On an unseasonably warm Sunday afternoon in January, against the backdrop of the Redondo Beach Pier in Southern California, a largely Korean lunch crowd is clad in white bibs and armed with mallets. Their mission: to pound away at the shells of Dungeness crab legs and then, with the help of chopsticks and fingers, extract as much tender meat as they can.
Welcome to the Redondo Beach Crab House, a popular Korean-owned restaurant specializing in fresh seafood — so fresh that the more daring customers will feast on some creatures of the sea while they are still alive and wiggling. But if you prefer your meal stationary, there is plenty on the menu to treat the palate, including the signature steamed crab and the oft-ordered maeuntang, or spicy seafood stew.
The dishes, combined with friendly service and a primo location on the historic Redondo Beach Pier, attract customers from all over Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties, as well as from out of state. The restaurant even counts a number of Korean celebrities as regulars. Baseball pitcher Chan Ho Park, who recently sent the owners a Christmas card, is a fan of the live lobster, shrimp and crab. In the past, some customers were lucky enough to get an autograph from Yong-jung Bae, a South Korean actor from the hugely popular Korean drama series “Winter Sonata.”
The place is more upscale than another Korean-owned crab house on the pier, but not at all shi shi. It sports a nautical theme in the form of plastic and wooden sea creatures tacked to the beams and walls. But the major draw is clearly the ocean view.
During one recent weekend lunch hour crowded with nearly a hundred customers, one halmeoni dangles a baby octopus in front of her grandchild and prods in Korean, “Eat more, eat more.” The grandmother is sitting next to a south-facing window with the picture-perfect view that attracts so many: seagulls gliding in the clear blue sky, children splashing in the gentle tides, sailboats moving across glittering water.
The owners of this spot are Jane and Young-il Kim, who took over the business 11 years ago. Mrs. Kim, as she is known to her staff and customers, met the former crab house owner while playing tennis. A Korean man near retirement age, he was looking to sell the restaurant after his son declined to take over.
“Why don’t you try it?” he nudged Kim.
Kim and her husband had no restaurant experience and their business skills were limited to owning and running a Union 76 gas station in Los Angeles’ Koreatown. Still, Kim was full of confidence, and the couple opened the restaurant on New Year’s Day of 1997 for good luck.
Yet operating a gas station and running a restaurant seemed to have little in common. “At first it was very difficult for me and the customers because I didn’t understand the customers and didn’t understand what to do about service,” Kim admits.
