New England oysters are wild and farmed bivalves from Wellfleet on Cape Cod, Duxbury Bay south of Boston and Damariscotta in Maine. The signature raw-bar plate at Boston seafood rooms since the 1820s.
Where to eat it: 4 restaurants across 1 city.
Boston's oyster-bar tradition runs unbroken to 1826, when Union Oyster House opened on Union Street and became the oldest continuously operating restaurant in the United States. Daniel Webster, US Senator from Massachusetts, ate his oysters at the U-shaped bar with a tumbler of brandy from 1830 onward. Wellfleet oysters from the outer Cape Cod flats and Duxbury Bay row 34 oysters, named for the literal 34th cultivation row in the bay, became the defining house-bay varieties. The modern raw-bar revival traces to Island Creek Oysters (founded 1995 in Duxbury) and the Row 34 restaurant chain (2013).
Common allergens: Shellfish
Tip from the editors. Buy oysters live, refrigerate cup-side down, and shuck within 24 hours of purchase. Discard any oyster with a cracked shell or that does not close when tapped.
Neptune Oyster on Salem Street runs the city's defining raw bar in Boston's North End since 2004. 42 seats, no reservations, hot-buttered lobster roll.
Signature: Hot-buttered lobster roll, Oysters
Order: Hot-buttered lobster roll on a butter-toasted split-top bun.
Tip: Put your name on the iPad at 16:30. The wait at 18:30 runs 90 minutes; weekday lunch is the easy seat.
Row 34 on Congress Street has run the Fort Point oyster room in Boston since 2013. Named for row 34 in Duxbury Bay, 20 East Coast oyster varieties daily.
Signature: Duxbury oysters, Lobster roll
Order: A mixed dozen of East Coast oysters and the crispy oysters with sriracha aioli.
Tip: The bar runs the same menu without the reservation lead time. Tuesday nights walk in easily.
Union Oyster House on Union Street has shucked oysters in Boston since 1826, the oldest continuously operating restaurant in the United States.
Signature: Oysters on the half shell, Clam chowder
Order: A dozen Wellfleets at the U-shaped bar and a cup of clam chowder.
Tip: Skip the dining-room tables and sit at the historic raw bar. The bar is the original 1826 plank.
Kathy Sidell's Saltie Girl on Dartmouth Street runs a seafood brunch in Boston's Back Bay since 2016. Order the lobster benedict with hollandaise on the side.
Order: Lobster benedict with hollandaise on the side.
Tip: Brunch books two weeks out on Resy. Saturday at 11:00 is the walk-in seat at the bar.
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