Richard Mesce, a Northen California man with a passion for extremely large filter-feeding shellfish, has discovered an 80-year-old, 13-inch long oyster in the muddy Humboldt Bay. Mesce, a retired pilot, has spent the past six years patrolling in his kayak, searching for an oyster that would shatter the current Guinness World Record. more ›

After a two-week delay, and one SFist editor's tummy barren of his preferred crustacea, dungeness crab season finally started today. According to The Chronicle, "The commercial crab season officially began moments after central California crab fishermen and seafood processors agreed this morning to a price of $2.25 per pound for the spindly crustaceans." 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 ›

Every year, the Monterey Bay Aquarium does its part to save the world's marine life by putting out their Seafood Watch guides - basically a handy list of recommended seafood based on which species are abundant or "caught or farmed in environmentally friendly ways." Of course, along with the recommendations of which fish orders will make you feel content in your earthiness, is a list of fish to avoid - those species that are overfished or caught in a manner that might hurt Mother Ocean herself. more ›

Dungeness crab season started last week. Eager crustacean aficionados might have noticed it came a day late though, which is practically a lifetime when you're jonesin' to dip a largely tasteless meat into melted butter or get your mallet on one of those salt-and-pepper numbers from R&G Lounge in Chinatown. Even despite promising early predictions of a strong season, the first week of crab fishing in the area hasn't exactly been smooth sailing. 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 ›

'Monday Munchies' returns. Yay! Also, if you can't afford to eat / be seen at Waterbar, calm down and listen: We have a review of Jollibee's, ready for your reading pleasure later this week. Until then, enjoy this.

by Tiffany Maleshefsk The very ritzy-ish Waterbar, normally way out of our wallet’s reach, offers a prix fixe menu on Mondays called Shellfish & Champagne. And their prix fixe menu, which is billed as a "deal" even though it's still out of reach for many of us, is a tad more reasonable. For $60, eaters get three courses and three flutes of champagne. Or, go for the bargain-basement deal three courses for $40 (sans champagne).

We recently tested out the Shellfish & Champagne menu when the shellfish of the evening was Dungeness crab (our absolute favorite). And to keep things interesting, we brought a pal who didn’t need to restrict herself to the prix fixe menu.

Here’s a blow-by-blow of how the meal went down. more ›

From what we hear, Valentine's Day was heartbreaking for many Bay Area restaurants. Take, for example, Hyde Street Seafood House, who charged $70 for a three-course prix-fixe, but resorted to serving Nabisco Triscuits with their lox. Wow. Yeah. Ouch. (Although we must admit that HSSH is a damn fine place to sup on seafood, and we would be tickled to find a plate of oysters resting on a bed of Xplosive Pizza Flavor Blasted Goldfish at our table.) Paolo Lucchesi has more on it over at Eater. more ›