When it comes to oysters, there’s not a whole lot of wiggle room—people either love them or hate them. I’m happy to report I’m from “Camp Love ’em!”—whether they’re roasted, fried, smoked, broiled, or (my personal favorite) chilled and briny on the half shell.
I recall when I moved here 25 years ago, one was hard-pressed to find raw singles beyond a few establishments such as Hank’s, Peninsula Grill, and Shem Creek Bar & Grill, and most of those were imports from Apalachicola and Prince Edward Island. Back then, the main method for ingesting bivalves was the oyster roast, a time-honored tradition in which I am always more than happy to partake. Heaping local clusters steamed to just right and dumped onto tables? Pass me a towel, a knife, and maybe a little horseradish, and I’m digging in—and hoping for a crunchy little pea crab inside (they’re good luck, you know). And while oyster roasts will never wane in popularity, these days there’s a proliferation of oyster houses and raw bars, many of which serve locally cultivated selects.
Eight years ago, we presented a comprehensive guide to local oysters, including a day in the life of an oysterman, tips on hosting a roast, and highlighting the then-nascent enterprise of farming single selects in floating and off-bottom cages. (That’s still a great resource and one of our most visited online features.) For this annual Eat & Drink issue, we revisit the local oyster industry, specifically those entrepreneurial farmers. In “A Briny Business” (page 84), freelance writer Stephanie Barna takes us to the ACE Basin, where Lowcountry Oyster Co.’s Trey McMillan recently broke ground on a $6.4-million processing center with the aim of expanding production and delivering briny local bivalves from coast to coast.
Here’s to him; I hope his investment helps lift all boats. As for me, I have a hankering for some half shells.
Enjoy!
Darcy Shankland
dshankland@charlestonmag.com