Virginia Beach VA

Crab hunting in Virginia Beach splits into three territories. The one that matters most is Shore Drive at Lynnhaven Inlet, on the Chesapeake Bay side. A cluster of marinas, charter docks, and seafood markets has fed that stretch just west of the Lesner Bridge for decades. Bubba's and Dockside sit side by side at 3323 and 3311 Shore Drive. Between them you can eat steamed jimmies on a dock or carry a dozen home from the market counter. This is the closest thing the city has to a crab district.

The resort strip along Atlantic Avenue trades in crab cakes, not crab paper. Waterman's at 5th Street is the long-running standard there. The south end runs down Sandbridge Road, past the farm stands of Pungo. A pair of old-line country crab houses holds it down. The she-crab soup out there has a following of its own. Season runs strongest July through October, same as the rest of the bay.