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The best anchovies are pleasantly salty, umami-rich, plump, and luxuriating in good-quality olive oil or salt—ready for snacking or mixing into a bright vinaigrette or dip. They’re tinned or jarred, but they taste fresh; they’re a commodity with European panache, and tastes of the coasts from which they came, whether it’s the cold waters of the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Spain, or Italy’s Amalfi Coast.
There’s also a booming anchovy scene in the San Francisco Bay Area, where the season runs roughly from April to October. There, they are the star of The Anchovy Bar, a culmination of the chef Stuart Brioza’s longstanding love affair with the oily little fish. Brioza receives anchovies at maximum freshness, less than an hour from having been in the water. “We cure our own during the season and serve them as fresh boquerones,” says Brioza. “We use lime juice, not vinegar. That’s the sort of heart and soul and inspiration of The Anchovy Bar, the Bay Area local anchovies.”
But when anchovy season is over in the Bay Area, Brioza brings in the best cured anchovies from around the world to pinch-hit, primarily sourced from Spain and Italy. “The goal was to really focus on ingredients that have strong ties to a specific place and that have either transformed or make that cuisine,” says Brioza. Based on his recommendations
