Cook's Seafood Is Gone and the Crab Boats Are Waiting. Where Menlo Park's Holiday Seafood Comes From Now

Dan Dowler got his job at Cook's Seafood on Nov. 1, 1972. As he told The Almanac, the interview was one question: could he read and write? He said yes and was hired on the spot. Decades later, around 3 a.m. on Oct. 29, 2026, a text message told him not to drive in. "We are sad to inform you that after 98 years, we have closed all Cook's Seafood locations Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026," it read.

Two days later, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife held the commercial Dungeness crab fleet in port until at least Jan. 1, 2027. So Menlo Park goes into the holiday season without the fish counter it relied on for nearly a century, and without commercially caught California crab. Whatever ends up on the table will take more planning than a stop on El Camino Real.

A Counter That Closed Overnight

Cook's had been part of Menlo Park since 1928. That year Bill Cook, a local policeman turned entrepreneur, founded the business. In the 1940s he sold it to Robert Rahe, and in 1963 Rahe's widow sold it to Roy Crumrine, who had worked there since 1955. Ownership later passed to Crumrine's son. That is four owners in nearly a century, all from the same small circle around one shop.

The end came without warning. A sign in the Menlo Park window, which the San Francisco Chronicle reported from a photo shared with the paper, said both locations had closed:

"As you know, this year has been very difficult for restaurants. Our Team thanks you for all your years of visiting us, and we'll miss you."

The second location, at 6654 Koll Center Parkway in Pleasanton, had opened in May 2025 after expansion plans dating back to 2017. It closed the same week as the original.

What 751 El Camino Real Did That a Grocery Aisle Doesn't

For 98 years, the white, blocky building at 751 El Camino Real held two businesses under one roof. The market sold swordfish, mahi mahi, orange roughy, Dungeness crab, and lobster both live and cooked. The restaurant served fish and chips, sand dabs with steak-cut fries, petrale sole sandwiches, salmon patty fish burgers, crab Louie, clam chowder and cioppino.

The Chronicle describes customers ordering catfish, sand dabs, salmon, crab, oysters and calamari, then asking the staff to clean the fish, crack the crab or pack the order. That hands-on help is the hardest part to replace. A whole Dungeness that someone else cracked is a different job at home than one you crack yourself.

The timing makes the gap bigger. Dowler told The Almanac that summer is usually the slowest season for fish, and that Cook's was about to enter its most profitable stretch of the year. The store closed right before the weeks it depended on most.

The Crab Was Already Running Late

Even with Cook's open, the crab part of this season would have looked different. The CDFW announcement dated Oct. 30, 2026 delays the commercial Dungeness fishery along the whole stretch from the Oregon border to Point Conception. That stretch includes the waters off San Francisco and Half Moon Bay. The department tied the delay to the number of humpback whale entanglements in 2026. Under current rules, that count requires the director to act, and the delay also gives whales time to leave California waters before the fleet goes out.

The holiday calendar now looks like this:

1. Nov. 7: Opening day for the recreational Dungeness season in most areas, including the Peninsula coast, with hoop nets and crab snares only.
2. Nov. 26: Thanksgiving, with California's commercial crab fleet still in port.
3. Mid-December: CDFW's next risk assessment, which will include a recommendation from the Dungeness Crab Fishing Gear Working Group.
4. Jan. 1, 2027: The earliest possible date for a commercial opening and for lifting recreational trap restrictions, depending on that assessment.

CDFW describes January 1 as a floor, not a scheduled opening. The department's own wording is that the December assessment will "inform a possible opening of the commercial fishery" around the new year. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day both come before that date.

The same release announces a separate closure for domoic acid, between Cape Mendocino and the Ten Mile State Marine Reserve north of Fort Bragg. That area is far up the North Coast and doesn't affect the waters a Menlo Park household would reach in an afternoon.

The Counters Still Selling Fish Nearby

Without Cook's, the closest fresh fish counters are spread across three cities and the coast. Each one works a little differently.

Draeger's is the only one inside Menlo Park, about a mile from the old Cook's building. Its fish department has its own phone line, which helps with holiday orders.

Sigona's has two stores, and only one sells fish. The family-run market's own fish page, last updated Oct. 28, 2026, says the Palo Alto store at Stanford Shopping Center sells no meat or fish, out of respect for the butchers and restaurants nearby. Anyone with seafood on the list should go to Redwood City. The page says the store sometimes carries previously frozen fish, especially from as far away as Alaska or during a seasonal transition. It also notes the return of wild king salmon caught off the Bay Area coast after a three-year hiatus. The business started with a fisherman: Carmelo S. Sigona came to the U.S. from Pozzallo, Sicily, in 1912.

Piazza's on Middlefield in south Palo Alto has a dedicated meat and seafood manager for that store. Call ahead about holiday hours and what's in the case.

Pillar Point Harbor is the closest thing to buying off the boat. The San Mateo County Harbor District lists dockside fish sales and a fish market at the harbor. Because what's for sale depends on what came in that day, the district asks buyers to call its Fish Line at 726-8724 before driving over the hill. Until the commercial crab season opens, crab won't be part of that catch.

The One Legal Way to Catch Crab This Month

Starting Nov. 7, recreational crabbers can fish for Dungeness off the Peninsula coast, with limits on gear. Crab traps are banned from the Oregon border to Point Conception until at least Jan. 1. Hoop nets and crab snares, also called loop traps, are allowed. In its Oct. 30 announcement, CDFW reminds anglers that hoop nets must be serviced every two hours and can't be left unattended for longer periods. It has also issued a Fleet Advisory telling crabbers not to set gear anywhere whales are present. For a household that would rather catch its own holiday crab than wait for January, those gear rules shape the whole outing, starting with getting back to the net on a two-hour schedule.

These are state fishing rules, summarized here as general information and not legal advice. Before setting any gear, read the current regulations on the CDFW crab page and the Whale Safe Fisheries page.

The building at 751 El Camino Real stands empty after 98 years of fish and chips and cracked crab. CDFW's mid-December assessment will decide when local crab can be sold again. Until then, Menlo Park's holiday seafood comes from the counters on that table, a call to the Fish Line, or a hoop net.

At Luxuriant Realty, we keep track of the El Camino Real storefronts that shape daily life in Menlo Park, and of what happens to them after a long run ends. If you own property along the corridor and want to talk through what a vacancy like this means for your building, request a personalized consultation with our team.