When you want oysters and you live North of Boston, there aren’t too many choices. Surprisingly. Either that, or we just don’t know them. (Suggestions welcome in the comments!)
A Google search for “raw bar” turned up a few possibilities, one of which was the pricey Summer Winter in Burlington. Here, in our inaugural post on the Thin&Thick blog, Thin (Ann) and Thick (Vahe) discuss the evening we spent there.
Thin: It was very hot in Boston, and to me that means seafood. Cold seafood. Like shrimp. No—oysters! Which is kind of funny—because oysters don’t, if you think about it, look like much like food. They look like rocks—sharp, gritty rocks full of something that resembles phlegm (to paraphrase The Atlantic). If phlegm was tasty. I didn’t even eat an oyster until very recently (at Morton’s) and now I can’t get enough of them.
Thick: Well, I wouldn’t exactly call it “phlegm,” but I know what you mean. Oysters don’t exactly look appetizing. Which is probably why you don’t see too many kids sucking them down… And why I never tried one until very recently. It was in Cambridge, remember? What was the name of that place? It was an amazing experience. Slimy and acidic and just plain out-of-the-ordinary yummy.
Thin: Really? That was your first time? At Harvest?
Thick: Yeah. And I was hooked, on the spot.
Thin: Well, I guess you always remember your first time… when it’s an experience that’s decidedly memorable. Oysters aren’t the most obvious thing to eat, either. But interestingly oysters have been a staple of human diets since prehistory. To archaeologists, piles of shells are often a good indicator of human civilization.
Thick: I actually do remember something like that from my archeology classes.
Thin: Summer is the season for oysters in New England, and that’s what drove us to Summer Winter, since Google told us that the restaurant has a raw bar.
Thick: Yes, the Summer Winter oysters were excellent, I thought. Pricey, though ($3.50 each, $35 for a dozen). And it was fun to try the four different sauces: Juniper gin red onion relish, cocktail sauce, chili cucumber mignonette, orange-Tabasco sauce.
Thick: I know which one you liked best.
Thin: Which?
Thick: The cucumber! You hardly left any for me. I enjoyed trying all of them. It’s a new experience still, so I don’t yet have a favorite.
Thin: Ah… yes, the chili cucumber. Good stuff. I guess I’m kind of a purist when it comes to dressing an oyster, though, even after only two actual orders of them! I kept wishing for a simple pile of horseradish to accompany a squeeze of lemon and cocktail sauce.
Thick: I can see that… The cocktail sauce definitely could’ve used a bit more zing.
Thin: But that said, the presentation was flawless, and the guys themselves nicely cleaned and chilled.
Thick: Let’s move on to something that wasn’t quite as good.
Filed under: Massachusetts, North of Boston, Pricey, West of Boston, baba ghannoush, beets, Burlington, greater Boston, hotel dining, Mark and Clark Restaurants, oysters, restaurant review, Summer Winter
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