Coral reef feast

It’s fun to say the word “mollusk” over and over again. One new eatery in town that offers the opportunity to do so, with a variety that rivals a coral reef, is Seafood House Quan Oc.

The Vietnamese restaurant in South Sacramento serves richly seasoned razor clams and conchs, oysters and “obtuse horn shells”—not beachside blow horns, but tiny snails. In America, we tend to think of Vietnamese food as banh mi sandwiches, pho and vermicelli bowls, but with the country’s vast coastlines, its cuisine also dazzles with scores of seafood dishes.

Now you might be thinking, “Holy escargot! I remember a certain snail-eating country colonized Vietnam, so that must be where this mollusk-eating originated.” Not quite. In the North Vietnamese region of Nghe An, piles of hollowed out shellfish have been found that date back more than 10,000 years—long before the French colonized it in the late 1800s. However, France introduced ingredients like the onions and butter found on Seafood House Quan Oc’s menu.

The restaurant’s name harkens to snail eateries—quan oc—that are part of Vietnamese nightlife. They host social gatherings where friends can dirty their hands and slurp on snails in between sips of beer; the meal lingers as pals fish out morsels from inside shells, enabling lengthy catch-up sessions.

In that nightlife spirit, Seafood House Quan Oc is open only from 3 p.m. to midnight or later (except Wednesdays), and it offers karaoke rooms for a minimum $400 food-and-drink tab. Aside serving from beer, the bar mixes funky drinks like lychee martini and green tea cocktail. For those put off by shelled creatures, there’s Cajun shrimp, seafood hotpots, garlic noodles and other shell-free dishes.

But really, it’s all about those mollusks. The grilled blood clams with green onions ($11.95) compose a counterpoint of textures. Spiked with scallion oil, the supple clams are topped with a sprinkling of peanuts and fried shallots—two kinds of crunch—and crisp green onions.

The steamed obtuse horn shells ($9.95) sit in a decadent pool of coconut milk that’s infused with the earthy flavors of the snails. You might forget that you’re eating your rainy-day sidewalk neighbors because the broth is so fatty, warm and sweet, and the viscous texture is a fitting vehicle for the luxurious sauce. But don’t try these on a first date: You have to slurp hard to get them out of their shell.

The razor clams with tamarind sauce ($15.95) are firmer, but still soak up their surrounding tamarind, chili and fish oil. The chewy spindles gush with flavors that are sweet, sour, astringent and rich all at once, showing off Vietnamese cuisine’s tendency to contrast tastes.

The stir-fried conch with sate chili oil ($12.95) nestles bits of conch back inside their former homes: conch shells. Sharply piquant and citrusy, the soft slivers come with a sprig of Vietnamese coriander.

As an appetizer, the baby clams ($8.95) allow you to forget about the origins of the food—they arrive sans shell. Peanuts, herbaceous onions, fried shallots and Vietnamese coriander generously blanket a mound of warm, small clams. Pile the thoughtful mix onto crunchy black-sesame rice crackers, and it shimmers on the tongue with garlic oil and a deep, meaty flavor.

Also tasty: the delicately fried cod, the hefty Cajun shrimp or the seafood hot pot with its bounty of lemongrass-flavored mussels, fish balls and veggies. But if you’re headed to Seafood House Quan Oc, and you aren’t afraid to suck a shell, those aren’t the only dishes you should order.