The spent oyster shells crumbling under the weight of our footsteps are the only sounds on The Circle. It's Tuesday night in the middle of winter on Atlantic Beach.  The Ferris wheel is dead, and about the last thing we would expect to do is throw down. But that's exactly why we are here. We head up wooden steps behind what look like a couple of firm Dubya supporters, obviously without a clue as to the meaning of throw down. One of them turns around and shoots us a grin as he swings open the door. "How y'all doin'?" he says, acting like he has just hooked up with some buddies at `a kegger. Maybe we are going to throw down tonight, I think to myself as we step inside what is undoubtedly a throw-down scene. Tuesdays and Thursdays are Throw-Down Nights at The Crab's Claw Restaurant and Oyster Bar, and this one is no different. It's an all-you-can-eat steamed oysters special, and the red oyster bar is flaming. From behind a row of vinegar bottles, pepper sauces with warning labels and bowls of horseradish and habanera, shuckers are slapping down steamed oysters. Something like "Great Balls of Fire" is playing in the background and owner Antionette (Toni) Darienzo is singing out everyone's name. "Here ya' go darlin.' Let me get you some more butter. How 'bout you Bob? Need another beer?" A visitor just out of the kitchen informs us that Toni's partner, chef Tim Laslo, is secretly turning up the heat. "Lots of flames. Good stuff," she says, with a "ya' better get ready" look. Oh, we're ready. We're sitting at the bar now sliding a pile of fat, salty oysters through butter and hot sauce and down our throats, groaning the whole way. Just about the time we think we are in full throw-down mode, Tim emerges from the kitchen with what he placidly calls "a couple of samples." The last words he hears from us for a while are "oh my god!" as we contemplate the feast before us. A slab of house-smoked ribs garnished with a whole ear of fire-roasted sweet corn hangs over the edges of its platter. Sweet and tender, the ribs beg for the old melt in our mouth cliché. We use soft, grilled pita wedges to scoop our way though two bowls of silky crab dip, one mild, the other with the rustic heat of habanera peppers that Toni and Tim love. Nearby, a bowl of Harkers Island clams steeped with white wine, sweet peppers and Tasso ham send up a steam signal that clearly says, "Eat me." We inhale them. The half-pound house crab cake is stunningly delicious, stuffed into a portabella mushroom and served with red crab sauce on hollow, fat, spaghetti called perciatelli. The shrimp scampi is a perfect example of Toni and Tim's dedication to fresh ingredients. Jumbo shrimp are sautéed with fresh garlic, basil and tomatoes and topped with a generous sprinkling of Pecorino Romano cheese, a sort of spicy sister to Parmesan. The sizzling masterpiece is poured over delicate angle hair pasta at the table. That's right: at the table. Toni and Tim, both professionally trained chefs with impressive resumes, had dreamed of a black-tie kind of place with fine wine and osso bucco. Don't know what osso bucco is? Don't worry. Neither did most of the customers when The Crab's Claw opened in 1997. So the pair compromised. They combined their imaginative, ultra-fresh fare - Tim grows his own herbs and Toni flies in limes from Key West for her key lime pie - with a few local favorites and the kind of casual atmosphere Atlantic Beach visitors and residents love. Downstairs is the oyster bar, complete with beer banners, neon signs, wooden stools and canvass-back director's chairs. Upstairs, the light is low and Billy Holiday whispers through hidden speakers as diners sink into cozy chairs and absorb the ocean view. "That's the charm of it. That's the beauty of it," Toni says. "When you come in the front door, you have no idea what you're in for." She starts laughing. "I have a customer who comes in, he is a professor. He says this is the best little dive around. He says 'This is the best food I've ever had in my life.'" I look at my mates to either side cheeks stuffed, teeth working, heads nodding, drunk with pleasure. We are definitely throwing down now.

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Tom Petty "American Girl"