Stone-crab season and the tables worth booking

Food & DrinkFebruary 20, 2026

What is in season

Florida stone crab season runs from mid-October to the start of May, and it is one of the more sustainable things you can order: only the claws are taken, and the crab is returned to the water to regrow them. Served chilled with mustard sauce, cracked at a marina table with the boats coming in, it is one of the small rituals of a Palm Beach winter. The rest of the local catch — grouper, snapper, mahi, and stone crab's warm-weather cousin, spiny lobster — rotates through the year, so there is always something that came off a local boat.

Where to eat it

The best seats for it are on the water. Singer Island and neighboring Riviera Beach have a run of casual, toes-almost-in-the-sand fish houses and marina restaurants where the view is the inlet and the boats, and where weekends fill up — so book ahead for a sunset table. If you would rather cook, the same catch is at the local markets, and the residence kitchen is more than up to it. Our waterfront seafood guide names the tables and what is in season when, and the island restaurants guide covers everything from breakfast to a special night out.