Fat, juicy and salty.
The yield might be down from years past, but restaurateurs and consumers are declaring the quality of this year’s crop of oysters the best they’ve seen in some time.
“They’re beautiful,” said Corinn Scott, owner of Clifton Seaside Diner, 10 Grand Ave. in Bacliff.
“They’re firm, glossy, plump, briny — they’re just everything you want in bay and Gulf oysters.”
The oysters have benefitted from the fact that Hurricane Ike pretty much killed the 2008-09 harvesting season, giving those now showing up on plates time to grow into fine specimens.
Also contributing to the bigger, better bivalves was a perfect mix of rainfall runoff from the rivers that drain into the bays and a cooler winter, industry observers said.
Meanwhile, many oyster beds in Lavaca and San Antonio bays, which were overharvested in years past, were closed for a while, which allowed oysters to grow bigger.
Most of the oysters produced last season were from private oyster beds, which generally are better maintained and not as overfished, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department officials said.
The downside is oysters are either real big or too small, said Mihael Ivic, who owns Misho’s Oyster Co. in San Leon.
By law, oysters must be 3 inches or larger to be harvested. Anything smaller must be returned to the reef from which it was harvested.
“Right now, we have a lot of the 1-inch oysters, which we have to toss back,” he said.
That’s why Ivic expects next season to be one of the best on record. Once those smaller oysters are given another year, the quantity of oysters should return to near pre-Ike levels, he predicted.
Steven Hillman, president of Hillman’s Seafood Co., also holds out hope because Galveston Bay has a history of fast recovery.
“The type of oysters we grow here, they usually grow in 18 months,” he said. “Those same oysters on the East Coast take up to three years.”
‘Class Of Their Own’
Seldom do shellfish inspire as much passion, mythology or debate as oysters, which Romans began harvesting 2,000 years ago. Oysters long have been prized as an aphrodisiac, and research is starting to support those claims, illuminating their high zinc content and amino acids that stimulate certain hormones. Legendary lover Casanova reportedly ate several dozen each morning.
Anglo-Irish satirist and essayist Jonathan Swift once said of the culinary adventurer who first pried the soft body of an oyster out of its calcified shell for a sampling: “He was a bold man that first ate an oyster.”
The sea-born taste and texture of oysters inspires either love or hate. What connoisseurs call silky, the squeamish call slimy.
“Anyone can eat a shrimp if they’re not allergic to them,” said Brad Vratis, owner of popular Bolivar Peninsula eatery Stingaree, 1295 Stingaree Road. “You don’t find that much opposition to lobster. Oysters are in a class of their own.”
Any Way You Like ’Em
Baked, broiled, grilled, fried, raw — Stingaree prepares oysters just about any way you can. The eatery is famous for its Oysters Jubilee plate, which features oysters prepared in a variety of ways.
For some, the world is their oyster. In the winter months, the oyster is Stingaree’s world.
“Oysters pay the bills in the winter months,” he said.
Convention says to eat oysters in the months that are spelled using the letter “R,” meaning the season for fresh oysters ends April 30.
This came from the days before refrigeration, when oysters could spoil quickly.
Beginning in May, if you want oysters at Stingaree and most restaurants, they likely have been flash frozen.
Raw Debate
Oysters might be the food of love, but they’re also the center of an intense fight.
The industry is attempting to stave off efforts by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to reduce potentially deadly bacteria by requiring raw oysters to be processed in the warm summer months.
Vibrio vulnificus is a naturally occurring, warm-water bacteria that can cause illness and death in people with compromised immune systems. But processes such as quick freezing or low-dose irradiation are costly and stand to alter the taste and texture, fisherman and Gulf Coast lawmakers argue.
Hillman, whose company devised the process that drastically reduces vibrio and its associated risks, said the system works.
Building Awareness
“What’s most important is awareness,” Vratis said.
Most area restaurants, including Stingaree, are diligent about posting warnings and risks of consuming raw oysters, Vratis said.
People with diminished immune systems shouldn’t consume them, Vratis said.
Because of the potential health issues, some restaurants opt to steer clear of the raw oysters.
The island’s popular Shrimp N Stuff, 3901 Ave. O, serves only fried oysters. Fried oysters suit his customers just fine, cook Andrew Crompwell said.
Customers have been talking about the size of the oysters this season at the casual eatery, he said.
“They’re bigger this year,” Crompwell said.
New Oyster Cult
Even as the feds and the Gulf Coast oyster industry debate the health issues of raw oysters, the shellfish is winning new fans these days, said Clary Milburn, owner of Clary’s Seafood Restaurant, 8509 Teichman Road on the island.
“I’ve never seen so many different people eating oysters, instead of shying away from them,” said Milburn, whose Oysters Picayune — his version of oysters Rockefeller — has a loyal following.
Even children are partaking in oyster dishes, Milburn said.
“This little kid was in here with his parents and ordered fried oysters and french fries,” Milburn said. “When he finished, he asked for another order.”
