Joe's Crab Shack's latest drool-inducing "Taste of Summer" specials pair a whole lobster with Corona beer, or Corona-lime peal-and-eat shrimp that slide down with sunny ease when you order the watermelon sangria or the mango Coronita Rita cocktails.
Eat and drink at Joe's and you could pretend like you were sitting on a tropical beach with a cool ocean breeze blowing away your cares.
Nice fantasy that will now require a two-hour drive from Tucson. Joe's quietly pulled up anchor on its east side Tucson restaurant on Tuesday, closing with little if any notice. There was no word from corporate on Wednesday about the chain looking for a new Tucson location and officials at the Tempe restaurants had no information.
Joe's had been in Tucson since the late 1990s at 410 N. Wilmot Road, serving the chain's signature crab legs, lobster, shrimp and crab cakes. The beach-themed restaurant was founded in Houston, Texas, in 1991, and has more than 135 restaurants in 35 states including Arizona, which has two: 1604 E. Southern Ave. and 1606 W. Baseline Road, both in Tempe.
