Northern California’s oyster capital is a hidden gem

ByLeilani Marie Labong

Published February 16, 2024

Not far from the high-tech hubs of San Francisco and the vineyard crowds of Napa lies a nature reserve that produces some of the country’s best oysters.

The Tomales Bay estuary is a biodiversity hot spot and home to bivalves that feed on a constant upwelling of nutrients from the crisp, cold, well-oxygenated waters flowing in from the Pacific Ocean.

“For the most part, good shellfish-growing areas are pretty damn beautiful,” says John Finger, co-founder of Hog Island Oyster Co., which has been operating on the bay’s eastern shore for 40 years. “Since these places are healthy enough to grow oysters that are safe enough to eat, they become archetypes of a sound environment.”

The region’s oystering roots date to the Coast Miwok peoples, who harvested shellfish—possibly whelks misidentified as oysters or clams—for millennia. But while Northern California’s modern oyster industry dates to the 19th century, it was perpetuated by an influx of Croatian fisher folk starting in the early 20th century.

Now a new generation of restaurateurs and oyster farmers are reviving the bay’s heritage. Travelers can learn how these early settlers inspired this peaceful seaside of fish shacks and oyster farms. Here’s how to visit.

Historic fish shacks

While the Olympia is considered the West Coast’s sole native oyster, historic accounts indicate that the species appeared in Tomales Bay in the 1870s, when swashbuckling oystermen shipped them in from Washington State. The Olympia’s coin-like size and coppery flavor motivated the export of sweeter, meatier bivalves from the East Coast, via the new Transcontinental Railway. Upon arrival, these new shellfish were plunged into Tomales Bay, spawning a lucrative industry in one of the prettiest places in the state.

“Back then, when people in nearby San Francisco wanted fresh oysters, they had to go out to places where it was clean enough to grow them,” says local historian and author Dewey Livingston. “Tomales Bay was perfect, and still is. That’s what practically generated all of these restaurants on the shore.”

These days, five oyster farms on the bay cultivate diverse species like the Pacific (characterized by an umami note), Atlantic (vegetal in flavor), and Kumamoto (melony on the palate). They’re supplied year round to regional restaurants, including neighboring fish shacks founded by Croatian fishers, who recognized a similar merroir (terroir’s marine equivalent) between their native Adriatic Sea and Tomales Bay.

(Your love of fresh oysters can help the planet.)

Established in 1931, Nick’s Cove is the oldest fish shack on the shore and remained popular with sport fishers, hunters, and travelers, even after founding couple Nick and Frances Kojich retired around 1950. The renovated property retains its nautical charm even though its boat shack—a local landmark—succumbed to a devastating fire in January 2024. However, the 300-foot pier is still an atmospheric spot to enjoy smoky-sweet barbecue oysters—a Tomales Bay staple that originated at Nick’s in 1972—or other seafood classics from the revamped menu by Bay Area celebrity chef Chris Cosentino.

About five miles down the road, Anton “Tony” Konatich opened Tony’s Seafood in 1948 to serve the bayside town of Marshall, then a port for a bustling herring industry. In 2017, Hog Island Oyster Co. acquired the iconic, but rundown, restaurant and completed a major restoration in 2019. Now customers slurp half shells in an airy modern dining room, with its original wood planking. But the best seat is by a west-facing window, where you can dig into an oyster po’boy or an Oyster Bar Mix of half shells while looking across the bay to lush Point Reyes National Seashore.

Half a mile north from Tony’s, the Marshall Store has evolved from a 1920s water fill-up station for North Coast Railroad steam engines to a 1930s fishing-supply shop to a modern-day fish shack famous for maximalist grilled oysters. Owner Shannon Gregory sources shellfish from his other business, the 115-year-old Tomales Bay Oyster Company, the oldest bivalve farm in California, as well as nearby Route One Bakery & Kitchen.

Accordingly, the grilled oysters come with generous hunks of the bakery’s fresh sourdough. Sop up the juices from the Kilpatrick (garlic butter, Worcestershire sauce, bacon) and the reimagined Rockefeller (spinach, garlic butter, local Straus yogurt). The latter is also made with Toma cheese from the Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Company. “It’s a good feeling when everything comes from close by,” says Gregory.

Reservations are required to partake in a true Bay Area pastime: alfresco refreshments at Hog Island Oyster Co.’s Boat Oyster Bar, where you can slurp raw bivalves sourced from beds located steps from your picnic table.

Exploring Tomales Bay

After getting your fill of seafood, visit Hog Island Oyster Co. in Marshall, where tours of the 160-acre farm dive into the synergy between shellfish and nature. You’ll also learn how the farm’s sustainable aquaculture operation, started in 1983, upcycles shells as habitat for spat (baby bivalves) and filters UV-treated seawater to make artisan salt.

“We have such an immediate connection to the environment and place,” says Finger. “I tell people all the time that 75 percent of this business is site selection.”

(Here’s how women fishers are remaking Italy’s historic Po River Delta.)

Located just south of Tomales Bay, Point Reyes Station is a picturesque spot for stocking up on goods including organic linens, books on nature, vintage vinyl, plus locally made buffalo-milk soft serve and hearth-baked bread.

Also in Point Reyes Station, don’t miss white-walled Blunk Space, where art historian Mariah Nielson curates exhibits connected to her father, artist J.B. Blunk, who lived and worked in nearby Inverness before his death in 2002. Through March, the new residency program at Nick’s Cove hosts free demonstrations, from brush-lettering basics by San Francisco signage painter David Benzler to woodblock carving by Bolinas-based Sirima Sataman.

After a day of touring and tasting, walk the Tomales Bay Trail, an easygoing 2.6-mile round trip hike through small meadows, rolling hills, and the wetlands at the edge of the estuary.

Where to stay

With wood-burning stoves, clawfoot tubs, and views of Point Reyes National Seashore, the five waterfront accommodations at Nick’s Cove are the most sought-after places to spend the night in the area. Bandit’s Bungalow was part of the female-run 1930s herring-curing facility originally on the property, while Nicolina is a reproduction of a 1930s Tomales Bay fishing vessel, complete with porthole windows.

A former 1914 radio-receiving station and a 1960s compound for the Church of Synanon, a cult disbanded long ago, the Lodge at Marconi has an eclectic history. Now a boutique hotel, it’s where “grown-up camping” equates to well-appointed, modernist-style trappings. Think tiles by Sausalito-based Heath Ceramics, botanical wall art in the style of Stuart Arends, and custom tapestries by Los Angeles fiber studio Lookout & Wonderland in cozy quarters located on 62 acres of woodland overlooking Tomales Bay.

Leilani Marie Labong is a San Francisco journalist who writes about travel, food, and design. Follow her on Instagram.

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