Destination Croatia: The Best Lunch in Opatija

If you ever find yourself in the coastal resort town of Opatija on the Istrian peninsula in Croatia, you owe it to yourself to visit Tavern Istranka. Admittedly, I only had one meal while passing through Opatija on my way to Slovenia, but I was so confident in the quality of my lunch at Istranka that...

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Taste of Maine at Luke's Lobster

I've always been more of a crab fan myself. Whether it's the roasted garlic crab at PPQ in San Francisco, the Indonesian crab at Fatty Crab, or the blue crab in Maryland's Chesapeake Bay, I've always been more partial to crab than lobster. But having been invited to Luke's Lobster by almost every one...

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Iceland: Saegreifinn (Sea Baron)

Besides Baejarin Beztu, the other name I kept coming across on Chowhound posts about Iceland was Saegreifinn, a.k.a. Sea Baron. This casual restaurant is more fish shack than fine dining. Customers order at the counter then sit on narrow fish barrels along communal benches. Still, even Mark Bittman...

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Iceland: Reykjavik and Fish & Chips

The city of Reykjavik may be the Northern most capital in the world, but it's more of the character of a town than a city of almost 120,000. Icelandic cuisine may not be as famous as that of the Scandinavian countries, but Reykjavik has sufficient diversity in cuisine. More...The main drag through the...

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Hometown Favorites: PPQ Dungeness Island

I suppose referring to San Francisco as my "hometown" would offend some actual city natives, but I'm sure getting tired of telling people I'm from "right next to Oakland, California." I speak expansively; I like to think that I am a product of the entire Bay Area, despite how little time I spent in...

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Destination Bahamas for Conch

Before my cruise down to the Bahamas, I did some cursory research on Chowhound for must-eat places in Nassau. I assumed Bahamian cuisine would be similar to Caribbean cuisine in general. But I did find that Nassau was famous for one thing--conch.More...Photo credit: cheesy42 on FlickrI had always known...

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Maryland Blue Crab in Chesapeake Bay

This is a pile of eighteen steamed Maryland blue crabs coated with Old Bay seasoning. Armed with a small knife, mallet, and my bare hands, I dove into the stack. For the uninitiated, and non-squeamish, this is a quick how-to guide to eating these crustaceans. More...I grew up in the San Francisco Bay...

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Fatty Crab on the Upper West Side

The dim red bulb lit up walls of retro pornography while a speaker played out the familiar ping and pong of a distant table tennis match. This was the oddest bathroom I've been in. I was locked in the unisex bathroom trying to wash my hands of the thick red sambal for the third time. But the hearty...

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Le Bernardin avec Eric

There is something refined and high-end about seafood that can't be matched in fine dining. Even fancy steakhouses like CUT lack a sort of sophistication that comes with fish. Meat is best at its most primal, earthy and bold; while fish is best at its simplest and freshest, the delicate cooking techniques...

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