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Whereas Crane & Turtle specialized in a meticulous marriage of French and Japanese seafood, the pop-up taking over its former space in Petworth is going for a simpler motif: “crabs, crabs, and more crabs.”

Cappy’s Crabs will open on May 27th, following a two-week residency by ANXO Cidery & Pintxos Bar, and run through the summer.

“Lots of us here grew up in the area, spending our summers on the bay and eating crabs,” says owner Paul Ruppert, adding that D.C. is lacking in dedicated crab shacks since Tenleytown’s Dancing Crab closed. “While Upshur Street is not the Chesapeake Bay, it is certainly a great place to eat crabs.”

With picnic tables on the patio and a menu that does, in fact, extend beyond crustaceans to include hush puppies, deviled eggs, Baltimore beers, and Orange Crush, Ruppert says it will be a relaxed atmosphere. “We have in mind a crab house that’s similar to places you would find on the bay.”

Favorable weather patterns and a restoration effort have helped the Chesapeake Bay crab population rise to one of the highest levels seen in two decades. Still, be wary of menus that claim they are serving up Maryland’s “state crustacean”; a study done last year by the environmental group Oceana found that about 40 percent of crab cakes in the region that claim to contain local crab meat are actually mislabeled.

While Cappy’s Crabs will try to source their products locally, Ruppert says they likely won’t be exclusively from the Chesapeake. “We do our best to get local things but we don’t claim to be a local place just for that reason.”

While the ANXO pop-up that opened last night and several others in the space have been going well, according to Ruppert, he remains committed to opening up a permanent restaurant. But the team is still working on nailing down a concept.

“We’re considering everything from something similar to Crane & Turtle in that fine dining tradition, all the way to something more casual,” Ruppert tells DCist. “A lot of it is about finding the right people.”

Cappy’s Crabs (828 Upshur St. NW) will open on Friday, May 27th at noon. Regular hours of operation will be: Tuesday-Friday from 5 p.m.-10 p.m., Friday from 5 p.m.-11 p.m., Saturday from noon-11p.m., and Sunday from noon-9p.m.