Geo wrote:
Belons, BELONS??!! O.M.G. --where could divinity such as that ever be found?!!

Geo

I was in Switzerland at the Palace Hotel dining room (not quite the coast of France but close enough I guess)
They were not listed on the menu but I just asked for some oysters and they happen to have them...
I've never had Belons but had just enough oyster knowledge to say yes please...

Ahhhh, then I won't be jealous! I was all set to be jealous if you could get them in Chicago!

I got incredibly lucky: Back in the day, I was just learning to love oysters. We were spending a week or two in Brittany, hanging out in Concarneau, hitting places in the Gault-Millau. I kept coming across this entry talking about "les mellieurs huitres", so I went to the recommended resto near Riec-sur-Belon. And there it was that my oyster fate was forever sealed... Damn!

Spoiled me forever.

Geo

would have had a dzn but I was not paying the bill!

Rene G wrote:

David Hammond wrote:I like cocktail sauce. Every Thanksgiving, we prepare our own with catsup, horseradish, lemon and hot sauce. We started making our own after we realized that we could never get a store brand with enough horseradish tang.

Have you tried grating your own horseradish root within an hour or so of serving the sauce? It makes a huge difference and takes the root's contribution beyond mere tang.

I would love to use fresh horseradish root. Do you buy yours in Chinatown?

(Re: Midwestern origins of cocktail sauce. I don't believe Murray addresses this issue in her book; I'm only a little over half done with it, but I did skim the remainder and saw no mention of it. My sense at the time was that she was speculating off record).

"So if someone would want to try oysters for the first time in a restaurant (not buy and bring home) what would be the best place to do it in the Chicago area to ensure they were fresh, served correctly, and cost effective?"

Doesn't exist!
I feel the quality of oysters both served and sold in the Midwest, Chicago included, has actually declined in the last decade or so. I don't order them anymore, anywhere in Chicago and don't purchase them anymore in the Midwest. I have tried all the resources and find once in a great while a good batch but mostly they are not bright, plump as they should be. Part of the problem is pricing, as the price has risen all sorts of suppliers have gotten into the game, part of the problem is standards, not many know what a truly fresh oyster is like. I stopped going to Shaw's many years ago after consistently being served dessicated oysters and having to send them back to get palatable ones.
I grew up in Massachusetts and spent part of each summer in Maine. I learned to eat oyster with a dash of lemon as well as little necks and cherrystones, Quahogs were served with a sauce sort of like a Russian dressing or what would be called a simple Remoulade sauce in the South.
I continued the lemon practice when we moved to the Midwest but after an outing at the Davis Street Fish place where they used to have a Special of a dozen cherrystones and a quart of beer served with saltines and Tabasco, I changed and never looked back.
We have changed to little necks and cherrystones because they seem to hold up much better to travel and shipment, are available at H Mart out of a bag if you ask and other sources such as Fresh Farms. For oysters, we order in the Winter from Browne Trading but the cost of overnight is becoming prohibitive.
I certainly like to find a decent retail and restaurant source for oysters but I've been disappointed too many times in the recent decade to try much more.-Dick

"If you go through the hundreds of Acme photos on Yelp it looks like these days the raw oysters come with a little plastic tub of cocktail sauce and some lemon wedges. I'm sure there are always bottles of Tabasco nearby, as at seemingly every restaurant in New Orleans."

I confess I never sit at a table in the Acme but only at the bar where all I see is the oysters being served to you directly onto the bar as you eat them, no plate and a bottle of Tabasco present. Usually if a good customer, you get an extra oyster or two from Hollywood.

One last thought, all shellfish sold and harvested in the US must come with a Harvest Tag delineating, place of harvest, harvest date and shipping date. If your supplier or restaurant can't show you such a tag, I suggest you decline the shellfish.-Dick

toria wrote:So if someone would want to try oysters for the first time in a restaurant (not buy and bring home) what would be the best place to do it in the Chicago area to ensure they were fresh, served correctly, and cost effective?

I know it’s not in vogue these days to praise anything LEYE but…

Raw oysters are my ultimate culinary religion and Shaw’s Oyster Bar my temple. Nothing beats a supreme raw oyster coupled with a classic London dry gin martini (lemon twist, of course!).

