September 17, 2012 | By Adam Roberts | 0 Comments
I’m a late bloomer when it comes to oysters. It’s not that I’d been squeamish (though I had seen the Punky Brewster episode where an oyster falls down her blouse when she’s adopted by rich parents) or concerned about eating something recently alive. It’s more that it felt risky; like: “Who knows where that oyster came from? It could be from someone’s bathtub!” Getting over my issues didn’t take much; it just took a platter of oysters with friends consumed by the beach. No other food better captures a sense of environment than oysters. Eating them, no matter where you are, you’re instantly transported to the water, to a glass of chilled white wine, even if you’re not drinking a glass of chilled white wine. Here are my five favorite oyster experiences so far, perfect for a pre-dinner date.
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August 23, 2012 | By Adam Roberts | 0 Comments
For as long as I’ve been visiting Craig’s family in Bellingham, Washington, I’ve been hearing about the Oyster Bar. It’s where Craig went for his prom night dinner. It’s where Craig’s parents celebrated their most recent anniversary. It’s beautifully situated on Chuckanut Drive, the scenic route you take when getting off the I-5 from Seattle.
On this most recent trip, we decided to go there with our friends Mark and Diana. After the Fair, we changed into our fancy clothes, hopped into a car and parked precariously on a ledge. I’m pretty sure Diana thought I’d fall to my death off a cliff when I opened my car door. Maybe that was the plan all along!
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July 5, 2012 | By Adam Roberts | 0 Comments
See the way the light is hitting the white wine in my glass?
That’s a summer moment, a California moment; it’s a moment that transcends anything critical I might say about the restaurant where this moment took place. Not that I have anything critical to say. Blue Plate Oysterette is situated on Ocean Blvd. in Santa Monica and if you took this same restaurant and relocated it to a shopping mall in Minnesota, you would think it had no reason to exist. And you would be right. But sitting there in Santa Monica, as it is, facing the Pacific ocean, the sun hitting it on its way down in the sky, it’s a perfect summer seafood restaurant.
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June 21, 2011 | By Adam Roberts | 0 Comments
When the BP oil spill happened, newscasters and journalists alike spoke of the devastating effect this would have on the Louisiana seafood industry. For most of us, that industry was just an abstraction. We imagined men and women in boats or on docks, but we didn’t have any specific images in our heads (except the ones that we saw on TV). Which is why I jumped at the opportunity to join a trip arranged by the Louisiana Seafood Board to meet the men and women who were most affected by what happened in the Gulf. This is the story of what I encountered.
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