Winter 2019/20 Issue
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
CELEBRATION SEASON
I TRY TO AVOID REPETITION in Edible Philly, but sometimes there’s just something in air. This season, it seems to be Mission Taqueria’s ...
The 12 Oysters of Christmas: A Shellfish Guide
A Briny Holiday Shellfish Guide
AS THE AIR SHIMMERS AND THE HOLIDAYS NEAR, we gather with chosen or inherited families and feast. So, too, do the oysters. This time of year, bivalves load up on glycogen and amino acids, preparing for a long, foodless journey into spring. They binge on algae and plankton, their meats turning bright, plump and sweet.
“The flavor is a little bit crisper than it might be in the summertime, when they’re coming out from a reproductive cycle,” oyster farmer Lisa Calvo explains. Sam Mink, owner of the Sansom Street Oyster House, agrees. “Oysters are so celebratory,” he adds. “And they’re at their best in November and December.”
So, while oysters are a summer rite of passage, these sips of the sea are at their peak, flavor-wise, right now. Here are a dozen locals to savor.
Delaware Bay
1
CAPE MAY SALTS
Cape May Salt Oyster Company
When these landed on the Slow Foods Ark of Taste, the narrative centered on Colonial Philly, where Delaware Bay oysters were a mainstay. Then there was a twentieth-century collapse, tied to oyster disease, pollution and overharvesting. This iconic oyster launched in 1997, kick-starting local aquaculture and bringing regional oysters back to the table. “We have this unique environment on the Cape Shore,” says farm manager Brian Harman, who grows on intertidal mudflats. “We’re just carrying the torch.”
Flavor: Sweet and plump in winter, these have a briny pop and kick of ocean veg
Find: Giuseppe’s Market at Samuels & Son, The Olde Bar, Vernick Fish, Sansom Street Oyster House, Pearl’s Oyster Bar, order online (CapeMaySalts.com)
2
BETSY’S CAPE SHORE SALTS
Betsy’s Cape Shore Salts
A biologist by trade, Betsy Haskin didn’t intend to become an oyster farmer. “My dad had some oysters out there, and when he passed away, I just started taking care of them.” That would be Hal Haskin, the Rutgers scientist whose disease-resistant seed revitalized the Atlantic oyster industry. “It flowed naturally, but it’s not something I ever anticipated doing.” Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, Haskin’s oysters are at their very best. Feasting on high-quality food, she says, “they fill up an oyster shell, so when you pop it open, it pops right out.”
Flavor: Colliding ocean and river water render umami, soft-salt flavors
Find: Sansom Street Oyster House
3
SWEET AMALIAS
Sweet Amalia Oyster Farm
Reflecting on this oyster’s iridescent-and-alabaster shell, it’s easy to wax poetic. Yet farmer Lisa Calvo views the bivalves with a bit more pragmatism (when she’s not farming, she works as a marine scientist at Rutgers Haskin Shellfish Laboratory). A member of Les Dames d’Escoffier Philadelphia, she tips her shell to strong women in Philly’s food scene. “It has been really tremendous in support of my growth as a businessperson and a farmer to be embraced by this community of fabulous, experienced restaurateurs,” she says. Her oysters are a shucker’s favorite. “They’re just so buttery,” says Oyster House’s Gary McCready. “I’ve tasted a lot of oysters... it’s in its own realm.” Watch for holiday retail pop-ups.
Flavor: Delicate, buttery meats have a complex, leaf-green flavor
Find: Fork, a.kitchen, Hungry Pigeon, Laurel, Royal Boucherie, Pub & Kitchen, Sansom Street Oyster House, Pearl’s Oyster Bar
4
STORMY BAYS
Cape May Salt Oyster Company
If Cape May Salts (opposite) are a revival, Stormy Bays point forward. “We always had this vision to farm the deep open bay,” Harmon says. With repurposed equipment and 65-foot boats, that’s now a reality. Named for the volatile conditions where thousands of acres of abandoned wild-harvest shellfish leases long sat fallow, Stormy Bays are suspended above the bottom. Their home: stacked trays in containers like shark-diving cages that stave off tides and ice. With nearly 10 million planted, they’ll likely go national.