I don’t know this for sure but I’m betting that if you took the top ten best raw oyster-serving places in Chicago (The Publican, Balsan, Maude’s Liquor Bar, GT Fish, etc.), their collective volume would be just a fraction of Shaw’s. This may sound like a liability but turnover of raw oysters is necessary for any respectable establishment. And volume creates buying power which allows them to source the widest range of quality oysters from the best native oyster-producing areas in North America such as Eastern Canada (New Brunswick, PEI, Nova Scotia) and the Northeastern U.S. (Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island) as well as British Columbia and Victoria. If you were to frequent Shaw’s routinely, it would blow your mind how many different oyster appellations they offer on a daily basis as well as throughout the year.

Equally if not more importantly, some of the most impressive food service people I’m aware of anywhere are the boys doing the shucking at Shaw’s Oyster bar. These guys are true marvels; shucking huge numbers of oysters while meticulously attempting to maximize the quantity of the bivalve’s liquor as well as keeping the shard value to an absolute minimum. One might speculate that after shucking thousands upon thousands of oysters, one would automatically become good/great at this job. But all you have to do is go to any number of other highly respected oyster-serving establishments found in cities such as New York, Boston, Seattle or San Francisco to see that that is utter nonsense. Drained liquor, mutilated bodies, and shell shards are a common occurrence at many well known and highly respected places due to shucker ignorance, expediency requirements, and/or just downright lack care or knowledge on the part of restaurant management. In seeking out great oysters in this country, I have yet come across another oyster bar with better oyster shuckers than Shaw’s here in Chicago.

As far as garnishing a quality raw oyster, I’m a complete and utter purist. Things like Tabasco and cocktail sauce signal two things: either the person eating the raw oyster truly doesn’t want to be eating a raw, live oyster and/or the oyster itself isn’t very good. If the intrinsic property of an oyster simply lacks character, then maybe a squirt of lemon is justified. But never, ever is it to be used to mask freshness. EVER!

And if all this wasn’t good enough, all of Shaw’s oysters are half price from 4-6. So you can get the best oysters in town for the best price.

PIGMON wrote:I know it’s not in vogue these days to praise anything LEYE but…

Raw oysters are my ultimate culinary religion and Shaw’s Oyster Bar my temple. Nothing beats a supreme raw oyster coupled with a classic London dry gin martini (lemon twist, of course!).

I'm glad you said this. I'll second it. I started with a dozen oysters a couple of weeks ago at Shaw's (half from New England waters, half from British Columbia) and found them truly outstanding. I happen to be going back a couple of weeks from now and as a result of this experience I've had visions of raw oysters dancing in my head in anticipation.

David Hammond wrote:
I would love to use fresh horseradish root. Do you buy yours in Chinatown?

Fresh horseradish is probably available at most of the ethnic type produce markets. Within the last couple of days, I spotted it at both Lincolnwood Produce and Fresh Farms (and I wasn't even actively looking for it).

David Hammond wrote:I would love to use fresh horseradish root. Do you buy yours in Chinatown?

I never thought to look in Chinatown. I usually pick up a root at Treasure Island or one of the Polish-oriented supermarkets (eg, Shop & Save on the south side or A&G on the north). Be careful; this stuff can literally bring you to your knees. You'll love it.

David Hammond wrote:(Re: Midwestern origins of cocktail sauce. I don't believe Murray addresses this issue in her book; I'm only a little over half done with it, but I did skim the remainder and saw no mention of it. My sense at the time was that she was speculating off record).

As I said, I'm skeptical of that origins story but there's probably some truth to it too. I wouldn't be surprised if Midwesterners use more cocktail sauce than other regions of the country.

budrichard wrote:"If you go through the hundreds of Acme photos on Yelp it looks like these days the raw oysters come with a little plastic tub of cocktail sauce and some lemon wedges. I'm sure there are always bottles of Tabasco nearby, as at seemingly every restaurant in New Orleans."

I confess I never sit at a table in the Acme but only at the bar where all I see is the oysters being served to you directly onto the bar as you eat them, no plate and a bottle of Tabasco present.

