Raw Goods

Friday night dinner in Maine: a dozen oysters and a beer, at J’s Oyster Bar in Portland. This place is a REAL bar. The tables feature some of that do-it-yourself decoupage you can only find in joints of this sort, with pieces of decorative paper stuck beneath a layer of epoxy—but not epoxied enough that it’s hasn’t been picked at and peeled by drunks or people bored or uncomfortable with their dinner companions. The bathroom wall features a poster offering the services of a company which will drive both you and your car home if you are too drunk to do it effectively yourself. It even smells like a bar, even though you can’t smoke in bars anymore.

Good local oysters

While on a recent visit to the Ocean State, I ate at this cute restaurant, Scales & Shells, on Thames Street in Newport and treated myself on a cold, cold March evening to some oysters. I was told they were Matunuck oysters, and as such, I assume they came from the Matunuck Oyster Farm in Peace Dale, R.I.

Anyway, these oysters were super tasty and fresh and I just wanted to give them a little shout-out because I think it's awesome that someone semi-locally is farming shellfish that I will presumably be able to eat lots more of.

Oysters aren't just awesome to eat, though. They do a pretty damn good job of cleaning water. For instance, they can help take care of excess nitrogen in wastewater, something that many municipalities spend millions to remove. Not that you'd want to eat the oysters that have done that, but still ... Read more (login required): In City Waters, Beds (and a Job) for Oysters, from the New York Times, Feb. 24.