The Marshall Store, Marshall, CA

 The Marshall Store

It's always been a pleasant way to spend a weekend day (or rare weekday off) driving out to Pt. Reyes and then, after spending some time poking around the bustling Pt. Reyes Station (really busy on Saturdays & Sundays-a plethora of cyclists, bikers, city cruisers, pedestrians and seemingly all with their kids and pets), either heading out to the beaches of Pt. Reyes Seashore for beach combing and/or kite flying, or heading north to the oyster 'outlets' up Hwy. 1. This past Sunday we opted for the latter, Tehra thinking along the lines of a meal at the Marshall Store, where we had eaten before and, located right 'next door' to Blue Water Kayaking, where we spent the evening of her birthday on a bioluminescence tour on Tomales Bay.

I was just happy she hadn't meant the Tomales Bay Oyster Co. as the cars there were parked quite precariously up and down both sides of 1 that afternoon because the parking lots on the property were completely full.

The Marshall Store has changed a bit since we first started stopping and sharing meals there. They have added more parking, tables, and bar seats on the deck outside, as well as expanding the menu and beverage selections. One of the first times we ate oysters here they had just gotten busted for some liquor license violation. They could sell us beer but we couldn't open it and drink it with our meal, not even brown bagging.

This day looked like the overflow from Tomales Bay Oyster and Hog Island too maybe as oowee were they busy...I know, Sunday afternoon on a mostly sunny day on Tomales Bay...go figure...

So while waiting in the line to order our plate of oysters we noticed they had Fish Tacos on the blackboard menu as well. OK, so a dozen BBQ oysters and a plate of Fish Tacos, along with a water for Tehra and a Racer 5 for me. As you can see by the pictures it was sunny, though slightly cool, with the Fog just starting to work its way in from the beaches, most likely to hit just as all of the big city daytrippers were packing up their economy or sports cars and heading back out to the 101 to make it home in time for Sunday night TV. What is interesting about the Fog around Tomales Bay is  that when it rolls in the bay becomes almost completely flat, which is what happened the night we went kayaking...it was so still and peaceful and surprisingly warm...
OK OK back to the food....

The oysters arrived first, a baker's dozen of them, along with soft warm buttery garlic bread to soak up the oyster juices...and those juices were most assuredly worth soaking up...mmm-mmm-mmmm...

The Fish Tacos, once they did arrive, were...OK. Delicious to look at, 3 to the plate, fresh lime and vegies, small double-layer corn tortillas and the avocado-tomatillo salsa, which was quite tastytangy. The fish though, was small and somewhat dry, maybe because it took a while for them to make their way to us. Long enough that I finished one beer and was part of the way through another when they showed up. The flavors all worked well though and we will most definitely give them another try on another trip to Marshall, though probably on a weekday when  they may not be quite so overwhelmed.
This particular day (and probably most days, come to think of it)..Oysters Rule!!!

To give you an idea of how big the formerly just fishing and ranching area of Marshall has gotten, there is now free valet parking on the weekends at Hog Island just up the road. Time was you could show up, order some oysters, take your tray glove and knife out to a picnic table and enjoy fun hour or so eating oysters. Hog Island is now pretty much booked solid for the rest of the summer and yes, Free Valet Parking...