San Francisco: Hog Island Oyster Co.
We were really lucky to find parking a few blocks from the Ferry Building (with 45 minutes still on the meter too!). We were a bit early for happy hour at Hog Island, so we browsed around Sur La Table for a while, checking out all the cool kitchen gadgets that you want but don't really need. About 15 minutes before 5:00pm, we headed over to Hog Island. Good thing we did - the line had already started:
What I was interested in were the Chelsea gem oysters. We started off with 20:
Luckily, my sister counted them while my friend and I were busy taking pictures. She alerted us to the fact that we were short some oysters. After counting and re-counting to make sure, we all agreed that there were only 18 oysters before us.
The entire restaurant is made up of a large U-shaped counter, some small tables along the two sides, and some outdoor seating looking out over the bay. With the size of the place, it's not a surprise that the line is so long. Once you miss the first wave, you're in for quite a wait:
We weren't crazy enough about oysters to sit outside in the cold, so we chose to wait for a table to open up inside. This meant we had plenty of time to peruse the menu. We skipped straight to the section that pertained to us:
Hog Island has happy hour every Monday and Thursday from 5:00 to 7:00pm. It used to be $1 per oyster, but prices have gone up to $1.25. Oh well, such are the times.
Hog Island has happy hour every Monday and Thursday from 5:00 to 7:00pm. It used to be $1 per oyster, but prices have gone up to $1.25. Oh well, such are the times.
The wait actually wasn't all that bad. Servers came by to take drink orders for those at the front of the line. We didn't end up scoring a counter seat as we wanted, but the window table with the view of the Bay Bridge wasn't so bad.
My sister was particularly interested in the bread:
What I was interested in were the Chelsea gem oysters. We started off with 20:
Luckily, my sister counted them while my friend and I were busy taking pictures. She alerted us to the fact that we were short some oysters. After counting and re-counting to make sure, we all agreed that there were only 18 oysters before us.
We mentioned this to a server and were immediately brought our missing two...and one extra:
Crisis averted.
The oysters were amazingly fresh. They were quite salty and fantastic on their own, but I preferred to squirt lemon on them (3 drops each) and douse them in the vinegary sauce.
We ended up ordering 10 more oysters after the initial 20 (21 if you count the bonus one). To be really full, you'll probably have to order way more than that and perhaps off their regular menu as well. The non-happy hour items are pretty pricey and since we'd eaten so much that day and still had ice cream to look forward to, 31 oysters were enough for the three of us.
Hog Island Oyster
1 Ferry Building #11A
San Francisco, CA 94111
(415) 391-7117
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