 Joe's Stone Crab, also known as Joe's Stone Crabs, is an American restaurant in Miami Beach, Florida. The restaurant was opened in 1913, by Joe Weiss, who began his Miami Beach career by cooking at Smith's Casino beginning in 1913. Joe's is the top buyer of Florida stone crab claws, and it plays a significant role in the industry, influencing the wholesale price and financing many crabbers. Even though stone crabs are their most famous dish now, fish was served, rather than crabs, after the restaurant's opening. When an ichthyologist asked Weiss why he didn't serve stone crabs, he answered that no one would want to eat them. He turned out to be wrong, as they found out soon after first cooking them. Joe's Stone Crab is often visited by politicians, actors, and athletes. It was featured in the 1985 film The Mean Season before its mid-1980s remodeling. The restaurant is reputedly referenced in Ian Fleming's novel "Goldfinger" as "Bill's on the Beach" in which James Bond ate the best meal he had ever eaten in his life. |