A Central Valley seafood boil chain is coming to SLO County. What’s on the menu?

Move over burgers — you’re being replaced by shellfish at a remodeled Morro Bay eatery.

Crab It While It’s Hot, specializing in crab and other seafood boils, will soon be in what used to be the Beach Burger’s oceanfront location at 517 Embarcadero Suite C.

The burger joint closed in 2025, citing an expiring lease and surrounding construction as reason for shuttering.

Now the space is getting a facelift in anticipation of its new tenant.

“We’re remodeling to make it more up to date,” Owner Presley Lara told The Tribune of the new restaurant’s location.

Presley owns the business alongside wife Sally Lara.

The couple already have three Crab It sites in the Central Valley. The stand-alone restaurants are in Porterville and Visalia, and there’s a counter stall in the Hanford Mall food court.

Morro Bay was a logical next move for a family that adores vacationing on the Central Coast every chance they get, he said.

How did Central Valley couple get into seafood restaurant business?

The Laras’ burgeoning crab-boil business started in 2019 with a “pot and a propane tank in our backyard,” Presley said.

“We had no funds,” he said, but he wanted to try selling it to customers and began posting about it online.

By 2020, Crab It had transferred into a food truck in Visalia, which the couple absolutely loved, he said.

However, their food became so popular that demand outstripped the truck’s available spots for storing supplies, freezer space and for preparing and filling the orders that kept flooding in.

To meet the growing demand, the Laras then branched out into brick-and-mortar units, starting first with their flagship restaurant in Porterville in 2021, adding Visalia and Hanford in 2022 and 2023, respectively.

The Laras, who were born and raised in the Central Valley, live in Porterville. They have daughters aged 20 and 11.

What is on the menu of Crab It While It’s Hot?

The new restaurant’s casual, family-style seafood boil meals are served with a flourish from a bag onto a draped tabletop.

Their succulent, savory crab boil dish — traditional in northeastern and southern United States regions — is cooked with and accompanied by potatoes, corn on the cob, sometimes sausage and sauces ranging in heat level from original to “Hot AF and X-Hot AF.”

The meal can also be served with butter or even naked. Crab It uses only their own house-made seasoning mixes, too, Lara said.

Also provided are plenty of bibs, gloves and wipes for the hungry diners.

The Sampler boil is their most popular offering, Lara said of the bag filled with mussels, crawfish, shrimp, corn, potatoes and eggs. The crab bag is also a hit, with Alaskan snow crab, shrimp and the rest, plus the sausage that’s not part of the Sampler.

Seafood boils are a familiar drill for him, Sally Lara and his family, he said.

“I was in construction, and my wife used to make it for me,” he said. “It was my favorite dinner.”

For more on its signature offerings, the Crab It website shows the Porterville menu, which Presley warned does include some items that may not be available in Morro Bay — at least not in the beginning.

How to apply

Presley told The Tribune they’re staffing up now to train the new team for anticipated soft and grand openings in July, after his current remodeling efforts are complete.

“‘Crab It While It’s Hot’ is officially coming to Morro Bay, and we are looking for energetic, hardworking individuals to join our crew,” a poster advertising the openings said. “If you love a fast-paced environment and great seafood boil, we want to hear from you!”

“We’re looking for everybody,” Presley added. “Managers, leads and cashiers, cooks and more.”

Lara advised texting 559-306-9632 or emailing presley55915@gmail.com to apply.

This story was originally published May 27, 2026 at 5:00 AM with the headline "A Central Valley seafood boil chain is coming to SLO County. What’s on the menu?."

Kathe Tanner

The Tribune

805-781-7904 (voicemails only)

Kathe Tanner has been writing about the people and places of SLO County’s North Coast since 1981, first as a columnist and then also as a reporter. Her career has included stints as a bakery owner, public relations director, radio host, trail guide and jewelry designer. She has been a resident of Cambria for more than four decades, and if it’s happening in town, Kathe knows about it.