The small storefront, a former clothing boutique, sits at the sleepy end of Castro Street, anchoring (sorry) a block that has seen boom, bust, and everything in between (remember Headlines?). Roseann Grimm opened it in 1977 when the neighborhood was just finding its identity -- transitioning from Irish working-class holdout to gay mecca -- but she never catered to any one crowd. Coming from a long line of Italian fishermen, with years of restaurant training under the tutelage of the Sancimino family (which owns Swan Oyster Depot), Grimm felt an oyster bar was the natural choice.

Sit down at the counter any day of the week and you'll bear witness to the soup's ability to bridge cultural, gender, age, and sexual preference gaps. Grimm says the chowder evolved through trial and error.

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