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I had some great soft-shell crab tempura with ponzu at Sake Bar Hagi recently - http://nycrumbs.com/posts/2009/5/3/japanese-comfort-food-sake-bar-hagi-a-midtown-izakaya.html

Lobster House in Chelsea Market would carry SSC at a reasonable cost (for NYC). Best fishmonger in the city, IMO.

Kinda a followup to Simon's reply:

Mott Street where a great majority of the seafoody stalls are doesn't have a complete selection all the time.

Rent is steep, space is limited, old communities are aging and leaving and new communities are coming in, as much as I love downtown's Chinatown, its selection is trumped by the Chinatowns in Brooklyn and in Flushing.

The newer (relatively anyway) Chinatowns are busting with new immigrants and their food.

@clapper - Sorry, I'm up in Northampton, so I have no clue. As for the cleaning process, here are the sites I perused for some help in that regard when I made them:

http://www.cookinglouisiana.com/Cooking/Seafood/Cleaning_Soft_Shell_Crab.htm

http://www.chow.com/stories/11245

http://bitten.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/05/27/how-to-clean-soft-shell-crabs/

@simon - Oh, okay, cool. I just know some people, as I was previously with soft shell crabs, are sometimes apprehensive about cooking stuff that seems more intimidating than it is. Just trying to help. =)

Anyway, here's a Chowhound thread that might be useful to you: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/305964

Wow- thanks for all the tips, guys! I work down the street from Chinatown and I've looked into getting them down there but never followed through. Usually get an odd look when you say that you need 6 dozen. Maybe this will be the year. Lindy's sounds great too!
I second the Hadfield's recommendation- always my go-to stop when I'm passing through! And thanks Scarletini- I'm probably out of range, but good luck with the crabbing!

If you don't mind driving down to exit 77 (parkway) in Jersey, my husband is a crabber and you won't get them any fresher. Straight off the boat, in fact. We usually just need to know the day before so we save a bushel for you. Our prices are also generally more reasonable than fish stores. You can email me at apopovics@comcast.net and I'll give you our number to call if you're interested.

Just walk up and down Mott Street. Plenty of seafood vendors all up and down the heart of Chinatown. You can poke and prod and compare prices and quality at numerous stands.

If that fails, any supermarket, how about the big one near Elizabeth.

Or you can try the Flushing or Brooklyn Chinatowns.

We're getting into the season so big buckets of live crabs are available anywhere you go.

second chinatown

@Clapper - Thank you. The menu doesn't say it, rather it is my ABC (American Born Chinese) background that mistranslated it. For some reason, I thought the character used was "dragon", however I probably remembered incorrectly.

Thanks for the clarification!

A good frozen brand is by PrimeFoods. They make a variety of dumplings too but only recently noticed them making soup dumplings. I usually see them sold in larger asian supermarkets for 3 bags for $11.

check out M Shanghai Bistro & den (http://mshanghaiden.com/) in Williamsburg. their soup dumplings are heavenly!

Joe's Shanghai is sort of hit or miss, but when they hit they hit. There is a place on Bowery just above/below where it intersects with Pell - red sign with yellow lettering, it's PACKED for weekend lunchtime and they make great soup dumplings. I've heard very good things about Flushing, any specific places?