there it is.

Happy Mother's Day! Hope that everyone had a good one.
We went to Sam's Chowder House in Pacifica...or Half Moon Bay...or El Granada..well, it's on the way to Half Moon Bay.For the last couple of years, my parents have been making a tradition of heading down to Half Moon Bay for Mother's Day Brunch, but due to the most recent disappointments in both Cetrella and Pasta Moon, this year they opted for Sam's Chowder House, just up the road in El Granada on Hwy 1. Sam's is pretty much your typical neighborhood seafood restaurant focused on good food and fresh flavors - the executive chef, Lewis Rossman puts his emphasis on seasonal, local and sustainable food. The emphasis is California classic - using good ingredients negates the need for heavy sauces. Chowders have less cream, and freshness takes precedence over richness. (Plus, Rossman is sort of a hottie, we saw him while we were there. Cu-ute)
Don't let the exterior of the restaurant scare you away. While rather pedestrian looking from the outside, inside -the hardwood floors, outdoor seating and large open oyster bar and kitchen are refreshingly modern. This is most definitely a family place (kids abound everywhere), but would also be a good destination date restaurant with the beach a few steps away and outdoor firepits and deck overlooking the seashore making for a romantic quiet spot.
House drinks on tap sounded interesting (esp. the limeade with Hangar One vodka), but I had coffee. Starters were: Oysters Rockerfeller and Polenta Fries - ahhh, sorry, forgot to take pics of this. Oysters Rockerfeller is a pretty classic preparation; baked oysters with cream, cheese and spinach. There are five to an order, and they're pretty darn delicious, especially with the house sourdough. We also had an order of the polenta fries, which were tasty - thick cut sticks of polenta about an inch around and 6in. long, piping hot and cheesy. But as there were only 4 of them to an order, probably not something I'll plan on ordering again.
Entrees:I had Sam's World Famous Lobster Roll. Apparently voted one of the 5 best sandwiches in the world by some Food Network contest, this would probably be on my list of one of the things to eat again before I die. An entire buttery roll stuffed full of lobster meat, mixed with a little bit of celery, dill and more butter - served with kettle chips and coleslaw. While in New England, the lobster roll is traditionally served on a hot dog bun, Sam's does them one better and serves their roll on a crusty, soft, white roll number. I can't even tell you what this tastes like other than a freshly made bakery bun. It's to DIE for. Every bite of that crispy, greasy roll with the sweet lobster meat and crunchy celery made me want to gasp. It was THAT good. And you have to eat it all together. I was delicately picking at the spare pieces of lobster with my fork, until I picked up the sandwich and took a proper bite. After that, I didn't want to share. But I did. Sprinkle some malt vinegar on those chips and you're good to GO!Mymymy ended up ordering a bowl of the New England clam chowder and the poke. I didn't get a taste of the chowder, but it looked good. The quality of the fish in the poke was incredibly fresh, but everything was overpowered by the tortilla chips which I think were house made. They were really..."corny" and the delicateness of the tuna and any marinade was lost behind the overwhelming fried corn taste of the chips. I think scooping up a bite with my potato chips would have made more sense. Mr. Jones just got the fish and chips that were served with the same coleslaw that my lobster roll came with. Again, it looked like he enjoyed the dish. The fish looked well cooked and the fries crispy. Then again, how hard is it to screw up fish and chips?
The Germ ended up ordering the grilled escolar with white beans and cabbage. The only part he didn't like was the black olive tapenade on top. He took a couple of bites and told me, "I wish I knew what he was trying to accomplish with this dish." And I snagged and bite and sort of agreed. I wasn't really sure what was supposed to be going on. The escolar is a lovely piece of fish - juicy and oily. It was grilled nicely and kept it's flavors, both the natural juices and the smoke from the grill. The white beans were huge and tasted fine, but there seemed to be something missing. I wanted either a citrus acid in there or a fattiness - from pancetta maybe, that was just missing. Lastly was the summer berry pudding. A concoction of cake, fresh summer berries with a swath of sweetened creme fraiche (or marscapone) on top with a sprinkling of crystalized orange peel on top. All four of us split this as we were pretty stuffed from everything else. (and the 2.5 loaves of bread we tore through) It was light and quite delicate in taste, even though the berry flavors were bright, I didn't feel like I was eating a gut bomb of food. As a summer pudding, it was quite delicious and not as heavy as a cake or piece of pie.

All in all, I really liked Sam's Chowder House and spending the day with the fam. It capped off a great weekend that started with Bi-Rite ice cream and Keane on Friday night (I hung out with the Krantz who had an extra ticket due to illness) and chillin' with some of the Niners, then a beautiful Saturday in class tackling some Sondheim and then onto Sam's with some Star Trek afterwards.
Go see Star Trek, it's frickin' AWESOME, btw. The special effects are crazy good and Zachary Quinto as Spock...well, wufh, let's just say - SEXY. Sexy Spock. That's amazing, because Chris Pine is really cute, but Quinto...aiyiyi. And thankfully Winona Ryder has a minimal amount of screen time. Just...go see it, John Cho, Simon Pegg and Zoe Saldana also make fantastic character choices.

Which goes to show...even alone, we're not lonely. We're never really alone unless we chose to be.
please god, let me not be jinxing this: "I'm not the same, I am afraid. I'm scared to death, to love the way i once did. If I surrender would it hurt me like it did back then? ...maybe it's time to let him in, start my heart over and let this new chapter begin. with him. well, there it is...yes, there it is." - Keys, Scott Alan