In a few minutes or so, your SFist editor (and the bassist from Whitesnake, along with a few other notable locals) will head over to the other side of San Francisco to judge McCormick & Kuleto's annual "shuck & swallow" (pull your mind out of the gutter, please) oyster competition. The oyster eating throwdown involves around a dozen or so teams, each consisting of two members from various Bay Area restaurants, competing to crack open and gulp as many oysters as possible within a 10-minute period. Viewing the competition is free and starts at 5 p.m. more ›

A tasty, slick reminder for all you oyster fans: Waterbar’s 3rd annual OysterFest cracks open on Saturday, August 27. For a mere $40, you get unlimited access to oysters, Napa wines and artisan beer "as well as oyster shucking, oyster eating and hot sauce contests with Olympic Gold Medalist and Food Network host Brian Boitano as a judge." more ›

Given the control PR ilk try to exert over food writing in the Bay Area, we're shocked (and a bit tickled) to see this story go live. See, several people fell ill at last month's SF OysterFest at Fort Mason after apparently consuming a bacteria-laced food item that kept them on the toilet for hours. City Insider reports: "The Department of Public Health was on the case -- and has determined the culprit was 'campylobacter' which means 'twisted bacteria.' Sounds yummy, huh? It causes major food poisoning and symptoms last for up to a week." more ›

Billed as a kickoff to San Francisco's Indian summer (which, well, we might not feel this year of if the glacial summer weather is any indication), Waterbar hosts the second annual OysterFest on Saturday, August 28th. more ›

by Rachel Brodsky Mmm crabs. No not those crabs. I'm talking about the good kind! And, as most of you in the Bay Area now already, Maryland isn't the only place you can procure a fine plate of 'em. Being adjacent to the Bay and all, San Francisco is one of the best destinations in the country for many different types of seafood. In fact, this Saturday marks the start of Dungeness Crab season (which technically began in November, but we hear the catch is the strongest from December to Februa more ›

Leave work early if you can, folks. Tonight (and every Friday night) El Rio is giving away free Tomales Bay oysters. the protein slurping starts at 5:30 p.m. Mmm. Now go. (Mission Mission, via Grub Street) more ›

Going head to head with the Wilderness Act and righteous green folk, Senator Dianne Feinstein reformulated a bill that would allow Drakes Bay Oyster Co., California's largest commercial shellfish farm, to continue farming inside the 1,100-acre land property at the Point Reyes National Seashore. According to the , the popular oyster company "has been battling the National Park Service to extend its business operation beyond a 2012 federal deadline." and "Feinstein's bill would prolong oysterman Kevin Lunny's [Drakes owner] lease for 10 years, even though an Interior Department attorney concluded that any extension of the operation would violate the federal Wilderness Act." more ›

"I have no idea why people don't like this place" cries out a Yelper over PJ's Oysterbed. Well, here's one: Eater has word that, after shuttering its doors, the Inner Sunset's PJ's Oysterbed has left behind a seafood cassrole, if you will, of "rotting crabs and oysters." more ›