Oysters! The Oyster Thread.

My wife and I are on a huge oyster kick. I’ve been on the kick for 5+ years, but my wife first started trying them this Summer. Yesterday we were out and shared 2 dozen comprised of 12 Island Creeks, 6 Peter’s Points, and 6 Beausoleil’s. Tonight we had 12 Island Creeks, 6 Cape May Salts, and 6 40 North’s.

To my palate, you can’t beat the combination of the brininess and minerality of the Island Creek oysters. That said, I would love to try as many different types as possible as I find oysters to be very akin to wine (terroir and individuality). I greatly prefer East Coast oysters to West Coast oyster.

Give me your favorites. Can’t wait to try them.

Love them and wish I had a wider variety of experience. So far my favorite are the small Kumamatos from BC. I will definitely look for some east cost varieties you listed.

Seems strange to greatly prefer East Coast oysters. There’s definitely a difference but first off variety is the spice of life, and secondly there’s a lot of variation within each coast. A Belon is pretty different than a Blue Point. If anything the East Coast ones have more salinity on average. The best of the West seem sweeter. I like some of the salty, briny oysters but find that the salinity can dominate some of the subtle flavor?
From here out west I love Kumamoto, Miyagi, Olympia, Kusshi, Sweetwater, and Carlsbad Del Sol.
My east coast favorites are Katamas, Wellfleet, and Mapeque.

Mike, if you get out here or want to send you wife for oysters in S.Monica or Downtown, try the Water Grill.

I eat a lot of oysters- I have an east coast preference- awhile ago I started taking notes on my phone…

Oyster faves- origin last initials

Island creek- larger, briny, really good MA* fave of all
Little Island - small briny good finish-veggie ME
South Bay blondes - larger size briny really good MA
Fox island small ocean flavor cucumber, yum NS
Raspberry point- great small briny fresh PEI
Pemaquid- large briny lemon/citrus, good!! ME
Quonset point, small briny creamy, good RI
Duxbury Bay medium briny meaty MA
Northern cross, briny celery wdelicious VA
Otter cove- small buttery salty WA
Caraquet - small briny REALLY good NB
Conway royal small briny sweet PEI
Misty Point medium, ocean, cucumber, yum VA
Summerside- smaller, good PEI
East Beach small creamy briny mineral RI
Beausoleil small, yeasty, NE
Eagle rock small stronger not fishy WA
Sunken meadow gems, small briny good MA
Rocky Nook, larger, celery, ocean VA
Marthas vineyard - medium size, briny, clean, sweet aftertaste MA
Naked Cowboy- medium, briny, firm, NY
Well fleet medium briny creamy great MA
Fanny Bay- medium, firm, great finish melon-cucumber. BC Lori had crotchy finish
Peters Point- small, briny, MA
Malpeque- medium, briny balanced PEI
Unami - medium, briny, strong finish RI
Gigimoto- small, butter, yum BC
Chatham - medium, meaty , mild, slightly snotty, yum MA

Ok
Big cove little funky finish WA
First light- a bit fishy, but still nice, small MA
East beach- close to a face, small, firm-just not enough ocean flavor RI
Hamma hamma- bad begiining, nice finish, WA
Sister point- great start bad finish WA
Marion point muddy flavor light brine not good MA

Not good- not bad - just not my fave
Penn cove- small west coast, just kinda blah, fishy WA
Kusshi- tooo fishy, not good
Pickering pass, too fishy, tastes like old twat blech WA
Imperial eagle, hated, funky spunk BC
Treasure island, ok a little funky finish WA

Wow, jay.

Great rundown. I think I’ve had maybe only 6 of those as MN tends to get blue point with a few others sprinkled in.

Jay,

That’s great stuff. I’m going to have to start keeping a record on my phone too. We have a local bistro that has a raw bar and they consistently have 4 east coast and 4 west coast oysters and they rotate them. Thankfully the Island Creek’s seem to be a staple. There’s a book called “Shucked, Life on a New England Oyster Farm” that is about a woman who quit her job and went to work for Island Creek for a year. Not Pulitzer Prize kind of stuff, but a fun read.

John,

I think the East Coast vs. West Coast preference is a function of location and what you’re exposed to. Kind of like enjoying the local Chinese food place because that’s what you’re used to. I find the WC oysters to be sweet and creamy. The creaminess can be texturally off putting to me. When we go to the bistro mentioned above we usually get EC only, but I’ll have to throw in a few WC next time.

Best lunch of the year, Marshall Store and our own vino. A California must-stop for an Oyster guru.

http://www.guruapps.net/guruapps/Oysterguru.html

Awesome!

No love for Gulf oysters? If they’d give them appellation names like they do up north I think they’d be taken more seriously.

what? No Kumamotos?

I was in NOLA in May and had a bunch of gulf oysters. They were awful. Muddy, huge, disgusting.

The old adage “months with a ‘R’ in 'em” definitely applies to NOLA.

There’s a reason one of the most famous oyster restaurants in the country (Casamento’s in NOLA) is closed all summer. Gulf oysters are good when the water is cold.

For oysters that I have access to regularly I would put Ninigret Cups & East Beach Blondes(both RI) at the top of my list as they are not large, not overly briny, and just sooooo sweet. The best local oyster eatery is in fact an oyster farm called Matunuck Oyster Bar. Noank Bluepoints, also local, I put down the list as they are large and briny. For west coast oysters I do love the Kumamotos from the pacific northwest, however, they rarely get seen here. For Thanksgiving we are starting with oysters and Champagne…can’t wait.

Add - At the end of September I served up local oysters for a party and nearly 30% of the oysters had a small crab inside called the oyster crab. At no other time have I found these in oysters…Oyster crab - Wikipedia

Gary–that is fascinating.

Did you eat them??

Yep. We tried a few as they are soft bodied. Not bad but pretty small and have the oyster juice on them.

Alan- have had Kumamoto many times- little pads of butter!

Anyone else like me? Drives me a bit crazy when I see someone drown them in cocktail sauce, tobasco, and horseradish!!! I usually am just some lemon, maybe some mignonette.

I go to Shaws a lot- they usually have 6-10 different ones on the menu. And 1/2 price during the happy hour!

And usually washed down with a martini!!

is right!

I love oysters…especially with chilled whites like champagne. I prefer the small, sweet ones (like Kumamotos) but will eat just about any/all.