Birds of a feather eat oysters together
Bestselling novel The Nest builds hunger for some avian-named spots and more
Four adult siblings count on an inheritance that suddenly disappears.
That is the short version of the deliciously satirical novel The Nest, by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney.
The debate about what to eat during and after reading the No. 1 bestseller can go on much longer.
One could order food based on the novel’s name, such as the $12 bitter almond pavlova — baked meringue nest — filled with amaretti cherries and bright green tarragon whipped cream at Woodlot at 293 Palmerston Ave.
I haven’t tried it, but it promises to pay off better than the drained trust fund in Sweeney’s novel.
Or one might be tempted by a similarly named bird home. There is North York kosher grill the Chicken Nest, diner-like the Nest in Scarborough, Parrot Nest Family Restaurant near Downsview Park and the Crow’s Nest Pub in Newmarket. Again, I haven’t tried these places, so exercise caution when dining out on a limb.
It’s the oysters that stay with me, specifically, those from the Grand Central Oyster Bar located inside New York’s iconic train station.
This real-life restaurant is where the fictional Plumb family would go for “plates of oysters with exotic names — Chincoteague, Emerald Cove, Pemaquid — and steaming bowls of oyster stew.”
I track down a comparable meal at Rodney’s Oyster House at 469 King St. W., where the shuckers know American oyster beds the way sommeliers know Bordeaux vineyards.
(A good shucker talks about “merroir” instead of terroir when describing oyster growing conditions. He may also call Grand Central’s Oyster Bar “a novelty place” or tourist trap.)
Sitting at Rodney’s counter is thus both educational and entertaining. It’s also where the Plumbs would sit.
The Pemaquids are gone by the time I show up, so the shucker suggests classic Wellfleets ($4.21 each) from Cape Cod, fine but a bit bland. Oysters from nearby Duxbury ($3.47) are raised in a freshwater inlet, giving them a sweet aftertaste. Wild oysters from Onset Bay ($3.63) are briny but balanced and oh-so meaty.
Oyster chowder, not stew, is on offer. This so-called slapjack ($9 cup, $12 bowl) is a bowl of thick, hot cream laced with celery, potatoes and a quartet of beautifully poached oysters.
The simply seasoned chowder, plus accompanying bag of oyster crackers, makes for far better comfort than matriarch Francie Plumb ever provided her brood. Anything else, though, and the Plumb kids wouldn’t have turned out so relatably dysfunctional. apataki@thestar.ca, Twitter @amypataki