Aw, Shucks!

The quote on The Oceanaire Seafood Room’s website—“To eat an oyster is to kiss the sea on the lips”—says it all, especially as the leaves change and the temps drop. “The oysters get colder this time of the year, and they get plump and delicious,” says Nate Beachler, general manager at The Oceanaire in Harbor East. The restaurant carries about 10 different varieties every day. Local waterman Tony Conrad, proprietor of Conrad’s Crabs & Seafood Market in Parkville, also sees an increased interest. “Oysters are wintertime seafood,” he says. His store carries an assortment of bivalves, too, including fat specimens from Maryland and Virginia. But the demand really kicks in around Thanksgiving, with people making oyster stuffing, Conrad reports. “And it’s football season. You’ve got to have oysters with your beer, and you have to have beer when watching football.” Makes sense to us.