficient kitchen and storage that could produce food for 360 people.

the building in march. sheet rock was getting put into place for the interior and exterior walls. as you can see, theres not alot of walls because the rest of the building is glass.

The Beginning

2009-01-23T15:13:00.000-08:00

Feb 2008: checked out the new spot in HMB which has became a huge part of my life.

new life.

new town.

new venture.

this is the crab journey.

the beginning of crab landing.

first glance at the shell of the building. harbor village development included a 95 room hotel, a indoor shopping mall with 26 shops, 1 cafe and a 8000 sq ft restaurant.

The shell was an octagon shape, 2 floor with the kitchen planned to be on the 2nd floor that also included a grand stairway and an elevator. 3/4 of the building walls would be always made out of glass for the views.

The view from the upstairs.
Views of the Harbor + Pacific Ocean = PRICELESS!

the views from the building is amazing

panoramic view of the El Granada Hills, Half Moon Bay, Princeton Jetty, Pillar Point Harbor and the Pacific Ocean. (pic taken on the roof of the restaurant)