Flavor: Lightly salty and deeply savory, these have a velvety bite that’s particularly luscious come fall
Find: Giuseppe’s Market at Samuels & Son, The Olde Bar, Sansom Street Oyster House, Pearl’s Oyster Bar, order online (CapeMaySalts.com)
5
ELDER POINTS
Cape May Salt Oyster Company
Older sibling to the Stormy Bays, this classic oyster suits those who yearn for the era before petits. “The thing about Philly that I like is that Philly is a value town,” says Sam Mink. “In New York, they want the cute, little oysters, and they’re wonderful, but our customers—and our customers vary—want a big, juicy oyster.” It’s a sound choice for the traditionalist.
Flavor: Fresh food and fierce tides yield a sweet oyster with a deep cup
Find: Giuseppe’s Market at Samuels & Son, The Olde Bar, Vernick Fish, Sansom Street Oyster House, Pearl’s Oyster Bar, order online (CapeMaySalts.com)
Coastal Atlantic
6
SLOOP POINTS
Sloop Point Oyster Co.
Fed by the Point Pleasant Canal, Sloop Points taste less salty than other Atlantic oysters. They get plenty of algae, plus rainwater sips from the marsh, and their flavor peaks in October and November, says oyster farmer Matt Gregg, who distributes them via Barnegat Oyster Collective. “This is the best oyster out of the Barnegat Bay in the early fall.” No small feat for one of the youngest farmers in the region, Tommy Burke. “When I first saw them, they more resembled a West Coast tumbled oyster,” Gary McCready says. Also watch for Burke’s Old Barney Salts.
Flavor: Sweet and saline play tug of war, rendering a complex ocean flavor
Find: Sansom Street Oyster House, Pearl’s Oyster Bar, order online (BarnegatOyster.com)
7
HIGH BAR HARBORS
Forty North Oyster Farms
Picture an LBI vacation, late-day sun turning golden. Grown off of Barnegat Light, these taste like that. They became a favorite at Oyster House after a team farm tour this summer. “We talk about the oysters, and they taste the oysters. But it’s different when you are there,” Mink says. “You’re in the water up to your waist. You’re feeling the bottom of the bay. You see the amount of work and effort and time that goes into creating this little thing that goes on a plate of ice.” Also watch for Sugar Shacks, Laughing Gulls and BamBaLam Salts, all grown in the same area.
Flavor: Strong salt gives way to marshy green, sparking waterside fantasies
Find: Sansom Street Oyster House, Pearl’s Oyster Bar, order online (BarnegatOyster.com)
8
ROSE COVES
Forty North Oyster Farms
As gentle as the acres of preserved marshes that surround Rose Cove in Little Egg Harbor’s tidal estuary, this is an ideal oyster for a first timer. That’s not to say it lacks in flavor. “You get that sweetness running off the marsh there,” says Matt Gregg, who developed it before handing it off to Barnegat Oyster Collective growers. He remains attached. “At Rose Cove, I really learned a lot about growing oysters. That’s nostalgic to me.”
Taste: Balanced brine intersects hints of cucumber and pronounced sweetness
Find: Sansom Street Oyster House, Pearl’s Oyster Bar, order online (BarnegatOyster.com)
9
BRINY PINEYS
Parsons Seafood
Larger than their Atlantic counterparts, Briny Pineys suit neo-enthusiasts and traditionalists alike. They also evoke a long maritime history on the edges of the Pine Barrens. Dale Parsons’ family has worked Little Egg Harbor Bay since 1909 and has seen it through booms and challenges. That’s why Parsons is as dedicated to building an oyster reef and revitalized waterway as he is to raising shellfish. After a run on these oysters this summer—”demand has easily doubled over last year,” Parsons says—they’re slated to return at Thanksgiving.
Taste: Firm meats have a distinct brine and sugar-kissed finish as the weather cools
Find: Le Virtù, Pub & Kitchen, Craft Hall
10
JERSEY DEVILS
Blood Point Oyster
These meaty “devils,” grown in the Great Bay, pay homage to the stories Adam Sprague’s grandfather used to tell about Jersey’s favorite legend. A ninth-generation bayman, Sprague has a University of Pennsylvania Master of Environmental Science degree and teaches at the Marine Academy of Technology and Environmental Science in Manahawkin. Unsurprisingly, his genetics lessons hinge on bivalves. “Oysters really have the ability to help the environment,” he says.
