Thursday, January 22, 2009

Great tasting seafood on Tomales Bay

Tony's Seafood Restaurant

Dad spent Sunday dashing about West Marin with me while working on research for my upcoming "A Taste of Terroir" post. I'm getting quite an education on things that grow in Marin. On the way, we found ourselves at Tony's Seafood Restaurant in Marshall right on Tomales Bay. We stopped in for some local flavor. The true terroir aspect is being a little elusive, but educational. Since it is not being a very simple task, I'm separating out some of the part, which I'll fuse back into the whole more 'official' posting soon.

Tony's interior

Tony's was very busy, in fact we had to wait in quite a long line for a seat. The warning note about "Cash Only" had me checking my wallet to be sure there was adequate cash stashed. The interior was very nautical in theme and the Tomales Bay views were stunning, even across the room!

Clam Chowder

We were immediately informed that there was no more crab to be had for the day. The clam chowder was then a natural starter. It was delicious!

Barbecued Oysters

Next our order of barbecued oysters showed up on a paper plate. Wondering whether this famous local treat used Tomales Bay, Drake's Bay or Hog Island Oysters (the three local Marin oyster companies), I was told that these were in fact from Washington state! I asked where, and was told that they only knew from "Puget Sound". Being from Seattle, I knew that wasn't really very specific. I asked the waitress why they didn't use local oysters when Tomales Bay Oyster Company was merely 3 miles down the road from them? The response was that they couldn't get enough local oysters to supply the demand at the restaurant! Oh are we in trouble if the entire bay area becomes locavores and want oysters! At any rate the oysters were good and we enjoyed Tony's. I would come back again in a heartbeat, and enjoy the delicious seafood!

Restaurant Inspection Results
Critical: 3
Noncritical: 6
Last inspected: 8/15/2008

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