March 10--Infamously messy seafood restaurant The Angry Crab will open a second location in Wicker Park "sometime in May," says co-owner David Nguyen.
The new space at 1308 N. Milwaukee Ave. in Wicker Park is next to the new, third BIG little's. It will be bigger than the original, which may translate to a bigger menu, too.
"The core menu is going to stay the same," says Nguyen of the signature shellfish (Gulf oysters when in season, Alaskan king crab legs and Maine lobster), served by the pound in a plastic bag shaken with sauce, and eaten bare-handed. "But we're excited about having the extra space to add some menu items from our travels. We're still working on that."
The new location will be BYOB, the same as the original. "There's a Jewel Osco across the street," Nguyen says -- an easy place to stop for a bottle.
Like the original location, the decor won't be finished until after they open: Grab a Sharpie (the restaurant will have the markers on hand) and "tag up the walls," Nguyen says. What if someone gets a little, uh, spicy? "If we need to cover something up, we just tag a crab symbol over it."
He and brothers Ervin Nguyen and Mark Nguyen opened the original location in the Northwest Side neighborhood of Arcadia Terrace in February 2015. Their family is originally from Vietnam, but the brothers are from Sacramento. "We were born around seafood, we grew up around seafood," David says.
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