Concept only.Not open, not real, not yet.Here's the idea

A dockside crab shack at sunset with CATCH AND NOT RELEASE painted on the sign, a porch full of people at picnic tables, boats tied up along the dock and still water behind

ON THE WATER · A SHORT WALK FROM KJWB

Tie up. Crack crabs. Stay a while.

A crab shack out over the water, serving blue crabs from the back bays, shrimp off the local boats, and whatever came through the inlet this morning.

See the Menu Getting Here

Redfish and snook go back. Everything else is dinner.

LOCAL CATCH///PAPER ON THE TABLES///MALLETS PROVIDED///DOCK SPACE OUT FRONT

TODAY'S CATCH

If it didn't swim near here, it's not on the board.

We buy from lagoon crabbers, inlet boats, and clam farmers up and down the coast. The board changes when the boats do. When it's gone, it's gone.

OFF THE BOATSTODAY

Blue crabs · The back baysMKT
Rock shrimp · The shrimp boatsMKT
Flounder · The inletMKT
Sheepshead · The jettiesMKT
Littleneck clams · Up the roadMKT
Smoked mullet · the pit out backMKT

86'd: soft-shells (back in spring)

THE MENU

Cleared to Eat

Every dish tells you where it came from. Market price means ask your server what the boats charged us today.

The One-Hour Rule

Nothing on this menu traveled farther than a boat runs in a morning. Except the key lime pie. Worth the drive.

THE BACK BAYS
THE INLET
THE SURF
LOCAL CLAM FARMS
THE SHRIMP BOATS
LOCAL GROVES
LOCAL FARMS
DATIL PEPPER GROWERS
FLORIDA KEYS (PIE ONLY)

Crab Pots

Blue crabs, steamed or sautéed. Mallets on the house.

The Heavy DozenMKT
Twelve heavy jimmies off the top of the bushel, steamed in house crab spice and dumped right on the paper.
FROM: BACK-BAY CRABBERS
The Half LoadMKT
Six crabs, same treatment. For solo captains and people with self-control.
FROM: BACK-BAY CRABBERS
Mayday Garlic CrabsMKT
Cleaned blue crabs tossed in garlic butter and datil pepper. Declare an emergency on your napkins.
FROM: THE BACK BAYS + LOCAL DATILS
Molting Season Soft-Shellspring only$24
A whole soft-shell crab, flash fried, on a toasted roll with lettuce, tomato, and tartar. When they shed, we fry.
FROM: THE BACK BAYS, WHEN THE MOON IS RIGHT
The Inlet Boil$36
Half dozen crabs, rock shrimp, local clams, sweet corn, and red potatoes in one bucket. A full load of local.
FROM: FOUR DOCKS AND ONE FARM

Preflight

Something to pick at while you close your flight plan.

Mullet Run Dip$12
A coastal classic. Mullet smoked over oak out back, whipped with cream cheese and hot sauce, with saltines.
FROM: LOCAL CAST-NETTERS
Riptide Rock Shrimp$16
Split and flash fried, with datil pepper aioli. They disappear faster than you'd think.
FROM: THE SHRIMP BOATS
Low Tide Clams$15
A pound of littlenecks steamed in local beer, butter, and garlic. Bread for the broth, obviously.
FROM: LOCAL CLAM FARMS
Hot Deck Crab Dip$15
Lump crab and sharp cheddar, broiled until it's too hot to touch. Touch it anyway.
FROM: BACK-BAY CRABBERS
Marine Layer Crab Soup$9 / $13
Peppery tomato broth socked in with crab. Cup or bowl, no judgment.
FROM: THE BACK BAYS + LOCAL FARMS

Main Gear & Deep Water

Plates with sides. Fish changes with the boats.

Last Cast Crab Cake$26
All lump, barely any filler, seared hard on both sides. Sandwich or plate, with remoulade and swamp cabbage slaw.
FROM: BACK-BAY CRABBERS
Inlet Flounder$27
Blackened in cast iron, landed on hushpuppies and collards.
FROM: THE INLET BOATS
Convict Fish & Grits$25
Sheepshead, the striped fish with human teeth. It eats crabs, so it tastes like them. Pan seared over cheese grits.
FROM: THE INLET JETTIES
Surf Line PompanoMKT
Caught off the beach a few miles up the beach, roasted whole with brown butter and fresh orange.
FROM: LOCAL SURF FISHERMEN
Blue Water CatchMKT
Whatever the offshore boats brought back through the inlet: mahi, cobia, or wahoo. Grilled, blackened, or fried.
FROM: THE OFFSHORE BOATS
Shrimp Boat Basket$19
Wild Atlantic white shrimp, fried golden, with datil fries and slaw in a paper-lined basket.
FROM: ATLANTIC SHRIMPERS

Ballast, Sweets & Fuel

Sides, dessert, and something cold.

