Swan Oyster Depot - SF

If you're all about the fresh seafood and don't care about the decor or service you should come to the Swan Oyster Depot.  This is a local fresh fish/oyster store that has been here since 1912.  Be prepared to wait in line for about 20-50 mins.  This place is very small and seats about 20 at the counter.  The menu includes whole lobsters, seafood salads made of shrimp or crab.  They also server Boston-style chowder and oysters from the east/west coasts served on the half-shell.

We ordered 2 Seafood salads.  Clam Chowder and 6 Blue Point Oysters, then another 1/2 dozen of Miyagi and Kumamoto.  All the seafood was super fresh.  I usually don't like oysters since I had a really bad experience about 10 years ago in SF at this "supposedly" amazing restaurant someone brought me to.  Until that day at the Swan Oysters Depot has given me a second chance to explore the oyster scene again after 10 years.  The blue point oysters were my favorite because of its smooth and clean flavor of the oyster.  I enjoyed the Miyagi and Kumamoto but I preferred the Blue Points more.  The chowda was FLAME!!!!  This wasn't your typical chowder.  The clam chowder broth itself had a lot of depth.  You can taste the clams, potatoes and celery in each spoonful you place into your mouth.  This was one of the best chowders I've tasted in a long time.  Thanks to Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations show, we were able to enjoy this final yummy meal before heading home.

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Boulevard - San Francisco

We flew into SF for a weekend wedding and decided to try Boulevard who was nominated for the 2011 James Beard outstanding restaurant.


Service was good.  Food was just okay.  Decor was nice and comfy.  We ordered the ravalini and seafood salad for appetizers. The ravalini was amazing.  The ravalini had great flavor without being too over powering with the bits of bacon and mushroom on the side. I would highly recommend this dish to others.  The seafood salad was good nothing really memorable.


We ordered the filet mignon and the pork prime rib for our entrees.  The pork prime rib chop was very good.  It was very flavorful and juicy from the pork jus. I liked the potatoes with the potato chip flakes over the German potatoes.  We asked for the filet to be cooked medium and was  well done.  The filet was bland and we weren't happy since they overcooked the filet.  They did give us another properly cooked filet.


At the end of the day when we got our bill nothing was done for us for the mistake.  We are not asking for the filet to be comped but at least do something to make us happy like comping the dessert or a small discount.  We shouldn't have to request this.  I truly believe what makes a okay/good restaurant from a great restaurant  are the little things that are done beyond just great food and great service.  The meal did not have a wow factor.  I wouldn't come back here.

Raviolini Ala Carbonara

Seafood Salad

Wood Oven Roasted Filet Mignon
Baby Mushrooms & Fried Shallots Banana Fingerling
Potatoes with Mountain Gorgonzola Sauce Roast Beef Jus
& Barolo Vinaigrette

Wood Oven Roasted Heritage Pork Prime Rib Chop
Spinach Spaetzle Cacio e Pepe A Blend of Pecorino & Various
Peppercorns Sauteed Swiss Chard, Pickled Cherries & Frizzled Guanciale

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San Francisco Trip

One of my wife's best friend was getting married in San Fran so we decided to come here for a short mini vacation and explore the west coast.  We stayed at the OMNI hotel in SF near the financial district and I must say, this is one of the nicer hotels I've stayed at in the states.  The decor has a very old feeling to it.  Everything from the vases and bathroom lamps and wall paper was very well thought out to make this comfortable room feel homey.  The room was very roomy and the staff was extremely helpful.  If you need to rent a car, the Hyatt Regency Street down 3-4 blocks has car rentals and it's very reasonable.  I was able to get it for 40 bucks for the day.  During this 4 day trip we mapped out 3 places we have to check out from recommendations from websites and friends.  One thing I don't like about SF is that lots of restaurants close really early and some don't open on Sundays or Mondays.  So if you are looking to go to a popular restaurant make sure you do your research or you will be disappointed when you get there and it's closed.  San Francisco is a very tourist friendly city!  They have free tours all throughout the city and at the end of the tour, it is at your discretion to tip them or not.  I would highly recommend that you take a few of these to learn more about the city.  The ones we participated was the golden gate park Japanese tea garden and the Chinatown tours.  DID you know that the fortune cookie was not invented by the Chinese ????  It was the Japanese who created it!!  We learned that fact from the Chinatown tour lawl....

We found this food truck at the Golden Gate Park area.  We ordered the lobster roll and clam chowda! They both were really good.  I would definitely recommend this.  The lobster had great flavor, texture, and melts in your mouth.  The bun was okay but we got a lot for our money.

Oh Andros

We stopped in Nassau during our cruise and we wanted to explore the island.  We were looking for something to eat and something local/traditional Bahamian so we were told to try oh andros (approximately 1 mile outside of the port).  If you don't leave the port area , most of the food there is geared towards tourists.  I've never tried local Bahamian food before so I didn't high expectations for service and food.  They are known for their Conch.  If you've never tasted it before the texture is similar to calamari. 

Conch Fritters - the batter had a nice spicy kick to it and the conch was lightly breaded in this batter.  This was very good and they had a side of this sauce for you to dip it in.

Conch Salad - This was very refreshing and you were able to taste lots of the Conch in the Salad.  The size of the salad was very big.

Seafood Platter - Conch, Red Snapper, Lobster, friend plantains, rices and peas, macacroni and cheese

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