Opening Night Shuck didn't Suck

The NYC Food Festival kicked off their fourth year by hosting an homage to the oyster. This shindig took place at the New York Water Taxi Beach (WTB) @ South Street Seaport, a fitting venue considering the grub. WTB is a bar and restaurant on the pier retrofitted to feel like the beach, sand and all. Much of the crowd opted to sit in one of the many picnic tables positioned outside of the main tent in close proximity to the movie screen, imparting a communal feel to the event. All you can eat oysters were the main attraction. An estimated 400 guests fit to consume 6500 oysters gathered from locations throughout North America, including: Long Island, British Columbia, Nova Scotia, and Rhode Island. Needless to say, the oysters never stood a chance.

Festival Executive Chef, Harry Hawk of WTB fame, dazzled the taste buds of the audience with such combinations as, bacon wrapped squid, oyster grits w/ bacon, and grilled corn with Chile butter. The libations flowed liberally throughout the night which included two delicious concoctions, a Cucumber Martini with Patron Reposado, and a Watermelon Mint Lemonade with Ultimat Vodka. Volunteers from the festival were doing their best to make their rounds through the crowd to serve food, but were often mobbed outside their respective points of entry, making it necessary for guests to retrieve most of their food from serving tables. Only a minor annoyance that speaks volumes for the quality of the food. Most guests were thoroughly satisfied, and I heard more than one person state that they were more full then they anticipated they would be.

Just as we were finishing stuffing our faces we were treated to a contest. The contest claimed to be the first of it's kind in NYC. The Great New York City Shuck 'N Suck. Teams were made up into two people, a shucker and a sucker. Contestants were lined up at a long table and put their constitutions on the line to see who would be the first to consume 24 oysters. It was a messy and sometimes bloody rush to the finish line but in the end only one team prevailed, "Eddie Oyster" and Jimmy Carbone of Jimmy's No. 43 in midtown.

Don't forget this is a film festival after all. Shortly after the contest, and some technical hiccups, the projector fired up and we were all treated to some short films. All the films shown were short docs that dealt with the subject of oysters with the exception of two films. The First, What's Virgin Mean? is a cute, British, one joke, ultra short narrative that involves food. The other was the last film of the shorts program called, Kee to Chocolate. It's a documentary that explores the chocolatier behind the hit SoHo confectionery, Kee's Chocolates. The audience was lucky enough to indulge in some of Kee's Chocolates during the screening of the film. Certainly the crowd favorite was The Perfect Oyster. Dwelling on the more philosophical and metaphysical aspects of the oyster, this film is more about the oysterman than the oyster itself.

If the rest of the festival is anything like the experience we had at The Great New York City Shuck 'N Suck, than we highly recommend that you make it to an event before it ends on June, 27.

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Comments

[Rosie]

You wouldn't happen to know any of the drink recipes, would you?

[Ricky Alvarez]

I'm afraid I don't. I'm going to have to refer you to Festival "Mixologist" Allen Katz.

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