Walking in to Anchor Oyster Bar is a bit like escaping San Francisco for a moment and stepping in to a beachside seafood joint on some distant boardwalk. The menu is scrawled across a restaurant-wide mirror, bowls of oyster crackers rest on each table, and the waiters wear crisp black tees with the Anchor Oyster symbol emblazoned across the pocket. Aside from the prices (ranging from oh, my to oh, God), Anchor Oyster Bar is like its boardwalk inspirations: a seafood restaurant sans pretense, focused on a small menu of simply prepared yet absolutely delicious seafood. Sit at the bar and order up a few oyster shooters to start before moving on to a crisp, clear spread of fresh oysters on the half-shell. Some might aim for the fresh fish of the day, served grilled with a slice of lemon, but we're partial to the chowder, a thinner, brinier cousin to the norm in this town.