6 places to go for mussel dishes around the bay

A bowl of mussels is one of those items that can be dressed up or down, flavored with meat or kept light with a scattering of fresh herbs. The shellfish can be steamed, roasted in a wood oven or even sauteed in a hot skillet or wok.

Here are some of my favorite treatments of this popular item on Bay Area restaurant menus.

Restaurant LuLu

For more than 16 years this SOMA restaurant has been serving iron-skillet roasted mussels ($15) with drawn butter. They come to the table in the sizzling cast iron pan, so there's nothing between you and the mussels, other than the butter.

818 Folsom St. (near Fourth Street), San Francisco; (415) 495-5775 or restaurantlulu.com. Lunch and dinner daily.

Skool

This stylish restaurant in the design district features steamed Acadia blue mussels ($14 at lunch; $17 at dinner) swimming in a broth with bacon, tomato, blue cheese, white wine, the licorice note of Pastis and herbs.

1725 Alameda St. (at De Haro Street), San Francisco; (415) 255-8800 or skoolsf.com. Lunch or brunch and dinner daily.

Plouf

This restaurant on Belden Place offers six preparations of mussels (each $14.50), including one bathed in Pastis and another in Anchor Steam beer. For an Asian touch, there's one with coconut broth laced with garlic, cilantro, chile and lime juice. And you must have the fries.

40 Belden Place (off Bush Street, near Montgomery), San Francisco; (415) 986-6491 or ploufsf.com. Lunch weekdays, dinner Monday-Saturday.

Brix

The mussels ($14) at this Napa Valley restaurant overlooking vineyards and an impressive garden are dramatically served in an egg-shape cast-iron pot, in a broth enhanced with coconut milk and green curry.

7377 St. Helena Hwy., Yountville; (707) 944-2749 or brix.com. Lunch and dinner daily.

A Cote

One of the most popular dishes at this Oakland small-plates restaurant is mussels ($15) roasted in the wood-burning oven and bathed in a milky, Pernod-spiked broth.

5478 College Ave. (near Lawton Avenue), Oakland (510) 655-6469 or acoterestaurant.com. Dinner nightly.

Le Garage

This charming French bistro overlooking the Sausalito marina is the perfect setting for mussels ($15). They're steamed with a Basque-inspired combination of sausage, cherry tomatoes, shallots, garlic and harissa.

85 Liberty Ship Way, Suite 109, Sausalito; (415) 332-5625 or legaragebistrosausaliton.com. Lunch or bunch daily, dinner Monday-Saturday.

Michael Bauer is The Chronicle's restaurant critic. E-mail him at mbauer@sfchronicle.com, go to sfgate.com/food to read his previous reviews and follow him on Twitter @michaelbauer1.

This article appeared on page V - 14 of the San Francisco Chronicle