San Francisco has a wonderful food scene and likely my favourite of all the cities I visited in the USA. Given the coastal location, it isn't surprising that many of the local specialties involve seafood - Dungeness crab, seafood chowder, oysters etc.
With respect to the latter, Hog Island is a well respected company known for its sustainable farmed oysters.
The Hog Island Oyster Co restaurant at the Ferry Building along the harbourside is the place in San Francisco to eat them. They also branch out and import a variety from around the USA and even a few from overseas. Although we had a short wait in line outside, you are standing along the harbour and enjoying the world pass by, the sights in the distance, and the oysters being served up to the lucky guests earlier than you.
On our particular visit they had their usual Hog Island Sweetwater oysters and the other prevalent local Kumamoto oysters, as well as the respected Kusshi oysters from BC, and some I hadn't heard of before - Hama Hama and Blue Pool (Washington), Island Creek (Massachusetts) and even one from New Zealand!
If you feel inclined, there are hot options for oysters, of which we tried Casino (butter, Spanish paprika, bacon, shallots, thyme) and Lobster Butter (House preserved lemon, cilantro, lobster, butter). There are also a few serving sized dishes to pick from with clams or oysters.
All the oysters were fantastic and fresh, ranging from a light sweet flavour all the way to a strong ocean intensity. The cooked oysters were tasty also, although I always prefer fresh. We also tried the Clam Steamers (Manila clams with Corona beans and Mexican-style chorizo) which was a delicious heavily-flavoured clam soup.
Next time I would order whatever types of oysters you prefer - ask your server to suit them to your taste. The hot dishes are definitely worth a try if in the mood. The food quality and outdoor setting is worth a warm evening out.
