"Scoma-ntic" Reminiscing

Scoma's at San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf is, in my humble opinion, the best seafood restaurant in the city, bar none.

The first time I ate at Scoma's at was sometime in the mid-1960s. Let's say 1966, just before the wife and I were married.

We asked a parking lot attendant which restaurant he thought had the best food. Without hesitation, he pointed to a little nondescript street off main drag Jefferson—Scoma Way. We followed that street to an old wooden building on the pier, over the water.

That was our intro to Scoma's. it looks the same now, as it did then. At the time, their menu was a bit larger than it is now. It's been trimmed considerably since then, but all of their famous favorites have been retained.

Most recently, we ate there again—50 years later. That's quite an accomplishment, considering we've gone back several times over the years.

When our #2 son graduated from UC Berkeley, we went to Scoma's. During our "Strike one, strike two, strike three" debacle trying to get on the Alcatraz Island tour, we ate there each time. When we made it on board the fourth time, we celebrated at Scoma's. We met our future daughter-in-law when our son brought her to Scoma's to meet us.

In fact, every time we were in San Francisco, we ate at Scoma's. Oh wait, one Christmas in college, we went to blustery and rainy San Francisco with another couple. We ended up having dinner at Joe DiMaggio's, which has now been taken over by Joe's Crab Shack.

I ate at Scoma's a couple of times when I was in San Francisco attending conferences and meetings. Lots of memories there, lots.

This last trip, we ate there twice—early Monday evening when we arrived there from across the bay (our son's home in Fremont), and for lunch Wednesday just before driving back to Fremont.

We started our dinner with of a cup of clam chowder each, the best we've ever had, accompanied by a tasty prawn cocktail.

Next came our favorite entree—we split a Shellfish Sauté Sec, featuring Dungeness crab, lobster, prawns and scallops in a creamy special sauce over spinach and orzo pasta.

We closed it out with a square of traditional Tiramisu, which rated a 10 on the Miyamoto Tiramisu Scale when my Heavenly Tiramisu website was active.

Two days later, we again lunched on clam chowder, this time splitting a Shellfish Combination Louie Salad filled with lump Dungeness crab meat and plump bay shrimp.

It's not on the menu, but our waiter Salvatore said they'd make it for us. Couldn't handle dessert this time or I would have fallen asleep at the wheel during our hour-long return on the freeway.

Yep, we bookended our Fisherman's Wharf vacation with meals at Scoma's, and I'll probably do it again some day in the near future.

Scoma's: Pier 47, Al Scoma Way, San Francisco, CA 94133. Open daily. 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m, phone (415) 771-4383.