Photo by Elizabeth Chorney-Booth.
I’m sitting at the loft bar in the Calgary location of Rodney’s Oyster House part of the enormous and fully renovated new restaurant on 10th Avenue and Fourth Street N.W. (in that spot previously occupied by a string of scary-looking nightclubs) prior to its recent opening. Behind the bar is Rodney Clark — a.k.a. “Rodney himself” — and he’s just handed me an icy tray full of oysters. As I reach for the hot sauce horseradish and lemon wedge he stops me.
“We sell this sauce but I don’t recommend using it unless you’re eating a dozen of the same oysters and start to get bored” he says. “Eat the oyster as it is slide it into your mouth and slowly chew it.”
Chew it? I’ve been happily eating raw oysters since I was a teenager and following the example of everyone I’ve ever seen in an oyster bar I’d been using them as a vehicle for a delicious array of condiments slurping them out of the shell and letting them slide down my throat as quickly as possible. You’re supposed to chew oysters?
You’re supposed to chew oysters. On any given day Rodney’s Oyster House serves up a choice of different oyster varietals and just like wine or chocolate or coffee each type has a unique flavour profile that’s subtly different from any other on the menu. The Kusshi oysters from Vancouver Island for example have flavour notes of melon and cucumber whereas the Cotuits from Massachusetts have a clean briny beginning followed by a sweet finish. Each type pairs well with a different kind of wine or in the case of the Cotuits a light beer.
All of which you never would know if you doused them in hot sauce and slid them down your throat allowing for nothing more than a quick hit of spice followed by a blast of salt water. If you’re going to pay top dollar for fresh oysters imported from both coasts you may as well actually taste the damn things.
Rodney’s which originated in Toronto (editor’s note: this has been corrected) also specializes in other seafood chowders lobster rolls and a few meat dishes (namely a massive tomahawk steak) for the seafood adverse. But even if you think you’re not an oyster fan if you find yourself at Rodney’s order at least a few — and make sure you chew. You may be surprised by how much this one simple tip changes they way you experience these salty little mollusks. And even if you still don’t like the taste you can always drown it out with one of Rodney’s tasty sauces as you finish off your plate.
