Humbly Decadent
Where to start with this one… Coming up with words to describe the experience we had at Swan Oyster Depot is proving to be a bit of a challenge because we had such an amazing experience, but we will try to capture it as best we can and give it the time and attention it deserves.
As some of you may know, Swan Oyster Depot is a seafood bar that has been featured on Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown. It’s located in Nob Hill in San Francisco and is a tiny little restaurant marked unobtrusively by a blue awning outside and more conspicuously, by the long line of people waiting outside. The storefront has a large window that showcases some of the fresh seafood they have for the day. Beautiful pieces of fresh and smoked fish, crab, shrimp, prawns, scallops, sea urchin, and you name it, are all ripe for the picking either for take-out or dine-in. But be warned, there are only 11 seats in this joint, so either get here early or be prepared to wait. We waited a whole 2 hours until we were able to get seated.
Once seated, you’ll quickly realize that Swan Oyster Depot is a very special and unique Bay Area establishment.. Everyone working there is a complete character and all incredibly warm and inviting. The best way we can describe what it feels like in Swan Oyster Depot is feeling like you’re in your uncle’s garage that got transformed into an oyster bar with all your uncles and cousins just hanging out, jammin’ out to 50s surf rock and preparing you a feast. It’s organized chaos behind the bar—all you see are orange t-shirts weaving in and around each other, never missing a beat of refilling drinks or asking customers what else they need.
We started off with a cup of clam chowder. When in the bay, you must indulge yourself in some clam chowder, always. The chowder at Swan Oyster Depot is very special. It isn’t very thick and is more on the soupy-side. The cream wasn’t overpowering at all, which allows the fresh clam flavor to come through with each spoonful. Of course, we had to throw in some oyster crackers from the giant communal bowl placed in front of us. No clam chowder is complete without a spoon full of those bad boys! The cup of clam chowder was the perfect start to the decadence we were about to experience.
Next, we had a combo platter of two-dozen oysters. Every single oyster was so delicious and the flavors were so distinctly different. Some sweet, some more buttery and some more ocean-y. Each one was so delightfully fresh and didn’t have that overpowering salty and sandy, gritty taste and texture. These oysters were so delicate in their flavor and with each slurp of the oyster, we were greeted by the slightest hint of that yummy ocean flavor. We mostly stuck with lemon and Tabasco for our condiments, but mignonette sauce and their house-made hot sauce are also available to top your oysters with.
Because we were so engulfed in our oyster experience, we lost track of which oyster was which, so we ended up asking our server to recap what we had eaten. They were nice enough to write down the name of each oyster for us, and even went the extra mile to try and figure out how to properly spell “chincoteague” (had to Google search that one).
Next up was the Sea Urchin. It’s no surprise that Boss and Boss are huge fans of Uni, so naturally, when we saw a few Sea Urchins just chillin on top of ice in the storefront, we knew what we had to do. Everytime we’ve had Uni, it’s always been at a sushi restaurant. This time was our first time having Uni prepared in a non-Japanese style. When they brought the Sea Urchin out, it came in it’s own shell. It was a very impressive way of plating the uni, but on top of that, it was so fascinating to look at because each of the spines on the Sea Urchin shell were still moving and doing a little dance. The taste of the uni was very interesting because we’re used to that oceany taste which we love in Uni. However, this Sea Urchin didn’t have that ocean-y flavor but it still retained that buttery texture that we all love so much. We still loved it, but it had us scratching our heads.
The shrimp cocktail was next. It was no surprise that this was just as amazing as the rest of our meal. The prawns were very fresh and very meaty. The shrimp cocktail sauce was also very tasty and with some added freshly grated horseradish, it was heavenly. when you add some of their horseradish in there, it adds that extra kick.
As if we hadn’t eaten enough, we ordered their Sicilian Sashimi. It was an assortment of Yellowtail, Salmon, Tuna, Mackerel, and Scallop splashed with olive oil and topped with capers and finely diced red onion. The dish was tasty, but being two sushi lovers, we felt that perhaps the olive oil, capers and onion distracted from the taste of the fish. Tasty, but would probably explore the other items on their menu before ordering this again. If you are, however, interested in trying out this menu item, be sure to ask for it because it doesn’t make an appearance on their menu board.
Since we loved the oysters so much, we ordered another dozen. If you’re going to come all the way out here and wait 2 hours in line, might as well ball out, right?
We ended our lunch with their infamous Crab Back. It’s the shell of the crab, cracked away from the body while retaining that “crab butter” and fat that is so often neglected. The taste of the crab butter is… well, buttery, and oh-so-delicious. It’s a little jarring at first when you dip your bread into it, because you’d expect the juices to be warm but they are in fact cold. Once you get past that, it’s a super tasty end of the meal treat and a perfect use of the sourdough loaf you’re served at the beginning of your meal.
This lunch was one of the most decadent lunches that we’ve ever had. Everything we ordered was so amazing and the oysters blew us away. The lunch itself was not for the faint of heart, as it put us back three bones. So if you’re down to ball out, this is the place to do it. Anthony Bourdain once said about eating at Swan Oyster Depot, “If I read about myself dying at this counter, I’d say to myself, ‘that was one lucky guy.’” We finally understand what he meant and agree wholeheartedly.
Swan Oyster Depot
1517 Polk St
San Francisco, CA 94109
