It’s no secret that Jan and I love seafood. If hamburgers and bacon didn’t exist, I think we’d eat from the ocean every day. While we didn’t plan our stay on Harstine Island to coincide with the 37th annual Oysterfest in nearby Shelton, WA, we certainly weren’t going to miss it. Oysters, people! Oysters!
We didn’t even need to figure out the logistics of biking there. Jan hit it off with the Harstine Island harbor master on who didn’t mind giving us a lift to the event. I’m more than a little grateful because there are virtually no shoulders on these roads and the changes in elevation are ugly. I don’t see any long bike rides in our future. Anyway…
The centerpiece of Oysterfest is the oyster shucking event. Contestants need to shuck twenty-four whole oysters as fast as they can and put them on a plate — the record is somewhere around three seconds a oyster. I think it would take me two minutes to figure out how to hold the knife, so I was seriously impressed by how fast these guys were. It only took one chorus of Eye of the Tiger for someone to win his heat. Eye! Of the! Tiger!
The shucked oysters were donated, meaning the organizers brought around the “practice round” oysters for people to sample. I’m not fond of raw oysters, but after some ribbing from the crowd around me, I downed one. Jan managed to avoid my fate. He has all the luck.
As a former restaurant reviewer, I’m a veteran of culinary events, but I haven’t been to one like this since the county fairs of my youth. There was tons of local product, and not a chef in sight. Not that I need everything to have a culinary touch. However, that meant the best booths also had the simplest preparations — grilled, fried, and raw. We did a few laps around the venue before settling into the grilled oyster line.
Yum! You really don’t get fresh seafood like this in the Midwest. The size of the oysters was insane, and the light flour breading was all they needed to achieve perfection. We also tried oyster fritters, though I honestly loved the mango salsa more than the heavy breading.
We swung through the beer garden between bites, but there wasn’t enough of a local presence to make it interesting. I’m not against a glass of Longboard in principle, just when I’m trying to make a dent in the local scene. We had better luck in the wine tent which had nothing but local producers. Jan found a blackberry porter he liked, so maybe we’ll switch over to wines while we’re in Washington state? Maybe.
The other foodie highlight, for me, was the crab cocktail I nabbed for $12. I can’t even bribe Jan to cook and clean a crab at that price. A hefty cup with nothing but crab meat was pure joy.
We snarfed some homemade peach pie and locally produced ice cream, and felt better about the calories because the purchases supported the local SADD chapter. I’m not sure who the bag of blue cotton candy supported, but it made for a tasty supper.
The $5 entry fee makes Oysterfest seem incredibly reasonable compared to $10 Chicago street fairs. If you stand in the right line, the food is amazing, fresh, and well-priced. And while they have a few stages playing, the real entertainment can be found watching the people walking around with crab hats, wolf pelts, and pirate garb. Washingtonians are freaks and I kinda love them for it.
Planning for a quiet week, though the harbor master invited us to a concert at the local community center next weekend. If I can find matching his & hers outfits, I’ll consider it.
Oooh-la-la! Them oysters look divine. I saw the crab hats on another feed. Perhaps oyster shell necklaces? I think the wolf pelts are a little over the top for you guys.
BTW, next time you’re confronted with a raw oyster, douse it with hot sauce. At least it makes the damn thing more, um, palatable.