The truck from the Keys broke down, but the one from Everglades City arrived as scheduled, brimming with stone crabs Thursday morning. The event? The start of the season number 113 for Joe’s Stone Crab, a Miami Beach landmark.
“There’s an advantage of having two fisheries,” said Stephen Sawitz, the fourth-generation owner of the restaurant.
The restaurant now stays open year-round, but let’s face it, when those stone crabs with those sweet, sweet claws come into season, that is when the faithful flock to Joe’s, which has been operating in some capacity for ten decades — older than the city of Miami Beach itself.
The atmosphere was electric at Joe’s on Thursday night.
“The feeling is the butterflies or before a game, a big game, a playoff game, or, you know, Super Bowl, you get those jitters, because things happen at the last minute that you wish were done earlier,” Sawitz said.
Stone crab claws on ice waiting to be served at Joe’s Stone Crab on Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025. (Photo/Joe’s Stone Crab)
“And then there’s the unknown. Is the world going to come? Is the world excited to come to Joe’s? And the other thing is, are the crabs on their way?”
Speaking to Sawitz on one of his busiest days of the year gave great insight into the organized chaos of the restaurant business – a real-life episode of “The Bear.”
This season, there’s a new head chef and even a new vice president of operations, but Sawitz says the goal is to keep the gold standard of service and food that has made Joe’s Stone Crab synonymous with the Miami Beach experience.
A new season at Joe’s is not about adding glitz, it’s not about inventing new dishes or flavors, it’s all about “consistency,” whether it be the stone crab, the fried chicken – or the must-have key lime pie.
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“The crust has to be the same. It’s hand-pressed,” Sawitz said. “The baking methods have to be the same, the result has to be the same, and that means the ovens have to be burning, right?”
Long-time staffers have the cache of Cher. No last name needed. There is Eddie, the maître d’, and Carlos, the head valet.
Customers “have to feel like they’re at home and that they’re kind of in their safe, happy place, you know, where they love to be,” Sawitz said.
Jim Pastor, the new executive chef at Joe’s Stone Crab, in a photo taken on Oct. 16, 2025. (Photo/Joe’s Stone Crab)
Longtime customer Eddie Dominguez said there is a sense of presence, a knowledge that you are a part of an institution.
“What I love best about Joe’s is the sense of family. You literally get there and they say, ‘Welcome home,’” Dominguez said.
He noted that the fried chicken is $7.95 – it dropped in price by $1 in May. “They do it because they want the restaurant to remain accessible to everyone, so that anyone can eat at Joe’s. You don’t have to drop 60 bucks on stone crabs,” Dominguez said.
Customers come in three flavors, Sawitz explains. Some come to Joe’s to celebrate a birthday, an anniversary, or a graduation.
Then some have Joe’s on their bucket list. It’s one and done.
And then there are regulars. Friday afternoon is an event as groups stake out their tables. Some are doctors. Some are judges. “You know the judges, they sit there on the main aisle on both sides, holding court,” Sawitz said.
Celebrity sightings continue to be a hallmark of the Joe’s experience, with recent visitors including the entire University of Miami football team and regular patrons like singer Billy Joel.
The restaurant’s origin story remains a fascinating piece of Miami culinary history.
According to Sawitz, the stone crab’s journey began when a Harvard marine biologist in the early 1920s discovered the crustaceans in Biscayne Bay and brought them to Joe’s restaurant to explore their potential as a dish. Soon it was on the menu with the famous mustard sauce.
The fried chicken was the recipe of Sawitz’s mother, Jo Ann – who was the granddaughter of founders Joe and Jennie Weiss.
Today, the Washington Avenue restaurant can seat 500. It served 382,000 meals with revenues of nearly $50 million in 2024.
“I understand the volume, so I understand the details that it takes to run the business and to run a kitchen as far as so many people,” said new executive chef Jim Pastor.
A seasoned restaurant professional who, at one point was the corporate chef overseeing the Rusty Pelican on Virginia Key.
Still, any new chef has to make his mark and there are some dishes to showcase Pastor’s culinary creativity. There are Bristol Bay scallops served with a little citrus sauce, lightly blackened. There is also a Chilean sea bass with Pastor’s signature flamenco papaya salsa.
With a staff of nearly 400, Joe’s is more than just a legendary restaurant and social mainstay; it can also be seen as an economic barometer. “People like to refer to us as some kind of Bellwether, right? If Joe’s is doing well, then the economy is doing well,” Sawitz said.
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JOHN PACENTI is a correspondent of the Key Biscayne Independent. John has worked for The Associated Press, the Palm Beach Post, Daily Business Review, and WPTV-TV.