Food & Drink
San Francisco’s history is interlaced deeply with seafood. Dungeness crab, local halibut, anchovies, Tomales Bay oysters; it’s in our blood and roots. SF’s style of seafood oyster bars is a distinctive one all its own.
Popi’s Oysterette, just opened in the Marina from chef and partner Melissa Perfit, a former “Top Chef” contestant who cooked at my beloved Bar Crudo since back in 2005 in its original space (which I still miss). She was asked to run Popi’s by Tacolicious owners Joe Hargrave and Mike Barrow, who also brought on partner/general manager Davin Affrunti, formerly of Larkspur’s Hog Island Oyster.
Popi’s is the latest addition to our great SF heritage and rich history of oyster bars. The incomparable Swan Oyster Depot, a national treasure since 1912, is the ultimate example of SF Italian seafood bars, including the likes of Sotto Mare and California Fish Market Restaurant.
These are the kind of places that gave birth to iconic SF-born dishes like cioppino and crab Louie salads. There’s Tadich Grill since 1849, the Castro’s cherished Anchor Oyster Bar since 1977 (please, please open back up for lunch, Anchor!). Also, the great Hog Island Oyster Bar, farming oysters locally. Not quite an oyster bar but local-catch seafood counter, modern day gem Hook Fish by the beach in Outer Sunset serves just-caught fish from the Pacific Coast outside our doors.
While Popi’s is decidedly SF, West Coast-style seafood house, it has charming echoes of the kind of adorable seafood and oyster bars I adore in Charleston, where I just returned from for my latest research visit, including the ultimate 167 Raw, The Ordinary and The Darling. Popi’s airy little space is marked by windows gazing onto bustling Chestnut Street and their sidewalk seating, by a blue-tiled bar, surfer art and breezy tunes weaving from Queen to Nancy Wilson’s cheeky, “I’m Always Drunk in San Francisco.”
I’ve been in for a couple visits since they opened in March 2023, with industry friends filling up on crab and fish and chips, or over a sunny weekday lunch with my partner Dan (“The Renaissance Man,” as they are blessedly open all day every day.
Friendly staff get you started with pours like SF Brewing’s Marina Blonde beer on draft or bubbly-pink Terres Secrètes Brut Rosé, a Crémant de Bourgogne from France. I’ve dug deeper into a mineral 2021 Murgo Etna Bianco from my partial roots in Sicily, a cloudy 2018 Newton Unfiltered Chardonnay from Napa, a 2021 Anjos Vinho Verde rosé from Portugal with lean acidity and subtle effervescence.
Like a proper local should — unless they’re allergic — I live for crab. And our sweet, generous Dungeness crab is my favorite of all the crabs I love to eat regionally in the U.S. and globally. Here, Perfit and team are offering it multiple ways. First, in a standout crab Louie salad, already one of the best in town thanks to excellent lettuces and generous crab (there is also a shrimp Louie). Secondly, as a crabmeat cocktail or third, a welcome three-ways half ($26) or whole ($48) crab: classic with cocktail sauce and Louie dressing, garlic roasted in brown butter with basil and blood orange, or, my pick, a bright Fresno chile and citrus-marinated crab.
As expected, West Coast oysters — from Washington down to Baja, Mexico — are a key draw, whether six for $22 or 12 for $42. In a welcome change of pace, oysters are accompanied by cocktail sauce, but also lime-black pepper mignonette and yuzu tobiko. There are seafood platters, like chilled Dungeness and caviar, or Popi “Chef’s Choice:” twelve oysters, six mussels, four clams, four prawns and trout roe for a reasonable $75.
But a happy oyster option compared to thousands of locations offering raw oysters is Perfit’s grilled oyster section of oysters of the day in Velma nori, yuzu and trout roe; Fred Marina Meats ground hunters’ sausage, oranges and charred spring onions; or, my top pick, Daphne thyme, green garlic, smoked paprika and sherry vinegar grilled oysters. They are meaty, flavor-packed and gratifying.
Clam chowder is ubiquitous and a staple at SF-style seafood houses. But immediately Perfit’s version (thankfully by cup or bowl, so go ahead and just taste it) is a real standout compared to many. Even typical bacon and potatoes taste more tender and quality than in countless chowders. But it’s the herbaceous seasoning, including thyme, that feels like the soup’s “secret sauce.” Speaking of sauce, the other Popi’s sleeper hit is their house hot sauce, which is blessedly available for purchase. This lively Fresno chile hot sauce fills a gap in my array of hot sauces at home ranging from Middle Eastern to Mexican.
It’s hard for me to resist cured trout dip scooped up with Saltine crackers. Perfit’s version works. Her calamari is generously fried without overdoing the batter, perked up with grilled lemon squeezed on top and Calabrian chili mayo to dip.
Two of my heartier, tough-to-say-no-to seafood favorites are also done well here: a Dungeness crab sandwich on Firebrand brioche tossed in mayo and chives, and flaky-fresh Anchor Steam beer-battered fish and chips with malt vinegar powder as a playful twist instead of malt vinegar. I’ve run out of room for green cioppino both visits, a tomatillo broth play off the red tomato-based standard, but want to try it next. Especially as I missed it as a dish Perfit was known for when she was chef at now-closed Ayala.
There is a simplicity and purity to a seafood and oyster bar done well. And a cheering uplift and comfort sorely needed in such trying times as these. Popi’s is such a place. But it’s not just a rehash of seafood classics. With little touches like the trio of dressed crabs or grilled oysters or accents like lime-black pepper mignonette, Popi’s Oysterette feels fresh and current. A short but nicely sweet wine list wraps up the package, while the seven day a week lunch, afternoon and dinner hours make it one of San Francisco’s most delightful neighborhood newcomers. On tough weeks, a Popi’s lunch has lifted my spirits and done the same for those I’ve brought with me. We could use more spirits-lifting spaces and menus like this little new treasure.
// 2095 Chestnut Street, www.popisoysterette.com
Virginia Miller is a San Francisco-based food & drink writer.
