After arriving in Depoe Bay, we drove north a little bit more to do more roaming. We couldn’t help but stop at Lincoln City, which is truly a big coastal town. There’s even a big ugly casino. Trusting the yelp app again, we stopped for dinner at Blackfish Cafe. This is truly a fine dining establishment, without any of the snoot. J had been yammering on the whole trip about wanting to order calamari, so he finally did. It was cornmeal crusted and served with a horseradish aioli. I wasn’t particularly impressed, especially because I’m not a big fan of horseradish, so J ate pretty much all of it. And he loved it. There were some edible flower looking things on here, but neither of us dared to eat it. What is this, does anyone know?

I had a cup of the clam chowder, which they boasted on their menu as being the best clam chowder in the oregon coast. You know what? They were right. As far as among the three chowders I had that week, it was definitely the best one. And it might be one of the best chowders I’ve ever had. J’s entree came with a caesar salad.

So J wasn’t sure what to get as an entree. We asked our very nice server for recommendations and she gushed about the Cioppino. So he went with it. Damn, this thing was amazing. Chock full of pacific northwest seafood, it included scallops, salmon, prawns, clams, mussels, dungeness crab, and other fin and shellfish, and was braised in a red wine, tomato, and herb broth. It was served with grilled crostini. Oh this was a thing of beauty. It was absolutely delicious and stuffed with fresh seafood. And there was plenty left over for J to enjoy the next day, even though the server did not include any of the broth in the to-go box, which bugged him to no end. This really was worth every penny, and then some!

I should have gotten a bucket of that chowder, but since I wanted something small and not hearty, I went with the seafood pizza, which came with shrimp, crab, and capicola ham. This was thin on the crust, and heavy on the cheeses and the seafood. It was nice and light and did just the trick. There were those flower things on the pizza too. Again, I avoided them.

Service was excellent. The staff definitely knows what they’re doing, and obviously, so does the kitchen. There was also tons of art hanging on the walls, which was also cool. It was the entire private collection of a local and it was quite unique. The proprietors are also super nice and friendly and came by to check on us and to thank us for stopping in. It’s a great place!

We took a little drive further up the coast to visit a few more little coastal towns. Waldport turned out to be a dud, but Yachats turned out to be an adorable gem. It’s pretty teeny, but it has a little area with some restaurants. We checked out the yelp mobile app and found the Luna Sea Fish House. It’s also teeny, with maybe about 20 seats indoors. It’s all about the seafood here, duh! They have a boat, or perhaps boats, and they catch things in that big vast ocean, come back, and sell it here. That’s a brilliant business model if you ask me. Unless someone just spilled bajillion gallons of oil into your particular vast ocean.

J got the fish tacos (sense a theme yet?). These were hearty with guacamole. And they must have been particularly juicy, as the fish dripped fish juice all over the fries. J liked the fries. I did not care for them. They were too thick for my liking.

And me? I got the slumgullion. What the heck is a slumgullion? It is a big bowl of clam chowder with white cheeses and bay shrimp. And man, it is big and it is great. I ate the whole thing and could have eaten more. The chowder itself was good, and the addition of the cheeses and the shrimp just made it better. It’s served with garlic bread, which is too crunchy and too burnt. So don’t waste your time on that, and just slurp down the darn slumgullion. Slumgullion. Say that five times!

The service is nice, but not the fastest. One person does everything up front. And man, did she have gravity defying hair! It was remarkable! And there’s probably only one or two people in the back cooking. But the food is excellent, fresh, and it’s a real homey place. When in Yachats, it’s a must-do!

Before heading up the central Oregon coast to our next top, Florence, we went to have some lunch at Tony’s Crabshack in Old Town Bandon. It literally is pretty much a shack, but not a run-down one. You go up to the hole by the kitchen, you order, then once it’s ready, you go back to the hole and pick it up. There are a few spots to sit indoors and out.

J got the fish tacos, which he absolutely could not stop raving about. He particularly loved the sauce it came with. He loved it so much he tried to get the recipe for it, but “Tony”, or whoever was working the window, would not divulge. Damn you, Tony.

I got the lunch special which came with clam chowder, a side salad, and some warm bruschetta garlic bread. The salad was only meh, having some flimsy and wilty greens, but the soup and bread were both excellent. The potato in the chowder could have been a bit softer, but the chowder was very good. It was definitely clammy, and not just creamy or potato-y. Clam chowder should definitely taste like clams!

After we ate we checked out a few of the stores as well, and in the bakery, which boasts of having the best cinnamon rolls in oregon, I spotted these adorable crab shaped cookies. Be still my heart! They are clapping their claws going “eat me, eat me”. Oh, I certainly will cookie crab, I certainly will.