San Francisco Crab Festival Debuts

Bon Appetit Wine & Spirits Focus to take place January 31 at Fort Masons’ Festival Pavilion

San Francisco will celebrate its indigenous crustacean, the Dungeness crab, with a month-long series of culinary and cultural events in February 2003. Main Culinary Events in Month-Long Celebration Include "Crab & Wine Marketplace," "Challenge of the Masters," and "Walk About the Wharf". It’s planned as an annual gala that will feature crab dishes from San Francisco's top restaurants, paired with wines from the region's best wineries. Attendance is expected to be 1,500 to 2,000 people.

San Francisco Crab & Wine Marketplace, featuring the "Challenge of the Masters", takes place February 1 & 2 at the Festival Pavilion, Fort Mason. The two-day marketplace will include cooking demonstrations and competitions, food and wine tastings, children's activities, educational programs, and culinary-related shopping including fresh seafood and wines by the case.

The "Challenge of the Masters" will pit San Francisco's best chefs against each other in an on-site crab-themed competition. Professional chefs will pull out all the stops in creating the most original and flavorful crab dishes from a pool of available ingredients, to be revealed only as the competition begins. The winner will be determined by a panel of culinary experts. Two days of competition will culminate in a final round to determine whom wins the title "Crab Challenge Master." (Professional chefs can apply to participate by contacting Erin Francis at (415) 227-2621.)

Walk About the Wharf takes place February 7-17 at Fisherman's Wharf. Visitors to San Francisco's famed Fisherman's Wharf will receive a booklet of coupons entitling them to extraordinary offers at restaurants, shops, and attractions. For information and tickets to the Bon Appetit Wine & Spirits Focus, call (888) 343-6287.

Dungeness Dining is February 1-28. Restaurants throughout San Francisco will feature crab on their menus and/or offer crab-centered prix fixe meals.

Red & White Fleet "Crab Feast on the Bay" features special crab feed bay cruises presented by Red & White Fleet, departing from Pier 43 ½.