MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – A restaurant with history is a rare catch. Chicago has the Berghoff. Hollywood, Calif., is known for Musso & Frank’s. Peter Luger’s Steak House is as beloved as the Dodgers in Brooklyn, N.Y. But Joe’s Stone Crab in Miami Beach is one of the most culturally significant eateries in America.

The restaurant is entering its 90th season. It opened in 1913 as a small lunch counter. It was the first eating house on the island. If the walls were talking, the crabs would be walking.

“I’m not exaggerating, but I’m sure one aspect of Watergate was discussed here,” says Joe’s Stone Crab owner Steve Sawitz over dinner at his restaurant. “I’m sure CIA plots began here. Big business deals. Shady things. Lives have gone on here through repeat, repeat and repeat customers.”

In the fall of 2000, Sawitz partnered with Richard Melman and opened Joe’s Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab at 60 E. Grand. Last week American Airlines flew 3,000 pounds of fresh harvested stone crabs to the restaurant to commemorate the start of stone crab season. The Chicago Joe’s marks the first collaboration between Melman and Gerard Centioli under the ICON umbrella, a sibling of Melman’s Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises.

Sawitz, 45, is fourth-generation owner at Joe’s. His great-grandfather Joseph Weiss founded the restaurant when he came to Miami from New York City. Joseph was a Hungarian-born waiter who moved south to clear his asthma. His son Jesse was born in New York in 1907. Jesse had a daughter named Jo Ann, and Steve is her son.

“One of the great lessons I’ve learned is to be there for the long term,” Sawitz says as a guest eats Joe’s grilled grouper with cucumber pepper salsa ($16.95). “Most businesses are out to be sold. We’re not interested in that. And 90 years is a long time. I remember coming here on Sundays as a child and sitting at the family table. I shared chopped tenderloin with my sister (Jodi). That’s all we ever ordered.”

“We didn’t like fish.”

Sawitz’s father and grandfather lived above the restaurant at 11 Washington Avenue. Sawitz started doing odds and ends around the restaurant at age 8. By junior high, he was peeling potatoes in the kitchen. And he heard the stories:

“My great grandmother (Jennie) used to tell Al Capone he had to behave in the restaurant,” Sawitz says. “He used to send her flowers (in the shape of a horseshoe) on Mother’s Day. He paid with $100 bills.” Sawitz pauses and smiles. He says “Uh-oh. Does that implicate us? Dirty money!”

Will Rogers ate often at Joe’s. It was his kind of place because it was for everyman. A framed black and white portrait of baseball legend Joe DiMaggio hangs in the hallway near the bathrooms. Joltin’ Joe was a Joe’s regular. So is Larry King, who – in the fine history/recipe book Eat at Joe’s ($19.95, Bay Books) – recalled that Joe’s was the place to be in 1964 when the first Sonny Liston-Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) fight took place in Miami Beach. On that night Joe’s diners included Frank Sinatra and J. Edgar Hoover.

Amelia Earhart found her way to the crab house. Sawitz adds, “John Belushi used to go to the back door of the restaurant and order out that way. Jim Belushi comes when he’s in town. Jackie Gleason was a regular with his cigarettes and drinks. I just talked to his wife today.”

Melman is also a longtime Joe’s devotee. He says, “I’ve been a fan of Joe’s for 25, 30 years. When my folks were alive they lived in Miami Beach. I was aware of Joe’s even before that. I just loved the place.” Melman wasn’t worried that Joe’s would take business away from Shaw’s Crab House, 21 E. Hubbard St., which he opened in 1987. “I have a bad sense of direction. I never thought they were that close. But they are three blocks away. It hasn’t hurt Shaw’s. Steaks and stone crab are sold at Joe’s. Steaks and stone crab aren’t sold at Shaw’s. It’s more of an oyster house.”

“It’s similar, yet different. It has worked for both restaurants.”

Sawitz tries to use a heartland ethic to make his restaurant work. He says, “Believe it or not, we try to have a Midwestern philosophy in Miami Beach. I’m not saying we always succeed. There’s more of a down-to-earth mindset we have, even on an emotional level.”

For example, only in recent years did Joe’s chronicle their famous recipes. “For the longest time they were just written in a book upstairs,” Sawitz says. “My mom had them and she would train people. We’ve finally gotten into the computer.”

The Chicago location also learns from Miami Beach. Michael Rotolo is operations director for the Joe’s in Chicago. He explains, “The food is fantastic and the stone crabs are great, but what I really came away with was the ( Miami Beach ) waiters. They bound up to your table and start spinning stories. We knew we had to capture that in the Chicago restaurant.”

Rotolo and his staff interviewed about 1,200 servers. They figured to hire 80 to open the restaurant. “By the end of the five weeks we had 28 we thought could do it,” Rotolo says. “I told Rich (Melman) we only had 28 servers and we couldn’t open for lunch. He said, ‘Fine. We’ll open for lunch when we find 28 more. We’re going to be on this corner for a lot of years.’ ”

Joe’s Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab is now open for lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday; for dinner, from 4 to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Sunday hours are from 4 to 9:30 p.m.

Call (312) 379-5637