"I am the Walrus"

The Walrus and the Carpenter
Walked on a mile or so,
And then they rested on a rock
Conveniently low:
And all the little Oysters stood
And waited in a row.

“The time has come,” the Walrus said,
“To talk of many things:
Of shoes—and ships—and sealing wax—
Of cabbages—and kings—
And why the sea is boiling hot—
And whether pigs have wings.”

“But wait a bit,” the Oysters cried,
“Before we have our chat;
For some of us are out of breath,
And all of us are fat!”
“No hurry!” said the Carpenter.
They thanked him much for that.

“A loaf of bread,” the Walrus said,
“Is what we chiefly need:
Pepper and vinegar besides
Are very good indeed—
Now if you’re ready, Oysters dear,
We can begin to feed.”

I went to Taps with some friends this weekend and got to eat something I had been craving for a quite some time now. Besides sushi places, I'm don't know of a lot of places in the area that has oysters. I've been to Taps a couple of times, and it's a bit on the pricey side. I do like that they are also a brewery, and have some interesting beers. You can sit at in the dining area, oyster bar, or bar section, which includes outside seating. While waiting, I got the pumpkin ale, $6.

It wasn't as sweet as the Bj's version and was a little stronger in alcohol content, which had my head spinning(I'm a bit of a lightweight). Still, you could taste the pumpkin and spices in it, and it was pretty enjoyable.


I started with a cup of Gumbo $5. The consistency was more thin than thick, and there were pieces of sausage and celery. The gumbo had a lot going on in it, and had a nice spicy kick to it that wasn't overwhelming. I thought it was pretty good. However, I haven't had gumbo at any other place, and I left wondering if this was the real deal.


Half dozen raw oysters $13. Condiments: Tabasco, lemon, cocktail sauce with horseradish, and a red wine vinegar. I like my oysters with lemon and vinegar. Tabasco is always good too.

Our waitress was not very good at selling the menu. She never told us what oysters they had or what they were called. The other times I've gone to Taps, they had a small selection of different oysters available. Nevertheless, the oysters were fresh and briny, which I prefer over the milder tasting ones. I ended up getting a dozen of them.

Service, while attentive, wasn't very prompt. They gave us a lot of bread, but our food did not come out at the same time, and I also had to wait a while for my second half dozen. The other times I went (I've been to the Corona location as well) the staff was a lot more helpful and informative, so I'm not saying that the service was always bad.

All in all, it's a nice place to have oysters. My friends seemed to enjoy their food as well. They also have a Sunday Jazz brunch that I'd like to go to sometime. It's $32.99, but for a seafood buffet with plenty of oysters, I'm not complaining.

Taps Fish House & Brewery
101 E Imperial Hwy
Brea, CA 92821