I never sat at a table in Acme either. If you go through the hundreds of Acme photos on Yelp* it looks like these days the raw oysters are no longer set directly on the marble bar but are served on platters. Many of the pictures were taken at tables (black & white checked table cloths) and some were taken at the dark wood drinking bar but if you focus on the photos from the marble oyster bar you'll see in every case the raw oysters are on a plate (and almost always a little plastic tub of cocktail sauce and lemon wedges are also on the plate). Examples here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here. In all the 300+ photos there's not a single one showing a shell touching the marble. Things change, I guess.

* Looking through all those photos leaves me with very little desire to visit Acme again.

zoid wrote:FYI;

Monday Feb 6 will be the next 50 cent Oyster Monday at Shaw's Oyster Bar, 3-6pm. Slurp slurp slurp!

January 12 post here:
http://twitter.com/shellyfromshaws

I just called to confirm - 50¢ oysters next Monday at Shaw's.
Anyone interested in meeting up? I'll be at the bar from 4:00 till 5:00.
Come on - 50 freakin' cents!
Stop by and let's down some shells!

zoid wrote:I just called to confirm - 50¢ oysters next Monday at Shaw's.
Anyone interested in meeting up? I'll be at the bar from 4:00 till 5:00.
Come on - 50 freakin' cents!
Stop by and let's down some shells!

I would definitely be down for that.

Much asI love both Shaw's AND ersters, bit of a long commute for me--but yinz have fun, eh?!

Geo

Geo wrote:Much asI love both Shaw's AND ersters, bit of a long commute for me--but yinz have fun, eh?!

Geo

I'll gladly slurp one in your honor.
Tell me how you like 'em and I'll make it just for you.

Tnx zoid! Tiniest touch 'o lemon, that'll do the trick!

Geo

zoid wrote:

zoid wrote:FYI;

Monday Feb 6 will be the next 50 cent Oyster Monday at Shaw's Oyster Bar, 3-6pm. Slurp slurp slurp!

January 12 post here:
http://twitter.com/shellyfromshaws

I just called to confirm - 50¢ oysters next Monday at Shaw's.
Anyone interested in meeting up? I'll be at the bar from 4:00 till 5:00.
Come on - 50 freakin' cents!
Stop by and let's down some shells!

Have you attended this before? I ask because, unless something's changed (like all the Chicago oyster lovers are down South next week), if you plan to arrive at 4 odds are quite good that you will be shut out. This thing is typically PACKED - with many of the throng arriving prior to 3 to secure a spot at the bar (or, really, anywhere they can get a seat).

Just my $0.02

I guess we're gona find out

Harpswell Flats (Belon seeded in US) at Shaw's tonight. They called to me. Meaty, crunchy.



Had a dozen or so of various ones. Loved these, Kusshi, others. No sauce or squeezes of any kind required. Spectacular boardering on interstellar.

Back on the subject of cocktail sauce, I'm a big fan, but I doubt I'd ever use it on an oyster (mind you, I've eaten a total of two raw oysters in my life, so my statistics aren't based on much experience).

But it seems that if you'd put it on boiled shrimp, an equally-subtle-flavored food, the leap to oysters doesn't seem that far. Perhaps it's the rawness: I find that the sauces used on many sushi rolls are overly assertive and hide the fact that you're eating fish.

Then again, the primary reason I use cocktail sauce on many seafood items (primarily fried) is that tartar sauce is really just gussied-up mayo: bland, goopy and covering the flavors of the food even more so than cocktail. For fried foods, something less oily like cocktail sauce (ketchup, squeeze of lemon, big dash tabasco and lots of horseradish, a dash of worchestershire and you're done) is a good foil for greasy breaded items. For a non-fried item, I still like my spice, but I'd be more inclined toward diced fresh chiles and herbs.

JoelF wrote:Back on the subject of cocktail sauce, I'm a big fan, but I doubt I'd ever use it on an oyster (mind you, I've eaten a total of two raw oysters in my life, so my statistics aren't based on much experience).

But it seems that if you'd put it on boiled shrimp, an equally-subtle-flavored food, the leap to oysters doesn't seem that far. Perhaps it's the rawness: I find that the sauces used on many sushi rolls are overly assertive and hide the fact that you're eating fish.

