This past weekend I made a trek to Pier 39, for the first time in much too long, and it wasn’t a disappointment; though, it was much more crowded than I have ever experienced. I guess a lot of people are in town for the holiday weekend. Anyway, it’s always fun to see the sights, listen to the sea lions, and just enjoy the view for a while, but there were some additional things that made this a really great day. I was pleasantly surprised by the very reasonably priced shops all along the pier and throughout all of Fisherman’s Wharf. I’m sure that the prices were much higher when I was there last. The shopping was definitely a nice surprise, but the highlight of the day was our lunch at Pier Market.
The Pier Market restaurant was established 30 years ago by the family that brought us Pier 39 itself. It has been an iconic institution of seafood and other fabulous culinary fare since its inception. I had intended to eat somewhere new this time around, as I have eaten at Pier Market several times in the past. I queried my friends and family, but received very little good feedback on a new place to try, so decided to just go with the tried and true. It was a great decision.
We arrived not long after they opened, for an early lunch, and the lovely hostess immediately greeted us. She asked if we wanted to sit inside or out and then led us to a wonderful inside table overlooking the water. We were perusing our menus for only a few moments before our waitress arrived to take our drink order, let us know the special of the day, and ask if we had any questions about the menu. She was very thorough, knowledgeable, and just plain wonderful. As soon as our drinks arrived we placed our order and only a moment after that received a plate of wonderful sourdough bread to hold us over until our meals arrived. The bread was perfect. Some sourdough is too sour for me, but this had just the right flavor and wasn’t overpowering at all.
When our entrées arrives we were a bit in awe. I had forgotten how large the portions are here, as compared to the majority of restaurants on the pier and wharf, and thankfully I was hungry. We ordered and shared the Crab Melt sandwich with an upgrade from regular to garlic fries and the Lazy Man’s Seafood Cioppino.
Often times with crab salad sandwiches you mostly end up with filler and very little crab. That is not what you will get here. There was so much crab, even some lump pieces, which you never get in a sandwich, that I wasn’t able to finish it all. Luckily, my co-eater has a much larger tummy than I, so nothing went to waste. The crab was perfectly seasoned so as to complement, but not take away from the flavor of the crab itself. Again, that often isn’t the case in many restaurants. The addition of the garlic fry upgrade was a perfect accompaniment. Again, they were seasoned to perfection with just the right amount of crispiness. Garlic fries can be a tough call, as they are often too garlicky and greasy. Can garlic fries be too garlicky? Yes, indeed they can. These, however, had the perfect balance. The sandwich is served open face with tomatoes and jack cheese melted on the top. I loved every bite and wish they were closer so I could enjoy it more often. As is, I will save it as a special treat for when I venture into the tourist realms of San Francisco.
Cioppino is an iconic San Francisco dish that was created in the 1800’s by Italian immigrant fisherman. It is a seafood stew that consists of a light tomato based broth and various types of fish and seafood depending on where you get it. Here is contains white fish, mussels, shrimp, clams and crab, and it is served over a small portion of linguini. The Cioppino was loaded with seafood and thanks to the lazy man option we got a ton of crabmeat piled on top, without the hassle of doing all of the cracking. I love crab, but it can be a lot of work.
Both items we ordered were fabulous and even the water was great. It was a lot of food, however, and no I’m not complaining about that at all, but it left us with no room to try out any of their dessert choices. Next time maybe we’ll share one entrée and go for an appetizer and dessert. Sounds like a good reason to trek back to Pier 39 in the near future. We had great food and amazing service, and that can’t be said for a lot of places, especially the touristy ones. Kudos to the chef, the Simmons family, and all of the staff who made a great culinary experience for us.
If you are making a trip to San Francisco, either from out of the area or as a local playing tourist for the day, I highly recommend you make a visit to Pier Market. I can’t imagine you will be at all disappointed. I’m attaching a link to their menu so you can plan out your next eating adventure in San Francisco. They are known for their fabulous seafood dishes, but their menu is very diverse and should have something to please just about anyone.
[…] you to Marcilene for dining with us and blogging about her meal! Click here to view her blog which includes food photos and insider tips on what to […]