S
stefen
Guest
Cristina and I just finished a 10 day cruise from Eureka (northern California) down the coast to Orange County and sampled steamers along the way.
Eureka's bay clams & mussels steamed in beer with drawn butter and sourdough bread was by far the best. These, accompanied with a bottle of local microbrew, made the trip well worth the effort.
Grotto No. 9 on the San Francisco Embarcadero featured steamers (water & olive oil) again with drawn butter and San Francisco's sourdough came in second. It took the butter and hot sourdough bread to bring out the flavor. Hmm. I remember distinctly eating the bread.....
Cambria (near Hearst Castle) on Highway 1 featured local caught steamers clams, and again, at least tied with SF if not slightly better...Hmmmmmmm. Stopped and watched the Elephant Seals at the beach rookery colony about 5 miles north of Hearst Castle State Beach. Oops, I segued. Sorry.
Santa Barbara's restaurants on the pier were just so-so, and best described as suitable for Sea Gull slop.
Probably sampled at least 15 different clam chowders, mostly New England style which ranged from chewy rubber band soup to a pleasant creamy soup worthy of a Gold Medal. Cambria and Eureka were the best.
California is a funny state for getting seafood...San Diego, Orange and Los Angeles counties have very few specialty seafood restaurants.
However, the further one gets from Los Angeles towards Seattle, the more opportunities prevail and the quality gets even better. Eureka in northern California, I feel is equal to Seattle. Anacordes and La Connor don't do too bad either.
Now Alaska is another story (Eilson AFB days)...home of the King Crab...hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Eureka's bay clams & mussels steamed in beer with drawn butter and sourdough bread was by far the best. These, accompanied with a bottle of local microbrew, made the trip well worth the effort.
Grotto No. 9 on the San Francisco Embarcadero featured steamers (water & olive oil) again with drawn butter and San Francisco's sourdough came in second. It took the butter and hot sourdough bread to bring out the flavor. Hmm. I remember distinctly eating the bread.....
Cambria (near Hearst Castle) on Highway 1 featured local caught steamers clams, and again, at least tied with SF if not slightly better...Hmmmmmmm. Stopped and watched the Elephant Seals at the beach rookery colony about 5 miles north of Hearst Castle State Beach. Oops, I segued. Sorry.
Santa Barbara's restaurants on the pier were just so-so, and best described as suitable for Sea Gull slop.
Probably sampled at least 15 different clam chowders, mostly New England style which ranged from chewy rubber band soup to a pleasant creamy soup worthy of a Gold Medal. Cambria and Eureka were the best.
California is a funny state for getting seafood...San Diego, Orange and Los Angeles counties have very few specialty seafood restaurants.
However, the further one gets from Los Angeles towards Seattle, the more opportunities prevail and the quality gets even better. Eureka in northern California, I feel is equal to Seattle. Anacordes and La Connor don't do too bad either.
Now Alaska is another story (Eilson AFB days)...home of the King Crab...hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
