Posts Tagged: Oyster
Swan Oyster Depot | San Francisco, California USA
Lining up at Swan Oyster Depot
The kitchen
Sour Dough Bread and butter
Clam Chowder
Oysters on the half shell
Combination salad
Sea Urchin
After eating that lovely breakfast at Farm:Table we proceeded to Swan Oyster Depot to get our seafood fix; some really positive reviews, so I was quite hopeful. Honestly, I’ve heard of them before but it was definitely thanks to Anthony Bourdain’s The Layover that got my excitement going again. They actually open pretty early at 8am (who says you can’t have seafood for breakfast?!) and per the time change from EST/GMT-5 to PST/GMT-8 it was about lunch time for me, so that worked out nicely. Albeit the early start, the line actually got quite long; about a 30-45min wait. Surprising, but not too bad.
As far as the food goes, there is no question that the seafood was fresh but the selection was not to the level I was hoping for; most likely this was due to seasonality. Maybe I just went in with too high of expectations. But what they do have, is all great. The best thing was definitely the Sea urchin. Definitely an advanced foodie type of cuisine as the Sea Urchin’s outer shell was still moving! You have been warned. 🙂
Definitely need to go back sometime between mid-November and early spring when they have the Dungeness Crab. Oh, important!!! Bring cash, they don’t take credit cards, checks, or allow you to barter with your first born.
Swan Oyster Depot (information gathered 2/2013)
1517 Polk St,
San Francisco, CA 94109
415.673.2757
Hours
Mon – Sat 8:00am – 5:30pm
Sun Closed
Parking:
Much like at Farm:Table, your best bet is to find a parking deck. It looks like parking is fairly limited.
Please be advised, all images and content are copyrighted and may not be used without permission. Got questions? Email me: mweats <dot> info <at> gmail <dot> com
| References:Add me on twitter / facebook: twitter | facebook Farm:Table website | facebook Anthony Bourdain twitter | facebook |
Island Creek Oyster Bar | Boston, Massachusetts USA
At Island Creek Oyster Bar waiting on a table; queue your name with the bartender if you want a bar seat.
RAW Bar – ordering oysters
RAW Bar – Island Creek Oyster, Duxbury, MA, Skip Bennett; Beach Point, Barnstable, MA, Mark Begley; Taunton Bay, Acadia, ME, Mike Briggs; Wild Belon, Harpswell, ME
Crispy IC Oyster Slider; brioche roll, lime chile aioli
Pan Fried Crab Cake; corn relish, dijon aioli, frisee
Local Clam Chowder; hand dug clams, buttermilk biscuit, house-cured bacon
Lobster Roe Noodles; braised short rib, grilled lobster, maitake mushrooms, pecorino
Bouillabaisse; swordfish, salmon, littlenecks, PEI mussels, rouille
Honey-Sweet Buttermilk Biscuit
Been wanting to come here for a while actually. It was one of the first places that caught my eyes while using the Chefs Feed app.But a really fun atmosphere with a sophisticated touch; great date place! That night I went with a small group and originally had a reservation for 9:30 on a Thursday, but decided to try our luck to get an earlier table. Was told that for busier nights it’s required to check-in with the bartender and check-in we did! Were able to snag a row of three stools around 8:45 and commenced our gastro-tour through some wonderful dishes. Favorite dish would definitely have to be Clam Chowder! Had some good bowls of the stuff, but this place’s chowder was wonderful! The biscuit was freaking impressive as well! Flaky as if it were rolled of filo dough and that little bit of honey was a nice touch. Besides the amazing decor, the service there was the best I’ve had in a while. Constant changing of utensils after each course, never had an empty water glass and the bartender Andrew was super friendly and helpful; learned a fun fact that the Wild Balon are unable to be farmed but must be harvested in the wild instead. A great time!
Island Creek Oyster Bar (information gathered 9/2012)
500 Commonwealth Avenue
Boston, MA 02215
617.532.5300
Hours
Mon – Sat 4:00pm – 1:00am
Sun 11:00am – 12:00am
Parking
Street parking or valet were the only things available. At the time of driving there, street parking was near impossible to find; valet is $16.
Please be advised, all images and content are copyrighted and may not be used without permission. Got questions? Email me: mweats <dot> info <at> gmail <dot> com
| References:
Chefs Feed chefsfeed.com | twitter |
Neptune Oyster | Boston, MA USA
Kumamoto Oysters; small, sweet, plump, creamy, hints of honeydew melon
Buttermilk Johnnycake; honey butter, smoked trout tartare, Little Pearl caviar served on a thin slightly crispy cornmeal pancake
The inside space
Maine Lobster Roll; toasted roll, hot with butter
Outside looking in.
End of the night, where’d all the seafood go? :/
From the marble table tops to the tiled/textured ceiling, the ambiance definitely takes you back to simpler times. This 42 seat capacity restaurant (yeah it’s that small) is definitely at the top of my list for seafood. The positive side of such a quaint eatery is the staff is quite attentive during your dining experience; the con, however, is you may have to wait a while to get in. Should the need to wait arise, simply go inside, stand at the doorway (because honestly there is limited space to stand) and wait for one of the staff to come take your name and phone number. I consider that pretty cool, they’ll call you when they’re ready for you. Just make sure you’re near.
From personal experience, I arrived around 6pm on a Tuesday so I was practically asking for a long wait, but it actually wasn’t so bad. Probably a solid 35 minute wait which was fine. I ended up going to the coffee shop, Boston Common Coffee Co. a block away for a quick cup of coffee and relaxed thinking of the superb seafood I was soon to become one with.
Goodness. Those oysters on the half shell (Kumamoto) were so sweet and fresh. The combination on the Buttermilk Johnnycakes, who knew those things would go together?! It just was so well balanced between the hot texture of the johnnycake and the cold smoked trout tartare and caviar… it was an experience that sent chill down your spine because of how good it was. Towards the end of the meal, I decided I would go all out and top it off with a lobster roll. The generous helping of large chucks of Maine lobster meat on a well toasted bun; some butter to make it all happy.. It was just a wonderful way to end the meal. There are still some items I still have to cross off my list (e.g. Neptune Burger, Tuna Ribbons, The Neptune Plateau from the raw bar). Time to bring the stretchy pants.
Neptune Oyster (information gathered 07/2012)
63 Salem Street
Boston, MA 02113
617.742.3474
Hours
Mon – Thurs, Sun 11:30am – 9:30pm
Fri – Sat 11:30am – 10:30pm
Parking
It can be tricky to find parking as the spots along the street are typically full. Come early.
Please be advised, all images and content are copyrighted and may not be used without permission. Got questions? Email me: mweats <dot> info <at> gmail <dot> com
| References: Neptune Oyster http://www.neptuneoyster.com/ Chefs Feed http://www.chefsfeed.com/ |