Flavor: Solid flow plus nutrients equal a sweet, fat oyster gone clean and salty in fall
Find: Sansom Street Oyster House, Pearl’s Oyster Bar, order online (BarnegatOyster.com)
11
STEELMANS BAY SELECTS
Brigantine Oyster Company
These indie oysters are farmed by Philly food-scene vets. James DeMarsh manages MARC, a cooperative food bank that delivers produce along the Eastern Seaboard. Todd Kostka runs wild edibles for To-Jo Mushrooms in Kennett Square. His brother Evan, a St. Joe’s grad, is a sales manager for Cape May Brewing Co, and clammer/fireman Greg Goff rounds out the crew. These inroads explain why these oysters, featured at Tired Hands’ annual birthday bash, pop up in restaurants from Musi to Hearthside BYOB.
Flavor: Marsh grass intersects saline minerality, with pecan-buttermilk creaminess
Find: Check Instagram and BrigantineOysterCo.com for info about future pop-ups at Primal Supply Meats Butcher Shop and Riverwards Produce
12
SUNFLOWER ISLAND PETITS
Brigantine Oyster Company
These diminutive oysters show their finest colors as the holidays descend. “We have the luxury of being able to taste our oysters 12 months of the year, and they really do change in flavor with the seasons,” DeMarsh says. “They’re at the peak of their physical condition in November.” Delicate, they spend their lives in floating gear, where fresh water courses over the saltier world deep in the water column.
Flavor: A long-yet-measured brine builds toward a snappy-sweet finish
Find: Order online (BrigantineOysterCo.com)
PHILLY IS YOUR OYSTER
Get your oyster on at these spots:
RESTAURANTS
a.kitchen
135 S. 18th St.
215.825.7030
akitchenandbar.com
Cornerstone
1 West Ave., Wayne
610.688.1888
cornerstonewayne.com
Craft Hall
901 N. Delaware Ave.
267.297.2072
crafthallphilly.com
Fork
306 Market St.
215.625.9425
forkrestaurant.com
Hungry Pigeon
743 S. 4th St.
215.278.2736
hungrypigeon.com
Laurel
1617 E. Passyunk Ave.
215.271.8299
restaurantlaurel.com
Le Virtu
1927 E. Passyunk Ave.
215.271.5626
levirtu.com
The Olde Bar
125 Walnut St.
215.253.3777
theoldebar.com
Pearl’s Oyster Bar
Reading Terminal Market
12th & Arch Sts.
215.964.9792
readingterminalmarket.org/merchant/pearls-oyster-bar
Pub & Kitchen
1946 Lombard St.
215.545.0350
thepubandkitchen.com
Royal Boucherie
52 S. 2nd St.
267.606.6313
royalboucherie.com
Oyster House
1516 Sansom St.
215.567.7683
oysterhousephilly.com
Vernick Fish
1876 Arch St.
215.419.5055
vernickfish.com
MARKETS
Giuseppe’s Market at Samuels & Son
3400 S.
Lawrence St.
samuelsseafood.com
Primal Supply Meats Butcher Shop
1538 E.
Passyunk Ave.
215.595.2255
primalsupplymeats.com
Riverwards Produce
2200 E. Norris St.
215.678.4304
riverwardsproduce.com
KNOW YOUR FARMER
- Barnegat Oyster Collective
barnegatoyster.com- Betsy’s Cape Shore Salts
capemayoyster.com- Blood Point Oyster
facebook.com/Bloodpointoysters- Brigantine Oyster Company
brigantineoysterco.com- Cape May Salt Oyster Company
capemaysalts.com- Forty North Oyster Farms
fortynorthoysters.com- Parsons Seafood
parsonsseafood.co- Sloop Point Oyster Company
slooppointoysters.com- Sweet Amalia Oyster Farm
facebook.com/SweetAmaliaOysterFarm
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