Seafood Pot in Charleston, SC

The best meal I ate on my trip to South Carolina was at the Seafood Pot in Charleston. It's the perfect place to stop for a meal before or after your flight because it's only 4 miles and about 10 minutes from the airport. It's a casual spot in a strip mall, so come as you are and place your order at the counter with the very friendly and professional staff before sitting down wherever there is a seat.

I love crawfish and I was thrilled with this huge seafood boil for under $17 with GIGANTIC fresh crawfish, delicious beef sausage, corn on the cob, and potatoes. Somehow I managed to eat everything except the potatoes :) The spicy boil was perfectly seasoned and I would have drunk it as a beverage if it hadn't been so rich.

I had read so many good reviews of their gumbo that I had to order it and compare it to the other versions I love in Los Angeles and New Orleans. The chicken, shrimp, beef sausage, okra, and roux version was less than $11 and a hearty hefty serving with very nice spice blend. The gumbo was a bit thin, and the shrimp were a bit small, but for the price and flavor, this was a definite winner.

The shrimp version of the seafood boil was equally delicious, again for under $17, the shrimp were plump, juicy, and perfectly cooked with all the same beef sausage, corn on the cob and potatoes included in the crawfish boil.

I was thinking of taking some of the food on the plane when I ate there on the way to airport for my flight back home, but I was so starved for great food after my sojourn that I literally ate everything before boarding my flight! If I ever go to Charleston again, the Seafood Pot will be my first stop after a flight and before a flight!

Holbox & Chichen Itza

I have not been to Holbox since before Covid 19, so when I had several appointments nearby, I made it a point to stop by and treat my tastebuds to fresh fish and seafood. 

They were remodeling their kitchen, so they were operating out of their food truck parked in front. The menu was limited to ceviches and tacos for a few weeks, but they had a special of ceviche mixto with shrimp, octopus, and fish served with a  crisp fried tortilla, along with 2 fried baja rockfish tacos for only $19. 

Every bite of the ceviche was perfectly marinated with lime, onions, and topped with avocado and micro cilantro. The generous serving was more than enough for one person, so I saved some to take home and concentrated on the lightly battered fried rockfish tacos served with cabbage slaw, tomatoes, and a drizzle of crema and lime on excellent corn tortillas.

Since I had several visits to the area, I got different tacos on different visits, like the scallops ($8 each), octopus ($7 each), and shrimp ($6 each). Each one was either lightly seared or fried and all served with the same hearty corn tortillas.

When they finally reopened inside Mercado La Paloma with a large new kitchen and seating area, I immediately ordered the whole branzino for $28 with cilantro rice, black beans, x'catic sauce, avocado, tomato salsa, and corn tortillas. Their branzino is one of my favorites in all of Los Angeles, stuffed with lemon and fennel, and tenderly grilled.

While waiting for the remodeled Holbox to open inside Mercado La Paloma, I also revisited Chichen Itza, Holbox's sister restaurant in the same Mercado. I ordered the rockfish special which came with a salad of orange and jicama, and served on a bed of rice with a citrusy sauce that tempted me to lick my plate :) On another day the pollo asado, marinated in achiote and sour orange juice for $14.95 served with black beans, cabbage, rice, tortillas, and fried plantains was such a generous serving that I made 2 meals out of it!

Their habanero sauce is addictive, but thankfully they sell bottles of it so you can take some home until your next visit.

Jolly Oyster

There are several great seafood places near me, but I had not yet tried the Jolly Oyster, so late one afternoon I headed over to Citizen Public Market to get a taste of their offerings. Steamers were very garlicky and served with excellent bread to sop up the wonderful liquid. The clams were very small, but the portion was a decent size for $14 a pound.

The baked oysters with leek and parm, six for $17 were a great choice for non raw oyster lovers. This was like a fusion of a less intense version of Oysters Rockefeller with a creamy leek base.

Just to be sure that I had enough to eat, I also ordered the shrimp cocktail, which included a horseradish cocktail sauce that was so good that I wanted to take it home! 

The ease of parking in the lot behind the market, the choices and quality of the seafood, and the proximity to where I live, all combined to make this a neighborhood choice to return to for more shellfish.

 

First Taste of Tangaroa

Tangaroa is an ocean god in Polynesian and Maori mythology, so the name of this fish market and restaurant is a well chosen one if you revere fresh fish and seafood.

I stopped by for lunch and found their service, space, and food all impeccable. I have never been to New Zealand, but I know several kiwis. I appreciate their very honest, clean, and sustainable ethos, which also comes through in the bounty from the sea; there is a reason that New Zealand Red Snapper is one of the preferred fish for sushi and good restaurants. 

The beet salad for $19 could have been a meal for a vegetarian, and it is ample enough to share if you want to split it an an entrée.

