![]() “It’s so spectacular.” Here the spectacle might be either the plateau or the grand plateau, both served on a single large ice-filled, seaweed-strewn platter, with Malpeque and Skookum oysters, clams from Prince Edward Island, stone crab claws, Maine lobster, shrimp and mussels. “I just had to have it on the menu,” says chef-owner David Myers. This is food for the swells.Īt Comme Ca, the swells are out en masse, and the shellfish platter is bountiful. Eating out suddenly feels more cosmopolitan, and diners want some elegant excess: a martini before dinner (gin, of course it happens to go great with oysters) and a plateau just to kick things off. In New York, they’ve been big for years, most notably at Balthazar and Blue Ribbon, and now at long last they’re taking off in L.A. And this is the perfect moment to partake in a plateau we’re heading straight into full-swing oyster season as more and more varieties hit their peak. The plateau de fruits de mer, a traditional French feast, is showing up all over L.A., on the menu at Hungry Cat in Hollywood (where a raw-bar expansion is in the works), the Water Grill downtown, Fraiche in Culver City and just-opened Comme Ca in West Hollywood. It’s a plateau de fruits de mer (literally, a platter of fruits of the sea), and in the golden light of a brasserie, with a glass of Champagne or Chablis, you feel like, well, the world is your oyster - and you happen to be quite the ostreaphile. Tucked in between are wedges of lemon, and served on the side are little bowls of cocktail sauce, creamy mayonnaise, and perfectly vinegary, shallot-spiked mignonette. Those frosty-silvery platters overflow with a dozen or more oysters on the half shell, littleneck and cherrystone clams too Dungeness crab a split Maine lobster tiny periwinkles steamed mussels big, succulent poached shrimp and pretty bay scallops in their pink-tinged shells. Something big is about to happen.Īnd then it arrives - a tower of ice-filled platters of seafood, three tiers stacked high. The space in the center of your table is cleared, and everyone in the restaurant looks your way. And, remember you can enjoy oysters all year round.Cocktail forks and crab crackers are at the ready. However you get your oysters, I hope you’ll try this simple accompaniment. Not sure you want to shuck oysters? Many seafood stores will do them for you. That’s what is pictured (unopened) with the mignonette. While we like many kinds of oysters our recent favorite has been Beausoleils (or Beau Soleils – French for ‘beautiful sun)’ from New Brunswick, Canada on the Atlantic Ocean. ![]() I like to make this a few hours in advance so the shallots can mellow a bit and also turn the vinegar a pale pink. If you don’t have a white balsamic vinegar, champagne vinegar works nicely, too. I love it when things work out in the kitchen. It turned out we all enjoyed the white balsamic vinegar version much better. Instead I used a white balsamic vinegar and mixed it with finely chopped shallots, black pepper and pinch of salt. Vinegar was one of those things I thought didn’t go bad. It was brown and very musty – and didn’t taste good at all. That day I set out to make it with red wine vinegar like usual only to find out that my red wine vinegar had turned. We like a traditional vinegar-based mignonette. While Ed is doing all the hard work, it’s my job to make a sauce to accompany the raw oysters. ![]() Over the last few years Ed has been honing his oyster shucking skills thanks to our friends sharing their techniques and a variety of knives and the all important glove (so he doesn’t hurt himself). This year we decided to have some oysters at home for an early Father’s Day dinner. ![]() If you know my dad, this is not at all a surprising request. It tells the story of the importance of oysters to New York City. Years ago my dad asked me to get him Mark Kurlansky’s book, The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell, for Father’s Day. Oysters are one of my dad’s favorite foods. Since oysters are largely commercially harvested and thus regulated by strict laws, it’s now safe to eat oysters all year long. You have likely heard of the old adage to steer clear of oysters during the summer as there is concern for red tide (large blooms of algae) that spread toxins that could be absorbed by shellfish. For us any time of year is good for eating oysters. If it’s a month ending in ‘R’ it must be a good time for oysters. ![]()
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