What kind of noise annoys an oyster? The noisy noise of a shucking shell, surely.
While unsuspecting bivalves may not be so pleased, shellfish lovers can rejoice: Oyster Week is upon us. Running until September 28th (lucky for us, longer than an actual week), the event is taking over the boroughs with a slew of foodie events in celebration of one of the city’s most historically important native foods.
Tuesday night saw the third annual Ahoysters event onboard the Grand Banks. Once one of a fleet of schooners that fished the North Atlantic, the boat now plays home to a seasonal oyster bar on Pier 25 in Tribeca where bateau stripes are more fashion statement than uniform.
An integral part to the larger festival, Ahoysters charged $95 for all-you-can eat oysters from the likes of Island Creek Oysters and wine on the bow with David Rosengarten, the celebrity food and wine expert who was on hand to discuss pairings.
Proceeds for the event went to Oyster Week “benefishiaries” The Maritime Foundation, a not-for-profit organization that works to preserve maritime artifacts, and the Billion Oyster Project, a large-scale project to restore one billion live oysters to New York Harbor over the next 20 years.
Guests gathered around Oyster Week co-founder Kevin Joseph, who topped his freshly shucked oysters with unusual tongue-tingling ingredients like pink peppercorns, fresh wasabi and horseradish. The flavors worked well to augment the flavor of the raw shellfish, but these oysters needed little introduction: the salty sweetness of those we sampled, originating from Rhode Island, was outstanding on its own.
But an oyster feels lonely without a good wine – or champagne if you’re feeling fancy – and Rosengarten had some greats to share. Since salty oysters make wine taste sweeter, it’s best to go dry and minerally with lots of acid. “Wine should be a substitute for the lemon on oysters,” he explained.
With that in mind, we sampled two outstanding dry Rieslings – Riesling Hochgewächs Halbtrocken, Graacher Himmelreich (2011) and (even better) Franz Dahm Riesling Spätlese Trocken Bernkasteler Graben (1999). An alternative to the usual beige bubbles, he also poured out Lambrusco di Salomino di Santa Croce DOP, Frizzante Secco (NV), a bone-dry red sparkling wine that is every bit as delicious as it is surprising.
With these great wines on hand, you’ll be in good stead to play out the rest of Oyster Week, with regatta bashes, multi-course dinners and a Stone Street Oyster Festival to look forward to, among many others. Got a taste for the shell? Check out what’s in store at OysterWeek.com.
If you miss the week – hold out for November or December, when Joseph says the best oyster flavors come out. It’s hard to imagine a better tasting oyster, but I’m open to any excuse to indulge.
Twisted Talk: Love oysters? Which Oyster Week festivities will you be joining in? Discuss below!
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