Just in time for the opening of Dungeness season next month, Nettie’s Crab Shack debuted on Union Street Tuesday night, in the space that—for about five minutes—house Palmetto. The co-creation of Brian Leitner (who spent five years cooking at Chez Panisse) and Annette Yang (who helped open Spruce, Jack Falstaff and Home, which occupied said space before Palmetto), Nettie’s is done up like a spacious Atlantic beach cottage. You’ll think you’re back in Cape Cod or Ocean City. There’s a patio, picnic tables covered in butcher paper and buckets of beer.


The bar at Nettie's.

The casual food and drink follows suit: crispy fish and chips, addictive shoestring fries, fried chicken sandwiches, even soft-serve ice cream from a machine in the open kitchen in back. At the pre-opening party on Sunday afternoon, Leitner manned the barbecue on the open patio facing Union Street (I see blond people … lots of blond people crowding this patio on forthcoming weekend afternoons). He shucked gorgeous oysters and skewered (with chorizo!) the hugest mussels I’ve ever seen, which in spite of their size were as tender and chewable as sushi-grade tuna. You can also look forward to oyster po’boys, lobster rolls and cioppino. Somebody pass the napkins please.
   
Barbecued oysters and shoestring fries.