Then again, the primary reason I use cocktail sauce on many seafood items (primarily fried) is that tartar sauce is really just gussied-up mayo: bland, goopy and covering the flavors of the food even more so than cocktail. For fried foods, something less oily like cocktail sauce (ketchup, squeeze of lemon, big dash tabasco and lots of horseradish, a dash of worchestershire and you're done) is a good foil for greasy breaded items. For a non-fried item, I still like my spice, but I'd be more inclined toward diced fresh chiles and herbs.

Joel, though I think the taste of shrimp is more uniform than the range of oyster tastes (last night at Shaw's I enjoyed an incredible range of flavors between the salty Island Creek oysters, creamy Blue Pools and crunchy Belon-type oysters from Harpswell Flats), the big difference between the two types of seafood we're talking about here is that shrimp are almost always served cooked and the oysters most of us are talking about are raw. Now, if the oysters are fried or otherwise cooked, then sure, might as well use some sauce.

Random data point: Shaw's serves an iced mignonette, which I have enjoyed. Last night I asked why it's iced and was told "Because Rich Melman likes it that way." Enough said.

Hammond, you're killing me with those oysters from Shaw's, esp. the Flats. Sigh. Well, WTH, glad you enjoyed them! And thanks for the pix.

Geo
PS. BTW, how was Québec? Thought about you when I read about the carnival in Le Devoir.

Geo wrote:Hammond, you're killing me with those oysters from Shaw's, esp. the Flats. Sigh. Well, WTH, glad you enjoyed them! And thanks for the pix.

Geo
PS. BTW, how was Québec? Thought about you when I read about the carnival in Le Devoir.

Thanks for asking, it was great fun, though some things I ate on that trip helped pave my own personal road to hell: http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=34010

Eating oysters, however, is divine: oyster farms -- unlike other fish farms -- actually clean the water (each oyster averaging something like 100 gallons a day, I was told), so supporting oysters (by eating them) is good for the planet. Hey, my halo is coming back...

David-

I am not sure that I have ever heard of an oyster described as "crunchy," at least not in a positive way. The only crunchy oysters I have ever had where when pieces of the shell got into the meat. Could you please elaborate?

Thanks, Will

WillG wrote:David-

I am not sure that I have ever heard of an oyster described as "crunchy," at least not in a positive way. The only crunchy oysters I have ever had where when pieces of the shell got into the meat. Could you please elaborate?

Thanks, Will

By "crunch," I don't mean as with potato chips or cookies but rather a texture somewhere just shy of the resistance you get from meat gristle but that gives way to a smooth bite. You can see in the picture of the Harpswell Flats oyster that there are swirls of meat and so some variation in texture that one might call "crunchy." Definitely did not mean shards of shell in the meat/liquor cup, which would never be a good thing.

Once you've eaten a belon, you'll see that "crunchy" is the *perfect* description! They're unlike anything else you've ever chawed down on. Wonderful!

Geo

Katie wrote:haven't ever had oysters Rockefeller; they're on my list for 2012.

Got to admit, I like Oysters Rock. For this classic, it seems larger oysters are usually preferred (the better to load with spinach, bacon, cheese, Pernod, etc.), and I'm not that crazy about the big ones anyway, so freighting them with all kinds of different flavors seems less offensive to me than using sauce on a tasty medium-sized or little oyster.

Just got this via e-mail;

Shaw's wrote:Shaw's in the City is Up Late Night!
Shaw's Chicago is now staying up later on Friday & Saturday nights! We'll be open 'til Midnight...Join us in the Oyster Bar for River North's finest late-night Sushi; plus luscious liquid libations to go along. We'll have our full menu of Shaw's classics on offer, from Maryland Crab Cakes to Shrimp Cocktail, until 12:00 a.m. Whether you're just getting revved up, or ready to wind down, stop in to your favorite Hubbard Street spot!


*BTW*...our Oyster Hour prices are staying up later too! That's right, we'll have Half Price Oysters every Friday & Saturday night from 10:00 p.m. until Midnight...tell all your Oyster-lovin' pals!