Cook's Seafood Closed Just Before Crab Season. Where Menlo Park Buys Fish This Holiday

Dan Dowler applied for a job at Cook's Seafood on Nov. 1, 1972. He told Palo Alto Online that owner Roy Crumrine's entire interview was one question: could he read and write? Dowler said he could and was hired. He stayed behind the counter for 55 years. At about 3 a.m. on Oct. 29, 2026, he got a text from Roy Crumrine Jr., the current owner, saying every Cook's location had closed the day before.

Dowler also told the paper what makes the timing hard. Summer is usually the slow season for fish, and Cook's was heading into its most profitable months. Those are the months of crab, cioppino and holiday tables. The day after his text arrived, the state of California pushed most of that season back too.

A counter that did the cooking work

For 98 years Cook's sold fish out of a white, blocky building at 751 El Camino Real. The San Francisco Chronicle described customers ordering sand dabs, salmon, Dungeness crab, oysters and calamari, then asking staff to clean the fish, crack the crab or pack the order. On the restaurant side, diners chose how many pieces of fish came with their chips. The menu also included clam chowder, petrale sole sandwiches, crab Louie and cioppino.

That service is the bigger loss. Plenty of stores sell fish. Few hand over a cracked, cleaned Dungeness ready for the pot, and that was the job Cook's did in December.

The business had changed hands only a few times:

1. 1928: Bill Cook, a police officer turned entrepreneur, founded it in Menlo Park.
2. 1940s: Cook sold it to Robert Rahe, who owned it until his death.
3. 1963: Rahe's wife sold it to Roy Crumrine, an employee since 1955, who ran it until his death.
4. Recent years: His son, Roy Crumrine Jr., took over. He added a lobster roll and grilled fish tacos to the menu.

A second Cook's opened in Pleasanton in 2025 after being promised since 2017. Pleasanton Weekly reported that it closed too, about a year after opening. The Chronicle reported the wording of the sign posted in the Menlo Park window.

"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."

Linda Hubbard, a Menlo Park resident who also wrote about the closure for InMenlo, told Palo Alto Online that her "very frugal mother only bought seafood from Cook's," and that she had done the same. "Always the best," she said. "It will be missed."

The same week, the crab season moved

On Oct. 30, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife delayed the commercial Dungeness crab fishery from the Oregon border to Point Conception until at least Jan. 1, 2027. That range covers the San Mateo County coast. The CDFW announcement cites the number of humpback whale entanglements in 2026 and says the delay also gives whales time to migrate out of California waters before commercial boats set gear.

Here is how the season lines up for a Menlo Park kitchen:

CDFW's Whale Safe Fisheries page posted the same decision on Oct. 31 and lists traps as prohibited in Zones 1 through 5 for now.

What that means for a December table

Locally landed commercial Dungeness will not reach Peninsula fish counters before Jan. 1 at the earliest, and the counter Menlo Park used for crab is gone. Holidays from Thanksgiving through New Year's Eve will fall entirely inside the delay.

The state's announcement leaves room for crab caught by hand. Recreational crabbing opened Nov. 7 in most of California, including the San Mateo coast. Traps are restricted until at least Jan. 1, but hoop nets and crab snares, also called loop traps, are allowed. CDFW notes that hoop nets must be checked every two hours and cannot be left unattended longer. The only recreational closure for domoic acid is far north, between Cape Mendocino and the Ten Mile State Marine Reserve. The full terms are in CDFW's release.

The mid-December assessment is the date to watch. It will use a recommendation from the Dungeness Crab Fishing Gear Working Group to decide whether the commercial fishery can open around the new year. If it opens, the first local crab of the season may show up for New Year's Day dinner instead of Christmas Eve.

The fish counters still open around Menlo Park

Without Cook's, the closest options are full-service grocers, plus one trip over the hill for anyone who wants to buy from the boats.

• Draeger's Market Menlo Park, 1010 University Drive. The closest replacement for anyone in downtown Menlo Park or west Atherton. Draeger's lists a Meat, Fish & Poultry department at this store. Draeger's Menlo Park
• Sigona's Farmers Market Redwood City, 2345 Middlefield Road. Sigona's says its Redwood City store carries seafood. Its Palo Alto shop at Stanford Shopping Center sells no meat or fish, so go to Redwood City for fish. Sigona's fish information
• Whole Foods Market Redwood City, 1250 Jefferson Ave. The store page lists meat and seafood for grilling and sustainable seafood. Whole Foods Redwood City
• Roberts Market, Woodside. The Woodside grocer says its seafood is very fresh and never frozen. It is closer for households in Woodside, Portola Valley and west Menlo Park. Roberts Market meat and seafood
• Pillar Point Harbor, Half Moon Bay. The San Mateo County Harbor District says local fishermen sell fresh fish directly at the harbor on weekends. Call the Fish Line at 726-8724 for availability before you drive over Highway 92. Harbor District fish guidance

Cook's sold what was in season and cleaned or cracked it at the counter. To get close to that at a supermarket, call ahead, ask what came in that morning, and ask whether staff will clean or portion the fish. Before the closure, that service was just part of a stop on El Camino Real.

El Camino Real in December

The Menlo Park holiday calendar continues without Cook's. The city's free Shop Local! Light Up the Season event is Friday, Dec. 4, from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at Fremont Park, with hot cocoa, performances and a tree lighting. The city's event listing encourages people to shop and dine locally that evening. This year, 751 El Camino Real will be dark during the months Dowler described as Cook's most profitable.

A business on El Camino Real for 98 years shapes how a town shops, and losing it changes Menlo Park day to day in ways a map doesn't show. Scott Dancer has worked this corridor since 1984 and follows changes like this closely. If you own property near El Camino Real and want to talk through what the corridor's shifts mean for you, Scott is glad to have that conversation directly. Let's Connect.