Rice Thief

Ganjang gejang, raw soy-marinated crab, is a classic Korean dish that’s become a favorite of TikTokers and staple of mukbang videos. It’s rarely a primary focus for restaurants, but at Rice Thief, it’s the main event.

Originally a popular ghost-kitchen delivery service, Rice Thief makes some of the prettiest food we’ve eaten in recent memory. Every platter looks like the glittering, glistening crown jewels of a deep-sea kingdom. Then there’s the fact that it’s incredibly delicious. The blue crabs on offer here are good, but taking that first bite of sweet, jelly-like Gunsan crab—a coveted variety flown in from Korea—is like the moment in The Wizard of Oz when Dorothy steps into Technicolor. 

photo credit: Kate Previte

photo credit: Kate Previte

photo credit: Kate Previte

The soy marinade—one of two marinade options at Rice Thief, and the one we prefer—isn’t overpoweringly salty, but instead underscores the almost nutty creaminess of the crab. (The spicy marinade could lean harder into heat.) The wild red Argentine shrimp are also outstanding, with a sweetness and texture like ocean candy. 

Eating here is a pleasurably hands-on, choose-your-own-adventure experience: don a pair of plastic gloves, squeeze crab onto rice and assemble a seaweed wrap, spoon rice directly into crab shell to mix with the impossibly creamy roe, or suck the meat right out of the carapace. Attentive servers distribute new gloves and napkins whenever necessary, though the highlight of your personal protective equipment is a paper bib emblazoned with the Rice Thief logo and crabs clutching beer and soju in their claws.

photo credit: Kate Previte

photo credit: Kate Previte

photo credit: Kate Previte

Make a reservation before going: the casual, chatty dining room fills up early, even on weeknights. The platters here serve a crowd, so assemble a heist team of bold eaters and get to work. Smaller parties can also order by the piece, but the spectacle, and the indulgence, is part of the fun. For variety's sake get one of the cooked entrées—we like the abalone congee and the pork trotter noodles—but focus both your stomach capacity and your budget on the raw marinated seafood. That’s why you came, and it’s why you’ll come back.

Food Rundown

Gunsan Platter

Order this $129 platter without hesitation. It’s worth paying a premium for the Gunsan crab. Besides a pair of its namesake crustacean beauties, which have us out here Googling “direct flights JFK to Gunsan Airport,” the combo comes with six white shrimp, four red shrimp, and two tender abalone, paired with thinly sliced onions that bite right through their sweetness, plus rice and seaweed. Slurping the plump, salty liquid contents of the red shrimp’s heads is a food memory we’ll be replaying on our deathbed highlight reel.

Jokbal + Memil Noodles

These gelatinous slices of pork trotter have a great chew. The cold buckwheat noodles and spicy dipping sauce make for our favorite bites at Rice Thief that aren’t raw seafood.

photo credit: Kate Previte

Abalone Congee

A silky, comforting porridge with lightly charred abalone.

Seafood Dukbokki

Nothing but respect for the sheer variety of goodies hiding inside this stew—hard-boiled eggs, shrimp, squid, mussels, perfectly pliable rice cakes of different sizes—but the broth is a little muted.

photo credit: Molly Fitzpatrick

Pumpkin Rice Punch

Rice Thief's sikhye is a malty and refreshing beverage-as-dessert. We especially like the sweetness of the version infused with pumpkin.