Sexy beasts: Oysters are the food of love
Crassostrea virginica may not be a looker. Rough, craggy, stone hard and drab gray, this fromthe-depths creature holds a slick blob of alienlike fleshy matter that, frankly, looks scarily primeval.
But for many, she couldn’t be sexier. And now, as good as it gets — silky, plump and pinup proud.
Commonly known as the American or Atlantic oyster, this filter-feeding bivalve makes its home from Canada to Mexico with a starring role in the Gulf of Mexico as one of Texas’ most prized, homegrown foods.
Oyster eating is at its peak now, enjoying a time of abundance and ample flavor as the traditional oyster season that began in November continues through May (although Gulf oysters are good to eat year-round). Houston cherishes its oyster passion, and this week is especially intense as oysters shine as sensual slurps for lovers on Valentine’s Day.
“I don’t know about that whole aphrodisiac thing. I don’t know anyone who says I’m going to eat a bunch of oysters because I have a hot date tonight,” oyster aficionado Bobby Matos admits. “It’s more of
a joke.”
Still, as chef of State of Grace and La Lucha, both known for their oyster programs, Matos is taking no chances. He goes through 7,000 to 8,000 oysters a week and plans to bump up his order by 1,000 at each restaurant for those Valentine’s Day diners who ascribe to the potentially amorous properties of oyster consumption.
“The romance might come from the presentation,” he said. “There’s some importance to a perfectly presented oyster. Clean, sleek and sexy in its own right. That’s a turnon.”
The local restaurant scene is fleshed out with great oyster presentations: topped off with blackpepper strawberry and Siberian sturgeon caviar at 1751 Sea and Bar; roasted with foie gras or artichoke and truffle at Brasserie 19; slathered with chipotle butter and grilled at Caracol; mounded with lump crab and baked at Eugene’s Gulf Coast Cuisine; adorned with yuzu foam and Kaluga caviar at Kata Robata; accented with coconut lime granita at Riel; char-grilled with Spanish chorizo and Manchego bread crumbs at Traveler’s Table; and lavished with Wagyu and bone marrow at Turner’s. Naked, no-nonsense oysters on the halfshell and served with cocktail sauce, mignonette and lemons can be found all over the region.
So where did oysters get their libidinous reputation? Giacomo Casanova, the legendary lover, is said to have consumed 50 raw oysters a day and believed in their stimulating effects. But even centuries before that, ancient Romans regarded them as virility boosters.
What is indisputable is this: Oysters are a powerhouse source of zinc, an essential mineral. They contain more zinc per serving than any other food; they also are a source of copper and vitamins B12 and C.
Jim Gossen, a great champion of Gulf seafood, said oysters’ mineral content, especially zinc, is good for the immune system.
“I eat a lot of oysters, and I have a theory,” said the former chairman of Sysco Louisiana Seafood and current board member of the Gulf Seafood Foundation. “It’s not scientific, but I think they may have helped me keep from getting COVID.”
Dr. Joe Fox, chairman of marine-resource development for the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies, doesn’t have an opinion on the oyster as an aphrodisiac. But he marvels at the oyster’s rich history, incredible survival and deep connection to the state from Galveston Bay to South Texas.
“All these coastal communities were built on oysters,” said the research scientist for the institute at Texas A&M University, Corpus Christi. “They are remarkable. They are the greatest aquatic engineers you could imagine.”
And if there’s something romantic about that, Raz Halili is taking it to the bank. The oyster fisherman whose family owns Prestige Oysters, one of the nation’s leading oyster distributors, is well familiar with the “old-timers” lore of oysters as an aphrodisiac.
Whether he believes it or not, Halili talks about oysters in ways that can sound erotic: their saline flavor and slippery, meaty mouthfeel; the shape, roundness and depth of their cup.
“You’re eating a creature raw from its natural state,” he said. “There is an element of sexiness to that.”
Halili and his partner chef Joe Cervantez are deeply invested in the sexiness of the oyster. Their new Pier 6 Seafood & Oyster House restaurant in San Leon has been doing gangbusters business in raw and baked oyster platters since it opened in November.
Last Saturday alone, the restaurant went through 5,000 oysters sourced by Prestige. And this weekend plans to shuck even more than that.
The power of the oyster for seafood lovers (and lovers)? It appears alive and well in Texas. Pier 6 is already fully booked for Valentine’s Day.