Salmon, crabmeat, caviar, beluga, sterlet, and herring were among the important seafoods generating export income.
We started with two platters of mixed dim sum: two rose champagne shrimp; two scallop and pumpkin; two crystal crabmeat; two bamboo pith with assorted vegetables.
"An Anna Wintour Niçoise…" My crab salad looked just as gorgeous: a large tomato, boiled and peeled, sat like a dome over white crabmeat softened by miso dressing, served with mandolined wafers of radish and beetroot.
Angie was in raptures about her three-way Selsey crab: a crunchy crab cake tickled by horseradish mayonnaise, a mousse of brown crabmeat on a slice of fried bread and finally a mouth-filling glass of white crab mixed with basil and surmounted by vermouth foam.
With that, dinner was served: silver platters heaped with boiled shrimp surrounded by crabmeat, accompanied by the usual red and pink sauces.
The garnish — succulent crabmeat and fried artichokes — is delicious, but the dumplings themselves prove an insubstantial companion, even though they look like charcoal briquettes.
The prep staff stock the pullout drawers beneath the counters with slabs of marinated meat and fish, serving-size baggies of pasta and crabmeat, steaming bowls of brown rice and mashed potatoes.
There were trout and salmon, creamed scallops and oysters, lobster, crabmeat, whitebait, and clams.
4. Blend fresh crabmeat with diced avocado, scallions, and a dollop of mayonnaise for a canapé topping so delicious that it will take your guests a full minute to realize that they're eating it off dog biscuits.
They don't do this anymore (the wait staff groused), so now the tricks are just culinary: a thin green romaine-and-parsnip soup, served in a shot glass with a topping of Parmesan foam; a crabmeat lasagna, with a squadron of mussels in a sauce of mustard and spinach (a gloss on the classic crab cake); or squash ravioli, with what seems to be a lump of chestnut in each ravioli.
Three hours after the race she was at Gage & Tollner, the old Brooklyn restaurant having champagne cocktails & crabmeat Virginia.
