A trip to the Cheeseboard in Berkeley, CA

All this cheese, and a cooperative, too!

Oysters, old school

Somehow, among all the other things going on, this weekend has been about oysters, some I had this weekend and others I have had in the past or will have in the future.

Saturday found us for the first time at Emmett Watson, in Pike Place Market, a remarkably hard-to-find oyster joint stuffed into a crawl space at the foot of a big engineered cliff. Menu on a paper bag, condiments in a Red Stripe 6-pack holder, and oysters on the half-shell adorned with nothing more that a plastic thimble of ketchuppy sauce and lemon. Rating: 2 stars. Rationale: The oysters were too big and not cold enough. I rank red sauces lowest on the totem pole with oysters, as I like to taste the liquor and will always prefer vinegar if I need tang. Points for charm: neutral; the vintage promise was appealing but the delivery was a little, well, (Calling Nina Garcia!) sad. Scuzzy is a word I heard bandied about.

In contrast, let's reminisce about just a few past oyster high-water marks:

1. Hitchcock: This is the very recent past, but Hitchcock has shown me a new oyster dimension in which herbs and a few molecules of berry or granita can bring into focus the plain oyster like no other dressing, even a shallot mignonette, which I also am a fiend for.
2. Oysterbar in Grand Central Station: Pan Roast. Perennial, though I am not lucky enough to keep going back; geography intrudes. Sigh.
3. Reading about the introduction of oysters into pre-revolution French Court life: barrels came, and hundreds were consumed with abandon in short windows of time. No restraint. Here's a blurb about the excess among nobles in 16th Century England:

In a period of three days, Elizabeth's court managed to consume 67 sheep, 34 pigs, 4 stags, 16 bucks (used to make 176 meat pies), 1,200 chickens, 363 capons, 33 geese, 6 turkeys, 237 dozen pigeons, 2,500 eggs and 430 pounds of butter, plus a cartload and two horseloads of oysters.

What/where are my oysters of the future? At the Taylor Shellfish Farms outpost in the Melrose Market. While I was up on Whidbey Island this weekend for some very fun hijinks, others were having a glass or two of wine and having delectable oysters on the half-shell brought to them with a choice of lemon, mignonette, and a tomato-based cocktail dressing — with the option of Tobasco. Buy 'em for $7/dz and they're shucked for $2.

Ad-hoc, defining summer dinner

Look who's having me over for dinner! A dear friend is a longtime favorite urban caterer and going to her house for a casual, stolen bite is always a revelation.

First off, I got to see the innovative table design her amazingly creative team is putting out. I want these terrarium balls on my table every day. Fat chance, but hey.

And then we had clams she quick-steamed with not so much butter, which turns out to be not a bad thing. Not at all, they had their own true flavor. Followed by an amazing shared plate of shrimp, quinoa, and diced veg that had sparkle and panache. An incidentally homey lean meal that had all the jollies. Mmmmm.

This, along with unrepresentatively (this year) sunny summer weather, all the backdrop to great conversation, some work ;-) and some great wine I don't remember from Garagiste. Heaven.

Invite me over again!