Savannah
Guided tour · 3 hours
Savannah: Historic District Foodie Walking Tour
Discover historic Savannah on a guided foodie tour. Learn about the city's fascinating history, elegant architecture, and unique culture, with food...
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History
She-crab soup is a Charleston invention attributed to William Deas, butler and chef to Mayor R. Goodwyn Rhett, who reportedly enriched a simple crab stew with crab roe to impress President William Howard Taft on a visit in 1909. The dish lifted Charleston's reputation as a coastal kitchen city and remains the menu opener at nearly every Lowcountry dining room. Restrictions on female crab harvesting now mean most kitchens use crab roe sparingly or substitute with crab stock and cream; the dish is named for the original technique rather than today's recipe.
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Boston
Guided tour · 2 hours
Boston: North End & Little Italy Food Tour with Local Dishes
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Chicago
Guided tour · 2 hours
Chicago: Gangsters and Food Tasting Walking Tour
Taste some of Chicago's most iconic foods while walking through one of the Prohibition Era’s most fashionable and notorious gangster-ridden...
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Charleston
Guided tour · 2.5 hours
Charleston: Small Group Food Tour, Savor the Flavors
Experience the flavors of Charleston with the help of local guides. Delve into over 300 years of culinary history as you taste your way through the...
from$111Check dates
Common allergens: Shellfish, Dairy, Gluten
Make it at home
Ingredients
- 60g unsalted butter
- 1 small yellow onion, finely diced
- 2 celery stalks, finely diced
- 30g plain flour
- 750ml fish or seafood stock
- 500ml double cream
- 500g picked blue crab meat (mix of lump and claw)
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 tsp Old Bay seasoning
- Pinch of mace
- 60ml dry sherry, plus extra to finish
- Kosher salt, white pepper, fresh chives
Method
- Melt butter in a heavy pot over medium heat. Sweat the onion and celery 6 minutes until soft, not coloured.
- Whisk in the flour to make a blonde roux; cook 2 minutes.
- Slowly whisk in the stock, then the cream. Stir in tomato paste, Old Bay and mace.
- Simmer gently 15 minutes, stirring often, until thickened and creamy.
- Stir in three-quarters of the crab meat and the sherry. Simmer 5 more minutes.
- Taste and season with salt and white pepper. Add lemon if it needs lift.
- Ladle into warm bowls. Top each with reserved crab meat, a small spoon of sherry, and chives.
Tip from the editors. Pick the crab meat over before adding; shells in a bisque are a kitchen sin. A spoon of sherry poured table-side is the traditional service.
Where to eat she-crab soup
She-crab soup in Charleston
Poogan's Porch ★ 4.6
Poogan's Porch on Queen Street in Charleston has plated Lowcountry brunch since 1976 from a converted 1891 home. Located in Downtown. Open daily 09:00-15:00.
OrderButtermilk biscuits with sausage gravy, she-crab soup, shrimp and grits
TipBook on Resy at least 5 days ahead for weekend brunch. Request a porch table; the inside rooms run small and warm.
82 Queen ★ 4.2
82 Queen in Charleston has poured she-crab soup for 40 years from three historic buildings on Queen Street with a courtyard garden under a magnolia.
OrderThe 18-time-award-winning she-crab soup.
TipBook on OpenTable. Courtyard seats are the best in the house.
Slightly North of Broad ★ 4.6
Slightly North of Broad in Charleston has run on East Bay Street since 1993. Brunch and lunch are easier seats than dinner. Bar seats are walk-in only.
OrderThe shrimp and grits with stone-ground grits and house kielbasa, on the menu since the 90s.
TipBrunch and lunch are easier seats than dinner. Bar seats are walk-in only.
Hyman's Seafood ★ 4.0
Hyman's Seafood in Charleston serves the city from a Meeting Street row of historic buildings the Karesh-Hyman family has held since 1890; the seafood.
OrderShe-crab soup and a fried-fish plate with hushpuppies.
TipNo reservations; arrive before 17:30 or expect a 45-minute wait. Hush puppies are free.
She-crab soup in Richmond
Lemaire ★ 4.7
Lemaire inside the Jefferson Hotel is named for Etienne Lemaire, Thomas Jefferson's maitre d'. Patrick Willis runs the kitchen, the city's grande dame.
Book1 to 2 weeks ahead
Rappahannock ★ 4.4
Rappahannock's bar on Grace pours Virginia sparkling and East Coast whites with Croxton family oysters. Marble counter, no reservation needed.
DrinkVirginia sparkling, oyster shooter
FoodOysters, crab cake, crudo
Bar Buoy ★ 4.4
Brittanny Anderson's Scott's Addition seafood room, opened September 2025 in the former Brenner Pass space. Casual Chesapeake fish-shack menu.
SignatureCrab cakes, Oyster stew, Fried fish plate
She-crab soup in Savannah
The Olde Pink House ★ 4.6
The Olde Pink House occupies a 1771 Georgian mansion on Reynolds Square. Formal upstairs dining and Planters Tavern walk-up basement, Balish 1992 restoration.
Book1 to 2 weeks ahead
Vic's on the River ★ 4.3
Vic's runs in a restored 1859 cotton warehouse on Bay Street, river views from the upstairs dining room. Classic Lowcountry with white-tablecloth service.
OrderShrimp and grits with the Carolina shrimp sauce, plus a she-crab soup to share.
TipAsk for an upstairs window seat at reservation time for the Savannah River view.
Elizabeth on 37th ★ 4.7
Classical Lowcountry tasting in a 1900s Victorian mansion opened by Elizabeth Terry in 1981; Terry won James Beard Best Chef Southeast 1995. Special-occasion.
Book2 weeks ahead
Crystal Beer Parlor ★ 4.3
Crystal's $15 burgers, $12 fried green tomatoes and $14 she-crab soup keep a 1933 historic-pub lunch under $20. Dark booths, long draft list, no reservations.
TryCrystal burger and Southern pub plates
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