Oysters and Bubblies

Friday, March 8, 2013

Off the Vine wine store in San Pedro hosted an oyster tasting tonight paired with an assortment of bubblies. Smokey Bay Seafood Group supplied the oysters

This was a first for them and the disorganization showed. I am sure if they do another they will learn from their mistakes. I would give them another try if they decide to do another tasting like this.

There were suppose to be 3 varieties of oysters, but only 2 were served tonight. The Pacific Sinku and the Pearl Bay.  The Fanny Bays were not available to the supplier. You would think they would find another oyster that was available and substitute.  Both varieties were good. These are "farm" grown oysters which most are now days. They put the "seed" on a rope and hang them in the waters until  grown. Then the lines are pulled and harvested. Both of these oysters came from the Sykes Island in the Jervis Inlet in Canada. Oysters need cold water.

We were served 6 oysters and 6 bubblies. The intent was to have a oyster served with each pour. It did not work out this way. Apparently the oysters were not shucked ahead. We got there at  6 and it was close to 7 before we received our plate of oysters.  It was decided to plate all the oysters at the same time.  They should have put out baskets of bread or something to tide us over. We did buy a couple of small bags of chips to help out.

All the bubblies were inexpensive but a few of them were quite good.

NV Grand Imperila But - a little too sweet for me
NV Montevicor Cava - a little less sweet but dry.
NV Aimery Grand Cuvee 1531 - floral
NV Armeli Prosecco - best wine of the evening
NV Veuve du Vernay Brut Rose -
NV Roederer Rstate Brut Rose - ok but I was expecting better from Roederer.

The tasting was good aside from the "time" problem. What they should have done is shuck the oysters starting at 5:00 and had the plates ready at 6:00. The oysters were kept cold on rock salt and it should not have been a problem with keeping them cold. Don't wait until serving time to start your prep work.

We did receive an oyster knife to take home which was a nice little gift. Now I can shuck oysters properly and not worry about breaking one of my paring knives.