I can't eat shellfish :( I like the visceral act of smashing the shell and ripping out the guts, too.

Count me in as well for crab over lobster. Not that I'd turn down lobster, mind you, but I'm much more excited about crab. I'm pretty happy about the silly little crab picture on my new Maryland driver's license.

And when I order AKC nowadays, I have it shelled: when enjoying a civilized meal, I prefer that someone else effectuates my barbarianism.

And every time I have AKC, I invariably think of the Deadliest Catch guys. I had AKC at a restaurant in Des Moines and apparently before Deadliest Catch became popular, they got all of their AKC from the Time Bandit.

Interesting they would know that, from what I saw of the show all the ships unload to the same (or one of few) processing plants.

It could have been complete bullsh¡t, but I rolled with it.

I'd take shrimp first, but in a purely crab vs lobster arrangement, I'd dive into the lobster.

Of course, the fact that crab (tasty as it is) makes me vomit might have something to do with that...

Shrimp first (if it's peeled), crab second (if it's shelled), lobster distant third (and it better be out if the shell, for those prices I expect someone else to do the work). Bivalves not even a consideration. Crayfish disgusting.

But if you gave me the choice between a good tuna melt and whole Maine lobster, even money I'd take the tuna.

I so agree with you on the shelled part. When I sit down to a shrimp scampy or Alfreado at a resturaunt, and I have to stick my fingers in the sauce to pull the shells off of the tails, I expect a discount for doing some of the cook's work for them. I understand that the shell has some of the flavor, and keeps the meat moist, but one shouldn't have to stick their hands in sauce at a sit down dinner. It's just wrong. A lobster tail isn't part of the sauce and the shell is much more important to the flavor and texture, and very easy to get out if prepared properly, so that one's ok for me.

Oh, and where the lobster lives (including water temperature) and what it eats dictates the flavor. Which is why different verieties taste slightly different even though they are the same animal.

At the Knott's pre-scare dinner buffett they served finger shrimp with a cocktail dipping sauce. But they served the shrimp raw. I hate that.

As a kid, I was wild about lobster, including the liver and/or the ovaries or whatever the gross part is. In recent years, most of the lobsters I've encountered have been on the bland, rubbery side.

I'm good with pretty much all shellfish. A good oyster is a fine thing, and during college, a bag of mussels was a cheap dinner at home from which I only occasionally got food poisoning.

However, I would never eat American Kennel Club. In fact, Kevy, I think that's illegal.