Di Nardo's Famous Crabs   

You talkin' crabs? Then you must be talkin' DiNardo's. Although this brassy, no-nonsense seafood house seems rather out of place in the heart of trendy Old City, seafood lovers from all around Philly regularly flock to it. With its good-old-boy, fishing-lodge feel, DiNardo's offers what you would expect from a seafood joint -- steamers, crab cakes, shrimp cocktail and fried stuff aplenty -- but the emphasis is on crabs, the hard-shell lovelies of crab-lovers' dreams. You're expected to go at them in the traditional way -- with a mallet. If you have a real appetite, you'll love the early-bird special on Monday and Tuesday nights, which offers all-you-can eat crabs, fries and cole slaw for a low fixed price. Seafood aficionados come to DiNardo's in various stages of sartorial splendor. The smartest ones dress down in anticipation of the briny mayhem that results when hammer hits hardshell. Everyone else asks for a plastic bib.