The Boat House Seafood Cuisine and Lounge, Crescent City, California

Nancy and I spent another day among the redwoods in the Jedediah Smith end of the park.

The hikes were outstanding, and the National and California Park Services offer a very useful guide to the hikes. Everything is gorgeous, and after a while …

It was a great day, the sort of day that builds an appetite. Before our trip, I’d sedulously searched for recommendations. Everyone recommended the Hiouchi Cafe, understandably, but beyond that the suggestions were few and half hearted. On our first night we went back to our VRBO and made dinner out of our supplies (the best cheese in the world) from the Rogue Creameryand Safeway. That was sufficient, but not a long-term plan.

A quick driving tour revealed that Crescent City is a commercial fishing center so, on our second night, we set out for seafood, and wound up at the Boat House right in the midst of the docks at 150 Starfish Way.

The 1964 Anchorage earthquake sent a tsunami into Crescent City that destroyed the old docks and washed away a good chunk of the city. The new docks are 15 acres of concrete and not picturesque. The Boat House dining area is on the second floor so it has a view, but it’s set well back from the water, past a vast parking lot with a forest of RV hookups. I tried not to think of Cousin Eddie. Meanwhile, the people by the front window had a view of the historic Battery Point lighthouse, which is well worth a look.

The main dining room is a large open space, and it was busy while we were there.

Even more busy was the back room with the bar and additional seating. It was packed.

We looked over the menu, which is heavily dominated by sushi and sashimi. There were some teriyakis and seafood boils, the local version of Frogmore Stew/Low country boil, but neither of us was in the mood for shrimp-peeling and crab-cracking. I’ll pause to announce that when it comes to sushi, I just rode into town on a truckload of turnips. I’m indiscriminate. I don’t balk at eating raw seafood, whether it’s a few dozen oysters or a raw herring sandwich. But after every bite, I think, “This would be better with just a light sear, a nice touch of caramelization.” Worse, I dearly love a mixture of soy sauce, wasabi, and fresh ginger. I ladle it on so heavily that I might as well just order rice. Same as snails in garlic butter. So don’t expect sophisticated commentary about the nuances of the various items.

But I’ve gotten way ahead of myself. We ordered appetizers. Nancy ordered a salad

Have you ever seen a salad with that much avocado? Nancy improved it with an oil and vinegar dressing with a light balsamic touch and enjoyed it.

I ordered the seaweed salad.

It came with two types of seaweed and a base of long juilienned cucumbers. The seaweed was fresh and salty with the sea, I suppose, and soy sauce. Note that the salad was served on a plate with a textured bamboo design, which I thought was cute. The Boat House has a number of touches like that, as you will see.

Nancy ordered three sushi rolls — salmon, avocado, and lobster crunch.

And I ordered a sashimi platter.

The plastic flowering tree was another cute touch. Another diner had a background of bamboo and a butterfly on his platter. On my platter were, clockwise from the top, salmon, white tuna, yellowtail tuna, ahi, and albacore. I think. I liked it.

Those pictures will have to take the place of 1,000 uninformed words. All of the fish was fresh — I made a point of tasting each au naturale and each had a pleasant enough taste. And each would have been better with about 30 second each side in a hot skillet. Then I mixed the soy sauce, ginger, and wasabi and let ‘er rip. There was plenty of ginger and so much wasabi that at the end I hadn’t used it all, a first.

I can’t say that I fully appreciated the sashimi but I enjoyed it. I dearly loved the open-handed servings of wasabi, and ginger. We left the Boat House well satisfied, and I encourage you to give it a try.

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