In Search of the Best Fried Oysters Ever

When I lived in the Pacific Northwest, I went on a quest to find the best fried oysters in the area. Fried oysters are the food of the gods in my book and have been since I first had them at Captain Dee’s when I was a kid, and Washington has about the best crop of oysters on earth. After years of searching and trying oysters at various eateries, I determined that the second best fried oysters on earth were to be had at Jack’s Fish Spot in the Sanitary Market across from the Pike Place Market in Seattle. Jack’s was mainly a fishmongering stall, but they made fried fish and French fries in a small booth to the side. The place was usually filthy, but the food was to die for.

When I moved to Bellingham, I found a dodgy shack of a place down on the waterfront that sold fried fish through a walk up window. Good stuff, but not up to the Jack’s Fish Spot standards to which I had grown accustomed. I switched to oysters on the half shell at one of the bars in Fairhaven, but I occasionally visited the dive on the waterfront when I was jonesing for the fried variety.

The best fried oysters in the world were to be had at a little roadside shop on the Hood Canal. The name escapes me. We passed this on our way to and from the Olympics and always made a point of stopping for seafood. There were oyster beds right out back, and you could pay to harvest your own. You had to shuck them on site, though, and I hate shucking oysters, so I just ordered up some fried ones.

Once we were back east in New York, I had to start over looking for good fried oysters. They are few and far between, let me tell you. You can get them at Legal Seafood, but they’re nothing to write home about, and I hate restaurants in malls. At long last, I discovered the Oyster Bar in Grand Central Station, and this will be where I eat whenever I find myself in Manhattan from now on. I rarely get to New York City, though, and I need to find a place up by me in the Hudson Valley. Oddly enough, the Price Chopper supermarket in Poughkeepsie sells fried oysters in its fish department, and they are not bad at all. I’m still looking for some higher quality, though, and I have taken to buying oysters and frying them up at home.

Surprisingly, the best oyster po’ boy I have had was at Funck’s, a family restaurant right outside the gates of Fort Indiantown Gap in Pennsylvania Dutch country. Then again, I have not been to the Big Easy where I am told the oyster sandwiches are quite excellent.

I became spoiled when I lived in Maryland and had acess to Chesapeake Bay oysters. Baltimore has no shortage of great oyster places, and I sometimes think it would be worth moving there just to be near them.