Yan Can Cook Dungeness Crab!

PHOTOS BY TAMARA PALMER

Chef and food television legend Martin Yan, who I was fortunate to interview on California Eating Radio (now on iTunes!), hosted a beautiful dinner last week at his San Francisco restaurant M.Y. China in honor of the restaurant’s seventh anniversary. His executive chef and right hand man, Tony Wu, is offering seven different Dungeness crab preparations through January 17 to celebrate the seven-year mark, and they invited a small group of lucky eaters to try them all in one meal.

Chef Tony is one of my favorites in the city and I love watching him hand-pull noodles and play with fire in M.Y. China’s open kitchen. He hit it out of the park with each crab dish and it’s a meal I’ll be dreaming about for quite some time. Take a look at what’s on the menu and get crackin’:

Martin Yan presents the Forbidden Golden Garlic Steam Crab from Guangdong Province: steamed crab, shallots, fried garlic, wine and forbidden rice

Forbidden Golden Garlic Steam Crab

Coconut Curry Crab (Yunnan Province): yellow curry, carrot, celery, onion, Brussels sprouts, coconut milk, fish sauce, chili oil

Sweet Tamarind Crab (Guang Xi Province): garlic, onion, Fresno pepper, fish sauce, puffed rice cracker, scallion, micro cilantro

Chili Pepper Crab (Guiyang Province): onions, shallots, hot pepper sauce

Typhoon Garlic Dusted Crab (Hong Kong): golden garlic, bread crumbs, butter, scallion, Fresno pepper, Thai chili, fermented black bean, mint

Typhoon Garlic Dusted Crab

Jianxi Spicy Crab (Jiangxi Province): Sichuan bean sauce, chili peanut oil, enoki mushroom, peppers, onion, scallion, sesame seeds

My favorite: Salted Egg Yolk Crab (Dongbei Province): wok tossed crab, duck egg yolk, white pepper

Chef Tony fires up a spun sugar and ice cream choux delight.

M.Y. China, 845 Market Street, Fourth Floor, San Francisco