Connoisseurs of soft shell crabs know that the time is right from now through mid-summer to enjoy this specialty shellfish.

One place to savor them in exceptional style is San Francisco’s iconic Boulevard restaurant, which is offering a special soft shell crab menu every Thursday from now through Aug. 29.

The four-course prix fixe is $119 per person (or $160.83 inclusive of 6 percent SF Mandate, 8.63 percent sales tax, and 20 percent service charge). An optional wine pairing is $65.

Because only a set number of soft shell crab menus are offered each Thursday, it pays to reserve it ahead of time. Otherwise, you take your chance as to whether any are still available when you finally sit down at your table with a view of the Bay Bridge.

I was fortunate enough to be invited in last Thursday as a guest of the restaurant to try the menu spotlighting the seasonal crab that is harvested when it has outgrown and shed its hard shell but before its new shell has hardened.

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