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Have you ever tried a kumamoto oyster from Taylor Shellfish? They are simply divine!

I first discovered these petite succulent oysters  when I was writing "Delicious Immigrant" for the Leisure and  Arts page of The Wall Street Journal. This was one of my first articles for the Journal and to this day it remains my favorite article. When I wrote the piece, I was fairly new to Seattle...the whole region was a blank slate for exploration. Having grown up on the South Shore of Long Island and spent my summers cavorting on Peconic Bay, I was well aware of how waterways and marine environments can be destroyed.

When I stepped onto those Totten Inlet tidelands late one night with Jon Rowley and Bill Taylor back in February of 1996, I felt like a little kid again. I was amazed that we could walk along the beach and simply slurp the oysters at our feet. It was a culinary revelation that I was so glad to be a part of. Back east, we were always warned that it "wasn't a good idea" to eat the shellfish we found on the beaches of Long Island. 

If you are lucky enough to visit the Taylor Shellfish store in Seattle’s Melrose Market, then hopefully you will arrive when the staff is sampling their hefty portions of the store’s flagship dish—Melrose Mussels.  

Featuring the plump Mediterranean mussels grown by Taylor Shellfish, the Melrose Mussel dish is a knockout. It’s simple, versatile, quick, affordable,  and full of luscious seashore flavor. 

Funnily enough, it isn’t a recipe that was crafted, developed, tested, and retested in an industrial kitchen. It’s a simple concoction that was created on the spur of the moment by Jon Rowley and the store’s wonderful staff.

Jon Rowley is Seattle’s seafood guru. He is well-known nationwide for his seafood expertise.  I was thrilled when Jon  invited me to the store so I could see the mussels and watch the  recipe being made. While we were waiting to get started this morning, Jon explained how the recipe came to be. He explained that he wanted to give the staff an orientation on the Mediterranean mussel. He wanted customers  to know that this mussel is really Taylor’s best seasonal local seafood.  And, he wanted everyone to know how easy they are to cook.

While cleaning out the garage (again) last weekend, we found the massive oyster shell shown in this photo. When I looked at that oyster shell again, I was reminded of just how many trips we've taken with our children. I was inspired to find this photo, which was buried deep in my digital photo collection.

My son found this massive Pacific oyster shell while exploring at Brady's Oyster Farm in Westport, Washington. When he showed it to the folks at Brady's that day, they kindly let him keep it as a souvenir!

We camp in that area  of the Washington Coast every summer. As a result, Brady's oysters are always on my culinary shopping list. The farm is family owned and boasts its own little seafood shop. The shop sits only a stone's throw from the tidelands where their oysters are grown, harvested, and shucked. 

In general, we don't do anything fancy with the oysters. They don't need anything to make them sublime because they are so fresh and local.  Sometimes, we shuck them at the campsite picnic table and eat them off paper plates.  On other days,  we simply place the oysters on the grate over a gentle fire and then  let the oysters open gently by themselves.  An oysteriffic discovery. An oysteriffic YUM!