Spud Point Crab Company
1860 Westshore Rd., Bodega Bay, CA
http://www.spudpointcrab.com/  
Review date: March 2012

Spud Point was recommended by our friends Steve and Laura as their preferred place for crab chowder and crab cakes. Unfortunately, we came during the week so were unable to try the latter, which are only made on weekends. 

This is the tiny, old-style 'crab shack', not the more modern type of cafe. As it was a Tuesday, there were plenty of places to sit outside, but the clerk recommended we go to either Westside Park or Bodega Head. The gray whales are migrating this month and Bodega Head is one of the best places to view them.

As it turns out, we didn't see any whales, but there are a few picnic tables up there, right by the cliffs. It was overcast (common) but not windy (rare), so it made for a pleasant place to sit and eat our clam chowder and sandwiches. 

Carlos got the crab sandwich and I got the shrimp. Both are on soft-crusted, fairly salty bread rolls. Carlos isn't fond of "wet" sandwiches, and like most this is more of a crab salad sandwich. There's no filler, but it's got a lot of dressing in it. This works better with the shrimp, which are good-sized, very fresh Bay shrimp. But then, I'm the opposite – I prefer my sandwiches "wet" over "dry". 

Now for the chowder: Carlos and I have differing opinions on chowder. I'm firmly in the traditional "thin" chowder camp, whereas Carlos was raised on "thick" chowder (check out this article from the Smithsonian discussing "Clam Chowder: Thick or Thin?": http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/food/2010/07/clam-chowder-thick-or-thin/). 

Spud Point's chowder is really good, and we can understand why people love it. It isn't overthickened, everything is properly (and evenly) diced into small pieces. There's a nice amount of herbs to give it interest beyond the usual onion-celery mix. 

Both of us agree that the very best clam chowder we've ever had was from Seattle's Pike Place Chowder shop – but that's a long ways up the coast to go for a bowl of soup, LOL. Carlos thought Spud Point's chowder was one of the best chowders he's had. What he liked was the moderate thickness of the chowder, and its spiciness (there's a fair amount of peppers in this chowder). They're also very restrained in the amount of milk used.

What I objected to was the slight overdose of fresh thyme, the thickening and the relatively mild taste of the diced clams. My favorite clam chowder in CA so far has been Sea Salt/Berkeley. Sea Salt's "thin" chowder is light on the potatoes and celery, uses whole milk with a touch of half-and-half, and has big pieces of chewy diced clams but no extra thickening beyond the potato's natural starch.

However, it should be noted that we haven't been back to Sea Salt in a while. We've got dinner scheduled there next week to see how the best of the local K2 Group restaurant chain is doing. The K2 restaurants, which include Fonda, T-Rex, Jimmy Beans, Paisan, and Lalime, haven't done well by us overall (Lalime and Sea Salt more for service issues than food), so we'll see if their chowder has held up in this period of higher commodity costs, or if cost-cutting has taken some toll.

Spud Point's a cute little company that sticks to a limited menu, enabling them to specialize in high quality offerings that please a large number of customers. Their food is made with care and served with enthusiasm, making one feel good about supporting a true local business.

If you're accustomed to driving through Bodega on the main road that goes north/south, Spud Point Crab Co. is located on the spit you can see across the Bay, looking straight west. Note that they offer very limited parking – only two regular slots and one disabled slot – so it's likely you'll need to look for street parking.

We passed by Westside Park, but didn't stop as it isn't a particularly attractive park. Bodega Head is preferable, but with only three picnic tables, it's best to bring a blanket to sit on, just in case. There's two chemical toilets in the parking lot, and both regular trash containers and a bottle/plastic recycling container near the tables. There's also an easy and beautiful hiking trail along the cliffs so you can work off your meal afterwards!

Two people: two soups, two sandwiches, two beverages, a $1 tip in the ever-present jar by the cash register, was just under $40.