EMC Seafood & Raw Bar

I have been waiting for this restaurant to open and it finally did. It was Valentine's Day and Sandi and I knew most restaurants would be crowded and overpriced. We decided to go to the Del Amo Mall and see if Din Tai Fung had a short line; after all, it was 4:00 p.m. so most couples would not find anything romantic at that hour. On our way to Din Tai Fung, we passed EMC Seafood and found that it was open. We went in to just check on the menu. I've been dying for fresh raw oysters, something that grossed out my partner in crime. She did find many other items on the menu so she thought we should have dinner there. Since we were early enough, the place was not at all crowded.

I was wondering what EMC stood for and I did not wonder too long when I saw an employees' back t-shirt that read: Eat More Clams. I later found out that EMC stood for the first names of the owners. We were in luck as they had "Happy Hour" going on and you did not have to sit in the bar which was nice. The house wine was $5.00 and the best part was that the Chef's choice oysters were only $1.50 each as opposed to $2.25. That alone is well worth the visit.

We ordered the Crispy Calamari lightly battered and fried with a spicy Aioli sauce. It was good but not up to our standards. The batter was not the best though the sauce was very good. The other item we ordered was the Honey Crisp Shrimp which was lightly battered in honey mayo sauce. It was on the sweet side which we expected but we both felt it needed a bit of spice to get some "oomph".

The third item was Sandi's choice, Garlic Noodles. The couple next to us ordered it and it did look good. It had a lot of garlic, It supposedly had butter and Parmesan cheese. All we could taste was the garlic. (It was a good thing we weren't planning on kissing anyone.) It was nothing special. In fact, we both agreed we would not order it again.

There are a lot of items that looked exciting, like the Soft Shell Crab Sliders, Shrimp Tacos, Crispy Brussels Sprouts, Spicy Crab Meat Tempura Roll, Fries with Truffle Mushroom Aioli, Shishito Peppers, Hokkaido Scallop and those are just from the Happy Hour Menu. The regular menu includes Lobster Rolls, Garlic Prawns, Crispy Garlic Whole Maine Lobster, Steamed King Crab Legs, Dungeness Crab, Uni Pasta and for the non-seafood lovers plus there's always Prime Rib and Filet Mignon.

It will take several visits to EMC to get the scope of things. I might order just fresh oysters next time. EMC Seafood has several locations: Arcadia, Rowland Heights, Irvine and in Torrance.