Dinner at Island Creek Oyster Bar

今夜は久しぶりに Island Creek Oyster Bar へやって来ました (以前の記事：1,2,3,4)。前日にテーブル席を予約をしようとしたのですが満席だったので、予約の要らないバーの方に行くことにしました。ここは最近ますます人気が出てきたようで、席を確保できるよう開店直後の５時半に行ったのですがなんともう既にすごい人の数! 実は開店は５時だったのを私が勘違いしていたからなのですが、何とか最後の２席を確保! Tonight we came to Island Creek Oyster Bar for dinner (previous entries: 1,2,3,4).  I tried to make a reservation for a table a day before, but it was already completely booked, so we decided to eat at the bar area (no reservation required).  This restaurant is getting more and more popular these days and we arrived at 5:30 pm to secure our seat.  But when we arrived, it was already very crowded!  We found out they open at 5 pm (instead of 5:30 pm - I remembered wrong).  But luckily, we could get the last two seats available!

ここのバーターは蜂蜜が入っていてほんのり甘いので大好き! でも今日のパンは以前に比べていまいちかも。 Both my husband and I love the butter served here - it has honey and is very slightly sweet.  Generally I love their bread, too, but today it did not taste as good as usual.

まずはもちろん生牡蠣。今回は私の定番、Island Creek と、もう一種類、Rocky Nook という種類の牡蠣を半ダースずつ注文。わたしはやっぱり Island Creek がお気に入り。 First of all, we ordered oysters.  This time I selected Island Creek, which is my favorite, and Rocky Nook.

夫は生牡蠣は大好物というほどではないらしく、12個のうち10個私が食べました。 My husband is not a huge fan of raw oysters, so I are 10oysters out of 12!

こちらは平目のクルードとストーンクラブ (石蟹) の爪。 These are the fluke crude and stone crab claw.

平目は胡麻油などで和えてあってちょっとアジア風の味付け。身が締まっていておいしい! The fluke was marinated with sesame oil and other stuff, and was an Asian style.  The meat was very firm (which I like) and fresh.

蟹の爪はお店の人に勧められた一品です。確かに甘くてとってもおいしかったのですが、これで$12はちょっと高いような…。 The crab claw was recommended by our waiter.  It was very sweet and had a creamy texture and indeed, was tasty.  But I think $12/claw is a bit over-priced...

さらにクラブケーキをオーダー。 We also ordered the crab cake.

蟹がぎっしり詰まっていて私にとってはおいしかったのですが、夫は Legal Seafood のものの方が好みらしいです。Legal Seafood のクラブケーキってどんなんだったかな~? It was mostly the crab and not much stuffing.  I liked it but my husband said he preferred the one at Legal Seafood.  I don't remember how the crab cake at Legal Seafood tastes (but we don't eat crab cakes too often, so I don't have a good reference point to compare).

これだけでは物足りなかったのでフライドポテトも頼みました。夫とも意見が一致したのですが、ここでは調理したものよりも生もの中心にオーダーした方がいいと思います。 We were not totally stuffed, so ordered the fries.  My husband and I both agreed that we'd better stick to raw bar stuff (which is excellent) at this restaurant rather than cooked stuff.