Swan Oyster Depot

San Francisco, CA

Chu-Toro and I have been meaning to check out Swan Oyster depot for years. We are oyster and seafood lovers and as a San Francisco institution, everyone says there's no better place for fresh seafood. Swan Oyster is only open for lunch and there's always a line. We knew there was something wrong when we attempted to come last time and they were closed. Thankfully on this visit, our wait was only about 15-20 minutes before we were designated two cramped seats at the bar. 

Bar

The space is small but they squeeze everything they need to into the tight knit quarters. We started off with a Stella (on tap) and an iced tea.

Clam Chowder and Sourdough

The clam chowder is simple and watery. Perfectly fine flavors, but not what we're used too. We both agreed that we'd skip this on the next visit.

Crab Cocktail and Calamari Salad

The star of the meal was the crab cocktail. We debated whether we wanted a salad or not, but decided just to go with straight up crab meat with sauce on the top. The cocktail sauce was perfection, not too acidic, not too sweet, just perfect. The crab was super fresh having been cracked in the back, naturally sweet and wonderful. When you have crab like that, without doing all the work, you could eat another three cocktails on your own. The calamari salad was less successful in my mind. There was just a little too much celery and we weren't crazy about the flavor. We'd skip this next time as well.

Mixed dozen

Next up was the mixed dozen oysters which included Miyagi's, Cleveland Cove's, Blue Points and Steamboat island's. Chu-Toro was partial to the Blue Points while I enjoyed the Steamboat island's. There are a variety of sauces to add to your raw oysters and we tried each of them. The house mignonette was good but the spicy thai took away too much from the natural oyster flavor. Same goes for using cocktail sauce, although its awesome on everything else. In the end, we're classical and a little lemon wedge was perfect.

Cherry Stone Clams, Kumomtos and Steamboat Islands

We followed up our order with another half dozen oysters (steamboat islands and kumomotos) and six cherry stone clams. Chu-toro really liked the kumomotos, little sweet gems of perfection, although I prefer a little more bite to my oysters. The cherry stone clams were intriguing because we had never had raw clams out of the shell before. The first one I had was a bit too oceany for me, but after a little lemon and a touch of cocktail sauce, they ended up being really good. 

We debated if we wanted to have the fresh sea urchin (there was only one left if we wanted it), but were pretty full and already spend $100 bucks. Fresh seafood ain't cheap. But we really enjoyed ourselves and are already excited for a return trip back. 

Overall 7.5/10

August 20, 2011