It’s obvious that I like to go out to eat. But it never fails that just because I have a food blog, everyone wants me to pick the place. Why? I, for one, do not like to force my will upon others. Plus, I can be indecisive. So I love it when others pick. But hey, I’m proud to say I picked Oyster House. And then after I picked it, it turned out that it’s the favorite or second favorite restaurant of two of my friends. Why did they not tell me this before? So Oyster House used to be Samson Street Oyster House, before it closed, got a facelift, and renamed itself. I’m not sure what it looked like before, but it sure is sparkly now. There’s a big bar and oyster bar area in the front, along with high tops. The back half is for tables. It’s cool and casual, but not like fish market casual or anything.

They do have a full bar, and we did partake. We got some of the famed oyster house punch, but of the non-summer variety… more on that in an upcoming post. They have buck a shuck here, where one oyster is featured as the day’s $1 oyster. This happens weekday nights during happy hour and late on saturday nights. How could I pass this up?

We went on thanksgiving weekend, so it was a strange time to go. Because of the lack of people eating out during this time, they actually ended up only having 3 varieties of oysters, period. So the ones above were the buck a shuck, some kind of oyster from jersey. I’m not like a raw oyster connoisseur, but I liked these just fine. Listen, you’re talking to a girl who gorged in 10 cent oysters during grad school… oh Alligator Grill of Austin, how I miss you! Ok, back to the oysters… In addition to the buck a shuck, there was another variety from canada and one other one from somewhere else. These were all east coast oysters.

See the ones in the back whose shells are more scallop shell shaped? Those are the canadian ones. While R preferred these more expensive canadian ones, T did not like them at all. He said they tasted metallic.

So what does one put on raw oysters? Well, it’s up to you. You are provided with lemon, horseradish, cocktail sauce, vinaigrette, and hot sauce. And you can use none, one, more, or any combination of the above. I am not into horseradish, so I first squirted lemon juice on all my oysters. Then I experimented with different combinations of everything. In the end, I decided that cocktail sauce, with a tiny shot of hot sauce was the way to go. The vinaigrette with a tiny shot of hot sauce was the runner-up. Any more than a tiny dash of hot sauce is too much for me. I learned this the hard way.

While everyone filled up on raw bivalves alone, I had to try the clam chowder. While it was a good chowder with good flavor, big chunks of fresh clams, and well-cooked potatoes, this chowder is not thick. It’s cotton-pickin watery! And watery chowder is so strange to me. While it tasted great, it just wasn’t chowdery enough for my liking. I like me a thick and hearty chowder that would break plastic spoons!

The service was good. Our server was a good sport and she kept up with all our punches. The buck a shuck is only available at the bar or any area with a stool, so if you sit at a table, it does not apply. I definitely recommend taking advantage of this deal!

Oh, and afterwards, we went to RAW. Did you know they have lounge in the back that plays music? I had no idea! Well, it totally wasn’t my scene at all, but they do have these incredibly giant sumo decorations on the wall and show some strange sumo videos.  But if you’re into really expensive bottle service with really terrible music, then this is the lounge for you!

The kind people at Foodbuzz (–> I am a featured publisher!) held the inaugural Foodbuzz Food Blogger Festival in san francisco this year. That was my other reason for going out there for this trip. On the first night, they had a street food fare at the Ferry Building. Street food… Ferry Building… put them together and it’s like a dream! There were tons of local vendors who let us grub on their fine grub. It was a nice variety as well, and everyone was super friendly. Even though we only ate little plates, I was beyond stuffed by the end of it. And yes, all this food was prepared on the site!
What’s a trip to sf without tacos? Beef, of course!
The food above is not only completely vegan, but also completely raw. Scary sounding, I know, but surprisingly tasty. The cheesecake was good, even though there was a slightly funny this isn’t real cheese taste. I still liked it!
The star of the evening… the porchetta sandwich from roli roti. What is it? Pork belly rolled into pork loin with crispy skin rotisseried the crack up, with fresh herbs, onion marmalade, and curly cress stuffed in between bread. Oh. My. Word. Yes, it is that delicious.
Delicious thin crust pizzas. Yes, the oven was there!
Freshly shucked oysters from Hog Island Oyster!
Mini meat pies! These ones were steak & gruyere. This was my second favorite of the evening!
Adorable little mini cupcakes of various flavors from Mission Minis. So cute and so tasty! You can even find these at whole foods in the sf area! Schmancy!
Freshly fried chicharrones. Ok, obviously, this wasn’t an event for the health conscious.
Ok, here’s one thing that was slightly healthy… vegetables! I had the beet salad which I loved. You heard it here people, I love beets! I love street food. I especially love it when it’s within one confined area so I don’t have to walk far between gourd stuffings.

On my last evening, my colleague R and I got to talking about food. She recommended Fire as a place with excellent cocktails and steaks. Since I wasn’t sure where to go, I decided to head over there. It’s next to the Mansion House, which is some sort of event place, and the restaurant itself is kinda huge. It’s in one giant room with extremely high ceilings. It’s rather daunting, bordering on gawdy. It’s another place that probably considers itself fine dining. It sure has fine dining prices, that’s for damn sure. Did I get cocktails? No. Did I get steaks? No. So here’s what I did get.
Some complimentary bread. It was only ok. They have their own brand of water. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not.
I got the soup, which was sweet corn and fresh tomato. Only thing though, I don’t recall any tomatoes being in this at all. It was more of a creamy corn soup. I quite liked it, but the name and description was a bit of a misnomer.
For my entree I got the pan fried fillet of monkfish, served with a basil and lemon hollandaise sauce with asparagus and scallion mashed potatoes. This dish was quite good, but man, so just not worth the high price tag. It was three fairly teeny bits of monkfish, a small heap of mashed potatoes, and three asparagus. This is all you get for nearly 30 euros? It’s slightly offensive. I said it was good, but it was way overpriced. The soup was a bit expensive too, but it was a lot of soup, so that price point didn’t offend me as much. I was pretty stuffed though, so I didn’t have room for dessert. The food was good, but it wasn’t great. It wasn’t good enough to have the price tags that it did. The high prices seem to be because of the ambiance, but for me, the ambiance wasn’t that rich either. It was a bit showy and cheesy. So maybe I would have done better if I had gotten steak and cocktails as per the recommendations, but I have a feeling I would have found them not worth their price either. For me, I say skip this one. You can get much better food elsewhere in Dublin. Service was only ok. Again, for these prices, I expected much more.