VACATION; The husby and I spent our holiday in the coastal town of Newport, about 150 miles from Portland. We go for the amazing seafood, because most vacations we plan are flavor based. At my absolute favorite sea-shanty fish market restaurant in the world, I was faced with a revelation in the form of a "crab burger". South Beach Fish Market is legendary for their smoked oysters, fresh dungeness crab and their firecraker horseradish cocktail sauce. They are not however, famous for their artfully assembled sandwiches. After spotting the burger on the menu, I vowed to come back the next day, you know, for the blog.
BURGER; A big crabcake on a bun with swiss cheese and ranch dressing (which I wisely opted out of). The crabcake had been frozen, so the sweet dungeness flavor suffered. Limp lettuce, and heavy onion also worked against the delicate deliciousness of the crab. I enjoyed the burger more after I wised up and smeared it with the aforementioned firecracker sauce. I won't get this burger again, but I will eat a half dozen raw oysters, and a crab cocktail, and smoked oysters and a captains platter, and salmon candy , and, well, you get the idea.
FRIES; These frozen crinkle cut throwback fries are undercooked with zero seasoning. Rice is an alternative, but I didn't find that out until our last visit and I was strictly oyster shooting at that point.
SERVICE; Variably jaded 20 something and chipper teenager. Counter service that's fast and, for the most part, friendly. Very limited seating but pretty rapid dining room turnover. Oh, and it's attached to a convenience store so you can accompany your oysters with a Monster Energy Drink or a 4Loko.
WHERE; 3640 S Coast HWY, South Beach, Oregon SouthBeachFishMarket.com
