Local food maven Omar Mamoon, founder of egg-free cookie company Dough & Co., who earlier this year exposed the "secret" menu options at House of Prime Rib, has now been enlisted by the Chronicle to share details known only to in-the-know regulars about off-menu options at 110+-year-old Swan Oyster Depot.
Most of this secret menu came out of special requests from regulars, some hungrier than others, like a $90 plate called The Maverick with a bound of crab, a smoked trout filet, and four prawns.
The biggest takeaways? Crab fiends need to know about the "crabsanthemum", which is just a giant plate of a couple dozen shucked crab legs, arranged in a flower pattern, that you can get with either a side of Louie dressing, or their oil and vinegar dressing which Mamoon tells us is actually a house vinaigrette made with half Dijon mustard and half crab fat, as emulsifiers.
They occasionally have sea urchin (uni) that they serve right in the sometimes still moving spiny shell and this isn't off menu so much as you just need to look in the window to see if they have any in.
And they have a couple raw sashimi-style plates worth mentioning: the "dozen eggs" is a plate of thinly sliced raw scallop with ponzu sauce and dotted with sriracha, and they do what they call Sicilian sashimi, i.e. a crudo plate, in which "Thinly sliced raw salmon, tuna and scallops are served simply with a drizzle of olive oil, freshly cracked black pepper and some capers on top."
Sign me up.
Related: Shhh! House Of Prime Rib Has A Secret Menu (Including A Vegetarian Plate)
'Lucky Peach' Deems Swan Oyster Depot The 'Best Place To Eat In America'