Tuesday, March 1, 2011

The Dead Fish Crab House and Prime Rib

On our recent visit to San Francisco we took the ferry from the San Francisco pier to Vallejo where my brother, David, lives. David picked us up in his Mini Cooper and showed us the campuses of U.C. Berkeley and Stanford. But before all of that, he took us for lunch at a fun restaurant known as The Dead Fish, 
located at 20050 San Pablo Avenue, in Crockett, CA 94525 (phone: 510-787-3323) overlooking the Carquinez Strait which leads into San Pablo Bay. Crocket is across the Strait from Vallejo. I loved the name of the restaurant and the menu which included the "Recently Demised Fish of the Day," "Other Dead Things," such as prime rib and lamb, and included a picture of a dead cow lying on its back with its feet in the air, and a tureen of "Dead Fish Stew," otherwise known as cioppino, which is what I had for lunch. 
Cioppino originated in San Francisco and is traditionally made from the catch of the day, which is often a combination of dungeness crab, clams, shrimp, scallops, squid, mussels and fish. It is combined with tomatoes in a wine sauce and served with toasted bread. Mine had large chunks of crab, still in the shell, 
a number of mussels, some squid or octopus, scallops and fish, probably salmon. I think it may be the first time I've ever had cioppino. I got plenty of side bread which I buttered and dipped into the broth. I enjoyed it, but I would have preferred it a little more spicy. Judy got a very nice smoked salmon omelet, which included lox, capers, green onions and sour cream. 
I got a bite of it and it tasted great. David got  a crab and shrimp Louie salad which also looked very good. 
The view out over the Strait from our window was as nice a treat as the food, particularly on a beautiful sunny day like we had. It is the kind of place I would love to go back and try many more dishes. 

No comments:

Post a Comment