Thanksgiving was a lovely weekend on the coast, and we had 2 occasions for one of my favorite lunches, almost anyplace.
Princess Seafood is the restaurant offshoot of a women-owned and operated fishing boat. The seafood counter is down near the front of the harbor. It used to also be the restaurant but they got to take over a bar space at the mouth to give them more room.
The menu is fresh fish, grilled in plate or taco form, and fresh crab. They DO NOT HAVE A DEEP FRYER. They are emphatic about this point. No fish and chips. No fries. No hush puppies.
Half dozen oysters with a nice light mignonette. Crab roll with kettle chips.
The crab roll is a French roll grilled with some garlic butter and piled with at least a quarter lb of fresh crab with the lightest touch of mayo and a couple slices of tomato.
The cup is a small crab/lobster bisque and is toasty and ocean-y and absolutely delicious.
The beer belongs to the partner, Boont Amber Ale from Anderson Valley Brewing in Boonville.
The scenery ain’t too shabby either.
Should you find yourself out on the Mendocino coast, this place is worth going out of your way for. All the thumbs, legs, claws and shells way way up.
Great find and awesome location I hope to visit and enjoy some day. Looks like some seal gonna pop up like a dog under a picnic table and hoss down your lunch if not careful !
We went to the same-name market at the other end of noyo harbor – the restaurant had just had a large fire a few days before so no credit cards or ATMs and limited deck space. It was great! Maybe the highlight of our weekend up mendo way.
6 grilled lemon butter garlic oysters ($16) were plump, kissed with smoke, and luxuriously creamy.
Whole grilled not-really-old-bay-dusted dungeness crab ($30) with garlic bread, Maggi butter, and lemon was outstanding (picture after partial wreckage). I feel like grilling seafood on charcoal either makes it shine or ruin the product, and the grill master deserves the title. The meat was moist and just a little char-flavored, condensing the sweet briney dungie flavor into the meat. Garlic bread was a thoughtful and critical addition for catching the juices while crab cracking.
Not shown: clam chowder ($6, 8 oz ‘mini’ with oyster crackers). I’m not a fan of this dish in general, but it seemed like a pretty good example compared to others I’ve tasted. My PIC thought it was great, and she likes chowder quite a bit. Really thick and creamy, tender clam pieces with a bite, rich flavor, pretty salty in a good way.
The trays of tiny uni tongues looked stunning but will have to wait for another trip.
