Buck a Shuck! What’s So Great About Oysters?

Oysters are one of, if not the best, seafood appetizers around. They’re so beloved and popular with our guests that we have a whole night dedicated to them. Every Tuesday, you can join our ‘Buck a Shuck’ night and devour these mollusks. Because they have become an item that people will eat by the dozens, these regular Buck a Shuck nights will help guests get their fix.

What Are Oysters?

Oysters are mollusks, one of two types of shellfish. You can tell mollusks apart from crustaceans by how mollusks have two hinged shells while crustaceans have hard exoskeletons. This makes oysters and other mollusks easier to open and eat, which means you can enjoy them one after another.

The term ‘oysters’ is actually the umbrella term for a collection of different mollusks. Different oysters can commonly be found and farmed together, so it’s not uncommon to order a group of oysters with several different tastes to choose from.

Most oysters are also healthy to eat. They come filled to the brim with essential vitamins, minerals, and other organic compounds that make seafood so nutritional. They also serve as great sources of:

• Protein
• Vitamin D
• Vitamin C
• Zinc
• Iron
• Copper
• Phosphorus
• Niacin
• Riboflavin

It’s common to treat a night out as a cheat day to get something that’s not the healthiest, but with oysters, you can treat yourself and your health.

What Entrees Pair with Oysters?

Oysters are only an appetizer. This means you typically want something to pair with them. There is a slew of options that pair well with them, but anything with shrimp is usually the best. A combo of oysters and shrimp usually tastes better than most others.

Our main shrimp entree is shrimp and scallop sambuca. This combines two different shellfishes into one plate, atop pappardelle pasta and covered in a sambuca blush sauce. Having oysters before this meal will make the dish taste even better.

The History of Oysters

This mollusk used to be something handed out as a free bar snack a little more than 200 years ago. Now, they’re synonymous with extravagant and casual meals alike. How did this happen?

Back in 1860, they were sold as street food in metropolises like New York, London, and Paris, where people around the world would visit. They quickly became so popular that the rest of the United States wanted to try an oyster for themselves. This boom led to overfishing and eating several oyster species into scarcity. There was also pollution in the few oyster beds left in the U.S., leading to most being unsafe to eat and giving them a bad reputation.

This led to the mollusk falling out of popularity in kitchens and restaurants until environmental cleanliness became more important. By then, farmers have figured out how to cultivate them at a higher rate to meet demand, allowing them to become the appetizer we have today.

Join Our Buck a Shuck

We understand how much people love having an oyster or three, but they’re not the quickest thing to make at home during the week. Rather than wait till the weekend, or when you can take a special night out, every Tuesday we have Buck a Shuck, where you can gorge on all the oysters you can eat! You can make a reservation online! Get your oysters soon!