Second Helpings

A Fishy Tale

    It was a chilly night. The kind that can make you ravenous for something warming and hearty. It was also still Dungeness crab season in the Bay Area—that delicious wedge between mid-November and May when you know, if you order a dish that promises fresh Dungeness crab, it will be fresh. And local, too.
    I was eternally ruined for bouillabaisse after a friend cooked up a pot of the Provence-style seafood stew one cold winter night in South Africa. She served it with the requisite French bread—and a homemade aioli so intensely garlicky and mouthwateringly more-ish that her dinner was stamped in my taste-memory as how bouillabaisse should be. I have given up ordering it after long-term hankerings, repeated trials and consistent disappointments.
    But cioppino: That’s another story. There are obvious similarities in the two dishes. But the person who introduced me to this San Francisco–style fish stew buys his core ingredients in frozen packs from Trader Joe’s, adds a bit of this and a bit of that, and puts it over pasta. Tasty. But somehow you know this is not “it.”
    Around since 1890, Spenger’s Fresh Fish Grotto is a restaurant with a history. Mention the name and people reel off stories. The place is pretty new to me, having only frequented it since McCormick & Schmick’s bought it and upgraded in 1999. The menu changes daily with seasonal catches. The cioppino ($23.95) is a year-round dinner special.
    It’s by nature a catch-of-the-day dish, and sous chef Dave Price says one can consistently expect to find chunks of salmon, rockfish, mussels and clams—and fresh Dungeness crab that will be local whenever possible. The aromatic and flavorsome tomato broth has white wine, fish stock and garlic. The meal is served in a big soup bowl. It comes with sourdough, toasted crisp and golden with garlic and Parmesan. Perfect to warm the cockles. And that tantalizing garlic aroma …
    Spenger’s Fresh Fish Grotto, 1919 Fourth St., open 11 a.m.–10 p.m. Sun.–Thu., 11 a.m.–11 p.m. Fri.-Sat. (510) 845-7771, www.spengers.com.