Stone crab claws are the defining Fort Lauderdale seasonal dish, available from October through May, and Las Olas Boulevard is the right address for them. Several seafood restaurants along this strip serve the claws chilled, cracked at the table, with a mustard dipping sauce — the traditional and correct preparation. The claws are meaty and sweet, a bit like lobster but denser, and a plate of them with a cold white wine is an entirely satisfying lunch. The harvest is sustainable: fishermen remove one claw and return the crab to the water, where it regenerates.
Alongside stone crabs, the menus along Las Olas lean on fresh Florida fish: mahi-mahi grilled or blackened, grouper sandwiches, yellowtail snapper with Caribbean preparations, and raw bars stocked with local oysters. The restaurants catering to the dinner crowd tend toward larger portions and longer wine lists. For the freshest fish, the 17th Street Causeway area near the Las Olas Marina is worth the short drive south — several of the restaurants there have their own boats or deal directly with the day-boat fleet that docks nearby.