Swan Oyster Depot

We've been meaning to try Swan for a very, very, long time now.  It always comes up as a suggestion when we're going down the long list of San Francisco eateries, but then some how we always pass up Swan Oyster Depot for something else.  We of course now know that we have been such idiots for choosing anything but this place for dinner.  Now you may think that I'm being a little bit harsh, but have you been to Swan? Well, have you?  Yes, that's right...I was actually being nice when I said we were "idiots".

This is one place where I don't mind standing in the door way for thirty minutes waiting hungrily and awkwardly for a stool at the bar while our meter is running out.  That says a lot doesn't it?  We arrived just about an hour before they closed, and they were still packed with people--this place is extremely popular.  And again, if you've been, you know exactly why.

One of the things that really drew me into this place is that it is just so relaxed, it's very old school with the bar-only seating and the rickety stools, and I just adore everyone who works there--they all have such quirky and friendly personalities that it just completes the experience.

The single most amazing bowl of clam chowder.
It's not thick and overly creamy, it's a thin soup that's extraordinarily clamy and just very good.  Not what I expected at all from a clam chowder--I've had a few bowls of this stuff in my day, and this my friends, this...is the God of all clam chowders.  

Half dozen Miyagi oysters on the half shell (three different types) 

Matt's exact words after we finished, "UGH, God, why am I so stupid...we should have ordered a whole dozen!"

In my opinion, we should have gotten a dozen...each.

Crab cocktail

Usually, I'm wary of cocktails.  Why?  Well, I'm sure you know why.  Everyone's had a bad seafood cocktail experience--the fishy, definitely-not-fresh-four-day-old-dead-seafood-cocktail flavor that can't even be masked by the most delicious of cocktail sauces...yeah, those.  You've had 'em.  That's why I tend to shy away from ordering pre-made seafood.  But at Swan you don't have to be wary of the cocktails because

1) seafood is their livelihood

and

2) it's guaranteed fresh, g-u-a-r-a-n-t-e-e-d.

O, and definitely try their house made horse radish, that stuff will clear your sinuses, your mind, and make you  cry.  I walked out with a bottle myself.  

Enjoy.