Alas, poor oysters. But like the Walrus and the Carpenter of Through the Looking-Glass fame, they were delicious enough to make one weep.
I was wandering through Lower Polk, also known as Polk Gulch, when I saw a line outside a small deli. Whatever that deli was serving, they were either very slow in doing it, or the food was good enough to command a line. (Even if it was the former, if people want it bad enough to wait in line for it…)
(Sidetrack: My friends would argue that that is such typical mentality of back home. But it is a good indicator, no less scientific than how economists look for factors and indicators to proffer a forecast.)
And that’s how I discovered the Swan Oyster Depot.
Fresh seafood without the attitude and pretentiousness of many of San Francisco’s restaurants. Just one long marble bar in this narrow hole in the wall, opened in 1912 and run by the same family for a few generations.
Inevitably, such places will have a line. But high turnover means your seafood is always fresh.
Don’t believe me? Read the reviews. Or this one.
Swan Oyster Depot
1517 Polk Street
(on Nob Hill, between California St & Sacramento St)
Tel: (415) 673-1101
Tags: oysters, san francisco, travel
