by Public Service Associate Juliana
“Unless you’re vegetarian or vegan, you can’t go to Seattle and skip a platter of freshly shucked Pacific Northwest Oysters.”
— Lonely Planet Washington, Oregon & the Pacific Northwest
At the start of every travel journal, after flight details and a packing list, I create a checklist of things to do. Most recently, while planning a trip to Seattle, the list included Pike Place Market, the Space Needle, Seattle Central Library, coffee, and oysters.
Seattle is an oyster mecca. Food writer Rowan Jacobsen says, “No city is as oyster-mad as Seattle.” A dozen oysters to share became a main priority on the trip’s to-do list. And this became a good reason to brush up on knowledge about bivalves.
Learning about oysters, like learning about wine, has always felt intimidating to me. Where does one start? With the scope narrowed to Washington State and the Seattle area it suddenly became approachable. I started with two books by Rowan Jacobsen, A Geography of Oysters and The Essential Oyster which were both easy texts to navigate based on specific appellations. I encouraged myself to go in with a beginner’s mindset, with the simple intention “to learn a little bit.”
It wasn’t about becoming an expert but rather deepening my experience. The thing is a dozen oysters are expensive and disappear quickly. By knowing just a little bit, I knew I could create space for more enjoyment, presence, engagement and authenticity. And maybe even be able to tell the difference of one oyster from another.
I selectively flipped through the books and familiarized myself with some of the local oyster varieties that thrive and are prolific in Seattle – varieties such as Hama Hama, Baywater Sweet, Kumamoto and Olympia are a few of the more common. These ones, the local ones, are what I wanted to try at an oyster bar.
On the pages that featured these varieties, I paid attention to individual shells in terms of size, shape and cup depth. Very basic details like big or small, deep or shallow.
After that I focused on taste and challenged myself to learn a little of what differentiates one variety’s flavor from another. I studied words commonly used to describe oysters and thus tried to teach my tastebuds what to look for. They might be sweet, metallic, coppery, briny or nutty, or might have a honeydew or cucumber finish or celery salt flavor. I wasn’t trying to be able to pass a blind taste test, but I wanted vocabulary to say something other than, “They taste like the ocean.”
On our trip, for the ultimate oyster experience, we drove out to Taylor Shellfish Farm’s Samish Bay location. Since 1890 they have supplied many restaurants in the city, and at this location they offer a true tide to table experience, a true meal-of-a-lifetime experience!
We gathered stools around a wooden high-top table at their waterfront picnic area and shared a charcuterie board and a mixed dozen oysters. The freshly shucked Pacific Northwest oysters I’d been waiting for. Paired with good company, gorgeous views, and local pale ales. Squeezed lemon juice on our fingers, sitting together in the sunshine, it was a living dream.
Of the three varieties on our tray, two were species I’d read about — Pacific and Kumamoto — both among the most popular of oysters. The third, called Fat Bastard, was new to me. Fat Bastards are big, approximately a 2.75 – 3.75-inch shell. I took a minute to observe and noticed aside from the larger shell size, they also have a notably deeper cup compared to the others.
The Kumamotos were much smaller, approximately a 1 – 2-inch shell. I remembered being surprised to learn that they grow very slowly, taking up to 4 years to cultivate vs 1 year for many larger oyster varieties. Because of this they are more expensive and also pack a lot of flavor.
The Pacifics on our tray had lovely, ruffled shells, approximately 2.5-inches. They are Taylor’s “#1 oyster, famous for its sweet-and-salty cucumber flavor.”
I tried each type and did so with only squeezed lemon, no cocktail sauce. This made it feel like maybe the first time I’d ever actually tasted an oyster rather than masking it beneath horseradish, ketchup and Tabasco. My taste buds were alive. Sweet and salty umami. Chewy, pudgy, weird and absolutely wonderful.
I won’t lie, that dozen oysters still vanished quickly, even after the studying I did. But this particular dozen has left a lasting, iridescent, shiny pearl of an impression on me, and I look forward to honing my tastes even more. Cheers to the next twelve!
Travel Guides
- Lonely Planet Seattle | Book
- Lonely Planet Washington, Oregon & the Pacific Northwest | Book
- Pacific Coasting by Danielle Kroll | Book
Further Reading
