We happened to be in Anacortes, Washington recently. At my brother-in-law’s suggestion, we decided to sample the best of the local seafood. This, of course, meant a trip up to Samish to Taylor Shellfish Farms on Samish Bay. It’s about a 30 minute drive from Anacortes to the turnoff on Chuckanut Drive to go down by the bay to their shellfish store and eatery.

The oyster beds are out in Samish Bay.

This panorama shows the whole view from Edison and Samish Island on the left, the San Juans in the center, and Lummi Island on the right. Click on the picture to open a full-sized version.

They process the shellfish across from the store. I’m not sure what they are doing with these vats and the water, but you end up with really fresh oysters.

In warmer weather, you can eat your fresh shellfish on-site. You are encouraged to recycle your oyster shells. They are used to replenish the oyster beds and there is a shortage.

In the shop we bought three crabs, several dozen mussels, one dozen Olympia oysters, and two dozen Kushi oysters. This is the first time we have been able to buy the Olympia oysters as the population has been being rebuilt. The crabs were lively, at our request.

The help at Taylor is very good. The oysters were carefully selected to make sure we got goods ones. And everything was packed up nicely in ice.

Then came the fun part. We shucked the oysters and served them with Pouilly-Fuissé. A delightful pairing.

The crabs came out very nicely after a long boil.

The mussels were cooked up with wine and herbs and were superb.

This was altogether a great meal. Credit for the concept and the wine selection goes to my brother-in-law and to the whole family for the cooking and cleaning. A fine tribute to my recently deceased father-in-law.