Chowderhead Alert! A Good Bet Near Half Moon Bay

I've been looking for the perfect place between Santa Cruz and San Francisco, where a traveler can get a good seafood meal and a good view of the sea at the same time. Reasonable prices, good service. I've finally found all that at Sam's Chowder House on Highway 1, just north of Half Moon Bay.

The view from the patio of Sam's Chowder House. I sat inside where the view is just as fantastic and I was out of the wind.

It appears to have been there forever, but it is only a three-year-old restaurant. The food is beachy style and wonderful. I started with a house salad which was not your everyday house salad. The carrots had been julienned and the dressing tasted as if it had just been made. Had someone come down from San Francisco, just to make my salad? Nice job! Please, don't go back!

The interior of Sam's. Busy, even at 3:00 p.m. on a Sunday.

Then, I became bold and ordered their fish-and-chips, which came with so many fries I thought I was in heaven. There was coleslaw, too, and it was good, with just a dash of onion in it, something I had not tasted before. Their tartar sauce had an extra pinch horseradish. I think that was it and it was great.

Not able to stop there, I managed to eat a small dish of their homemade soft ice cream and felt I would never need eat again. My server, Mark, was a local kid who had finished college, moved away for a marketing job, and after four years in Ohio, or some such place, said hey, I miss Half Moon Bay, and returned home. He was a great server and it was just his third day!

The California Trail, just below Sam's has magnificent views of the Pacific. Also, it is free (and good exercise after eating at Sam's).

The restaurant sits on a bluff just above the Pacific, and when I finished dining I walked down to the California Trail, which sits just beneath Sam's. There, I could walk off some of my dinner, and watch the pelicans dive for theirs. I also saw what appeared to be a number of large pods of sea lions moving along almost as gracefully as dolphins, though they don't jump out of the water, as dolphins do, but they were just as well-choreographed. Sometimes, one or two would stop and look around and then move on. It seemed the sea lions were using the pelicans as look outs for schools of fish. Is that possible?



Sam's also has two SamCams you can click on to see if the fog bank is heading into Half Moon Bay, heading out to the Pacific, or not in sight. To find it you can click here: Sam's Web Cam

Check the SamCam before you head over there from the Santa Clara Valley or parts unknown. Sometimes its romantic to be caught there in the fog bank. And sometimes you just want the sun to be glowing on the Pacific. Sam's will make you happy either way--and that's cheap at twice the price.