Their calamari for $17 was tender and flour battered. I would have preferred a different crunchier batter, but it included tentacles (my favorite) and was done with a light hand.

Crab cakes for $19 served with salad could have been a small meal with two good sized cakes. There was a bit of heat from the mustard in the crab mix, but the crab meat still shone through.

Grilled octopus salad for $29 was my favorite dish (so far). Perfectly cooked octopus was tender on the inside and crisp on the outside, served with a generous panzanella salad, this was a hearty plate!

Red snapper filet for $31 with carrot purée and sautéed squash featured perfectly crisp skin and tender red snapper, served with a medley of sautéed squash. If you order this dish as a solo eater, I would bet you will leave with delicious leftovers!

I can't wait to come back for their lobster special on Wednesday and a happy hour oyster fest!

Hog Island Larkspur

On my way back to Los Angeles from Sonoma, I stopped off at Hog Island in Larkspur so some oysters before heading home. I got 3 East Coast ones per the waitress' suggestion, and after tasting them, I agreed I preferred them to the West Coast Oysters! A bit brinier and smaller, but each one was a smooth, sweet fresh bite. Your choice of any six was $21 and I simply dressed them in a squeeze of lemon juice and contemplated ordering some champagne or wine, but since I was driving and it was only 11 am, I stuck to water!

The grilled Monterey Calamari for $15 in a lemon parsley vinaigrette was bright and tender, and if you are looking for a light bite this side and a salad would be plenty.

The $14 Caesar salad had a nice roasted garlic-anchovy dressing.

Because I had no idea what the portion sizes were before ordering, I also got a bowl of clam chowder for $18 that was so rich and filling that I could barely finish the shellfish, much less the broth. 

I will definitely be back for an afternoon of oysters and wine when in the area and when someone else is doing the driving!

San Francisco Sights and Flavors

Coming back as a tourist to San Francisco after more than two decades gave meaning to the adage that no matter how things change they remain the same...the Bay Bridge and the Transamerica building are still iconic monuments although crossing the Bay Bridge now is completely automated with either a fastrak pass/tag or they send a bill to the registered owner...I didn't want to face a $25 late fee penalty so I paid it online through their website with the details of my crossing.

I had plenty of new restaurants to try, and first on my list was a recommendation from a friend who had just been to Sotto Mare and told me it was the best crab cioppino she had ever eaten in her life :) I was very happy that they checked Covid vaccination proof and ID before allowing anyone to eat inside the restaurant. The ones unable to show proof either walked away or ate outside (in SF that means a chilly table even with heat lamps).

I started off with a house salad for $6.50 that looked very simple, but the classic dressing and ripe tomatoes made this a fresh way to start off your feast.

Yes, the crab cioppino lived up to its reputation as the best, for $49.95, it was a cauldron of crab, shrimp, mussels, clams, calamari, and scallops on a bed of penne that could easily be 2 meals if you ate the penne (I did not).

The next day after my appointment at Pier 17, I walked to the Ferry Building Marketplace and got my Blue Bottle oat milk cappucino before exploring all the shops. I ended up at Boulette's Larder at the end of the building facing the Bay Bridge for their fantastic views and food, like their Fattoush salad and one of the best pizzas I've eaten in years!

I made reservations at Monsieur Benjamin in Hayes Valley after doing some research on Yelp, and it was as wonderful! I also told several people at Hotel Nikko where I was going for dinner and they all said it was great, so it seems to be a universal consensus that this was a great French restaurant in San Francisco! 

Seeing steak tartare on the menu was enough to sell me, but the home made potato chips and the tarragon dressed butter lettuce salad were all as simply French as the main courses. 

I chose the flounder stuffed with spinach and it could not have been more delicate and perfectly cooked. If anyone you know says they don't like fish, have them taste this flounder dish and see if they have changed their mind!

A great ending to a short trip, was an after dinner drink at the Anzu bar in the Hotel Nikko, with the professional and personable bartender John, before taking the elevator upstairs to sleep :)

 

Holbox

Sharing food with friends has been on hold for the past 18 months, so when friends flew in to town and everyone was vaccinated, masked, and willing to eat outdoors, we chose to celebrate at Holbox (the one in Los Angeles, not the island in Mexico)!

Going on a Tuesday at 3pm meant plenty of parking and no wait, so we ordered a little of everything on the menu and shared it all. The fish and octopus tacos were sublime, with each of the the $6.50 grilled Hawaiian kanpchi done perfectly as were the braised and fried octopus tacos for $6 each.  

The 3 sauces that came with our meal, ranging from not spicy to extremely spicy, so taste them all before pouring them on your food! The roasted habanero was my favorite (medium hot) at the top of the photo.

The Coctel Mixto is basically a 20 ounce cocktail of shrimp, octopus, scallops in their homemade cocktail sauce for $18, that left plenty of extra sauce for your chips to scoop up.

