This just in from Renee, over at Boat Street Cafe:

http://www.boatstreetcafe.com

Bonjour,

I have just returned from a delicious trip to Paris. What a long list of fantastic flavors and experiences I enjoyed there! The best day I had, however, was a morning at the Marche du Vanves. There I shopped for platters, bowls and knife rests that I could actually carry home. After thoroughly examining the wares, I was off to eat dozens and dozens of fresh Brittany oysters & to drink cool, crisp Muscadet with my beautiful friends, Carrie & Margaret.

Next time you go to Paris you must spend an hour or two on Saturday or Sunday at the Place d'Aligre Marche in the 12th Arrondissment. Then stroll around the corner to le Baron Rouge. This perfect wine bar doubles as an oyster counter on the curb on weekends.

Recreating the oyster frenzy at home, the Boat Street Cafe will offer half-priced oysters on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 5:30 -7:00. To encourage the French tradition of drinking white wine with oysters, Muscadet will be 4 Dollars a glass or 18 dollars a bottle.

See you soon,

Renee

Hey Nancy,
Where do they do Oyster/Beer pairings?

I've always been told porters go with oyster, but I've recently ordered up hoppier beers to go with my oyster plates and found that the bitterness of the hops offsets the sweet, salty, creaminess of oysters very well.

Anyways, just curious.
Thanks.

Frank, you fine fella: The beer/oyster pairing shot's from the Brooklyn. I've always been an oyster/champagne kind of gal, and can always appreciate a nice glass of white, but the beer pairings were right-on.

By the way: anybody see this story about pairing oysters with red wine?

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/27/dining/27pour.html?_r=2&ref=dining&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

Hmmm. Comments?

I'm a HUGE fan of oysters, and I wish they were a bit easier to find on the east side. Matt's Oyster Bar/Rotisserie in Redmond is a local place for me, and they shuck oysters pretty well. Anyone know of other eastside spots to try?

You know the covered food market in Lyon, Halle de Lyon (now called Les Halles Bocuse), perhaps? Dozens of vendors (cheese, charcuterie, fruit, etc.) not to mention four or five shellfish stands.

Lunch at one of them, Merle, last week: a dozen absolutely perfect fines de claire, a "pot" of Macon blanc, half a St. Marcelin cheese from La Mère Richard: about $55.

Lunch at Etta's earlier this week: a dozen assorted oysters (Penn Cover, Hunter Point, Emerald Cove, none quite as plump as the French oysters), $2.50 each, so $30 for oysters, $14 half of a bottle of wine, + tax + tip = not really very different in price.

Will put up pix as well on my blog, http://Cornichon.org

On Tuesday, we tried Shuckers at the Fairmont for their "Seasoned" promotion. Well, that was the initial plan and as usual the other items looked so good that we abandoned the prix fixe plan. Breaking all rules for being polite to a restaurant, we had to move our reservations back a half hour and added 4 people. They were marvelously accomodating and the staff was fantastic. However, the point is that the food was brilliant. We had finished having happy hour at Union and sampled good oysters there. But the Shuckers oysters (handpicked by our waiter) were fantastic. I have a renewed appreciation for oysters now. Our East Coast visitors raved. A great time was had by all and I would go back in a second. I can't believe it took me 3 years here to try it.