Ballast$5 each
Hushpuppies with local honey butter · sweet corn (summer) · swamp cabbage slaw · cheese grits · datil fries
FROM: LOCAL FARMS
Deadweight Crab Mac$13
Heavy, hot, and it will slow you down for the rest of the day. Share it or don't.
FROM: BACK-BAY CRABBERS
Clear of the Runway Key Lime Pie$9
Florida key limes, sweetened condensed milk, graham crust. Pale yellow, never green. Our one long cross-country.
FROM: THE FLORIDA KEYS
Deckhand Plate$10
For crew 12 and under: fried shrimp or fish bites, fries, and a paper captain's hat.
FROM: WHATEVER'S FRESHEST
Captain's TeaFree for the captain
Bottomless sweet tea or fresh-squeezed lemonade. Running the boat home? It's on the house.
FROM: LOCAL GROVES
Lines Tied Taps$6–9
Rotating taps from local breweries. For passengers, and for captains whose boat is tied up for the night.
FROM: LOCAL BREWERIES

BOTTLE TO THROTTLE.We'll happily card your passengers. We'll happily not serve whoever's driving the boat, or flying the plane, home.

BY BOAT · BY CAR · BY AIR

Twenty feet from the dock to the table.

1Coming by boat? Tie up at the dock out front. First come, first served, and don't block the fuel dock.
2Driving? Park in the lot by the dock and walk out. It's the building with the crab on the sign.
3Flying in? Land at Ward Field (KJWB) and walk down to the water. It's a short walk, so come hungry.

Hours

Tuesday – Thursday11am – 9pm
Friday – Saturday11am – 10pm
Sunday11am – 8pm
MondayClosed. We're fishing.

Find Us

On the water, a short walk from Ward Field (KJWB), a made-up airport

No phone yet · catchandnotrelease.com

Groups of 8 or more, or a whole boat club? Call ahead and we'll pull the long tables together.

THE PLACE

What it looks like

Nobody has eaten here. These are pictures of an idea.

Rules of the Shack

We keep what we catch.

It's in the name. Local seafood, cooked the day it lands.

Except redfish and snook.

Those go back in the water. We're crabby, not unreasonable.

Paper is a plate.

Shells go in the middle. Napkins are a suggestion.

Mallets are for crabs.

Not siblings, not copilots, not the table.

The captain drinks after the lines are tied.

Tea is free for whoever is running the boat home. That rule is not negotiable.

Be kind to your server.

They're the reason your tea never runs dry.

OUR STORY

A pilot, a dock, and way too many crabs.

Sixteen years in restaurants, most of them with a tray in my hand. Thirty more in the air.

I never found the crab shack I wanted, so I started drawing it. The first sketch was an old hangar at the airport. Then it hit me that the crabs don't come in by airplane. They come in by boat. So the drawing moved to the water: a porch over the lagoon, paper on the tables, and nothing on the menu that traveled farther than a boat runs in a morning.

The staff keeps their tips. The crabs come from down the road. Opening someday.

More of the story

A white hangar at dusk with the door rolled open, picnic tables inside and a red crab painted on the door — The first drawing: a hangar, the door open to the ramp.

Overhead view of a crab cake sandwich in a paper-lined tray with slaw, lemon and a pickle — The crab cake. Mostly crab.

A waterman handing a bushel of blue crabs up from a skiff to a dock at sunrise, a lighthouse behind — Where it starts every morning.

WHAT THIS IS

A restaurant that doesn't exist. Yet.

Catch and Not Release is a restaurant concept, not a restaurant. There is no address, no phone, no crabs. Nothing on this site is open for business, and if you go looking for it you will find a very ordinary stretch of shoreline. Ward Field (KJWB) is made up too, named for my grandfather.

It was dreamed up by a professional pilot who spent sixteen years in restaurants, most of them carrying a tray, and the next thirty in the air. He never found the crab shack he was looking for, so he started drawing it: out over the water, paper on the tables, and nothing on the menu that traveled farther than a boat runs in a morning.

The menu, the prices and the rules are all real intentions rather than real offerings. If it ever opens, it will look a lot like this page.

Want to hear about it if it ever becomes real? Leave a note on the fund page.