One of my friends loves uni so he got the kanpchi and uni tostada for $20 and devoured it himself since the rest of us were not uni fans :)

We all shared the ceviche del dia de pescado for $12 and loved every bite of the fresh fish and octopus.

I chose the grilled sea bass for the group for $25 the fish was grilled perfectly. We were so full we didn't even touch the rice and beans! We all ate as if we had to make up for the years we had not seen each other, but we left full and happy as we celebrated the joys of living with great food and better company.

Fishing with Dynamite Patio

The creation of outdoor patios for restaurants where they had none or a very limited outdoor seating has been one of the few silver lining of the past year and a half of pandemic living. The cramped indoor space at Fishing with Dynamite is now augmented by a sizable outdoor patio in the street, complete with heat lamps and plants. It's such a popular spot for outdoor eating that I highly recommend reservations if you wish to eat al fresco.

Even though they had every table booked outdoors, the kind host said if we could eat in 30-40 minutes we could be seated and served, so of course we ordered as soon as we sat down, asked for the check as soon as we were served, and left in plenty of time for them to clear and clean before the reservation :)

Ordering cold dishes like their marvelous 1/2 lb shrimp cocktail for $21 helped speed up the meal, but we slowly savored every bite :)

Their hamachi sashimi with ponzu, crushed avocado and serrano chili for $20 is one of my menu favorites, so I order it nearly every time. It is consistently fresh, well balanced with citrus and soy, and a marvelous warm day appetizer.

I had never tried their seared Maine diver scallops for $36 before, but the celery root purée, savoy spinach, pine nuts, fennel and nasturtium pistou were an addictive combination and completed the meal on a rich comforting blissful note. 

Next time I will plan ahead with a reservation so that wine and oysters can be slowly sipped at sunset with the ocean wafting a cool breeze throughout the patio...

A & J Seafood

I've been salivating over the photos from A&J Seafood on Instagram, so since my car still needed more freeway miles, I got on the road to Long Beach on a Sunday afternoon when I could actually drive the speed limit instead of 30 mph on the 405!

It was definitely worth the drive! So easy to find (except for the roundabout which took me a few tries to get back onto the street to the freeway coming back), with plenty of parking and a convenient street light at their corner. 

I got some of their chicken egg rolls, 5 for $6 to eat in the car on the way home:)

I got their instagram famous Cajun bag with a pound of BIG shrimp, mussels, corn on the cob, and potatoes in a mild boil (still spicy) for $25. It was so big that when I finally got home and opened the bag, I didn't think I could finish it in 4 meals! So glad they double plastic bagged it because it was very hot and did leak a bit on my ride home.

Just to be sure there was enough food, I got some grilled beef sticks for $11 that could have been a meal in and of itself! Lemongrass, tumeric, garlic, and shredded pickled veggie side with rice, this was a delightful fragrant appetizer or entrée.

Because my eyes are always bigger than my stomach, especially at prices like $10 for the rice noodles with chicken, shrimp, garlic and chinese broccoli and sausage, I ordered that as well and although it was smothered in sauce and a bit sweet, it was not greasy, and I think I now have enough food for the week!

For a total of $60 with tax and tip, I took home enough food to feed 6-8 people, so it is definitely worth the drive to Long Beach! Next time I will try the giant squid for $8 and the lobster for $40, but I am so glad that I "had" to take my car for more freeway driving and ended up at A & J Seafood!

Broad Street Oyster Company

I have been wanting to try Broad Street Oyster for months and I am so glad I finally did! Their drive through is currently under renovation, so I was driving around in circles looking for it, before I finally parked and walked towards the sign and saw the line (the drive through will reopen in about 2 weeks). My intent was to drive through and drive home, but since I had to go wait in line, I opted to at least taste some of the food while it was hot in the car!

Their fish and chips for $19 was so light, tender, crisp, and well seasoned, that I could have eaten two of these! It comes with packaged malt vinegar and homemade tartar sauce, but I opted for extra lemon.

Their fried calamari steak for $12 with spicy marinara sauce was a hearty portion that was so tender and balanced with crunch, tangy tomato spice, and perfectly cooked calamari, that this could easily be a meal instead of an appetizer.

I got two side orders of cole slaw for $4 and could have easily eaten 2 more!

I came for the lobster roll for $22 and was absolutely astounded by the amount and quality of the lobster meat! I've eaten several versions in Los Angeles and NONE top this for the price/quality/quantity ratio! The side of Old Bay homemade potato chips is addictive, and you will want extra lemon and napkins for the messy process of devouring this roll! 

There are several outdoor picnic tables, but since no one can eat with a mask on, and I saw several people maskless walking around, I opted for a private car picnic with air conditioning and music :)