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Fish Bar, Kornick's "seafood shack" in partnership with David Morton, offers a trial oyster for $1. "In our first six months we sold over 1,000. So a huge part of our local population still hasn't tried an oyster." But then they try one and find "it's icy, briny, cold, and delicious." As for those serious shellfish towers, observes Brendan Sodikoff of Maude's Liquor Bar and Bavette's Bar & Boeuf, "A lot of people come in and share that for their starter, main course, and dessert. It's becoming more of an everyday experience." Oyster assortment at GT Fish & Oyster, where they shuck 5,000 to 7,000 oysters a week. like wine with what they're calling 'merroir' instead of terroir. Oysters take the name of the body of water or other geographical term. The different flavors are a function of the water they come out of." Hyperlocality gives this global commodity a sense of being curated when the diner is presented with oyster varieties from different coasts or continents. Diners can see how oysters from various regions differ in size, taste, and consistency, which makes mixing and matching a culinary adventure to be shared. James Beard Award– winning chef Paul Kahan sums up the scene: "Chicago is at an amazing juncture in [its] restaurant history. It's become a super-educated food town where people want to eat everything." At The Publican, where Kahan developed a concept around "oysters, pork, and beer," each variety is listed by name, body of water, geographic origin, and flavor profile such as "Buttery, Cucumber" or "Lemon, Lettuce." Sustainability is another factor that has helped inspire the oyster trend, as more Chicagoans become aware of the strain that overfishing has placed on the ocean. Mark Palicki, vice president of marketing for Bensenville-based seafood distributor Fortune Fish Company, explains, "Oysters are a sustainable seafood, which is healthy, is good for the health of the ocean, and fits the farm-to-table movement perfectly." Executive chef/partner Giuseppe Tentori of GT Fish & Oyster (which shucks 5,000 to 7,000 oysters weekly) attributes the boom in part to wellknown chefs. "If people trust a chef, they'll figure if it's on their menu, it must be amazing, so they want to try it." Still, as Jonathan Swift once said, "He was a bold man that first ate an oyster." Tentori notes, "A lot of people are still afraid to eat a raw oyster. It will take time. Most of the beginners go with the creamy, smaller West Coast oyster, then they become more adventurous." 90 When it comes to condiments, two schools rule. Classicists hold fast to mignonette (vinegar with shallots and cracked pepper) and/or cocktail sauce, with many local kitchens and raw bars offering their own twists—such as Shaw's, which makes its own house cocktail sauce with fresh-grated horseradish and also offers a refreshing mignonette ice. The more adventurous school branches out into gastronomic and global flavors. Telegraph spikes its mignonette with Old Tom gin; Belgian-leaning Leopold likes lambic mignonette; Girl & the Goat makes Muscatel mignonette garnished with fresh tarragon; and The Publican serves a verjuice mignonette with black pepper and shallots. And some oyster lovers scoff at the idea of condiments altogether. Says Rowley, an oyster purist, "If you've got a really great oyster, anything you put on it is going to give you less than [what] you started with. The wine you drink with it is the condiment. Even if you add lemon, the oyster and wine combination doesn't really sing." One thing is clear, says Jared Van Camp, executive chef of oyster-purveying at RM Champagne Salon. "People are passionate about the ways to eat oysters. It's pretty personal." Indeed, whether you are a purist, a classicist, or an adventurer, oysters are back on the gastronomic block, which is spreading joy to diners, restaurateurs, and growers alike. "The oyster business is coming back like the old days," McGee beams. "I love what I'm doing." MA THE SEXY ARE OYSTERS AN APHRODISIAC? In his book Sex, Death & Oysters, Robb Walsh says, "Eating raw oysters is at once perverse and spiritual. A freshly shucked oyster enters your mouth while it is still alive and dies while giving you pleasure." Oysters are also high in zinc, which controls progesterone levels and thus affects the libido. But are they truly an aphrodisiac? "They are if you drink Champagne," says GT Fish & Oyster's Giuseppe Tentori. Steve LaHaie of Shaw's Crab House adds, "There's something sensuous about two people sitting down over a tray of oysters, slurping them with a glass of wine or great beer. It could lead to other things." Chef-owner Michael Shrader of Urban Union says, "The rise in popularity is partially due to the romance factor. I think people eat oysters seeking a little 'extra oomph' on date night. I see a lot of couples ordering oysters and then the man ends up eating most of them." PHOTOGRAPHY BY ERIC KLEINBERG (GT); FRANCO ORIGLIA/GETTY IMAGES (BOTTICELLI). OPPOSITE PAGE: JOE RAEDLE/GETTY IMAGES (THROWING); JUSTIN SULLIVAN/GETTY IMAGES (WASHING OYSTERS); ALICE HELEN VAN HOUSEN (MCGEE); KAREN KASMAUSKI/SCIENCE FACTION/CORBIS IMAGES (BOAT); THINKSTOCK (SHUCKING OYSTERS) THE SAUCE MICHIGANAVEMAG.COM 088-091_MA_FEAT_Dining_Winter13.indd 90 1/2/13 5:16 PM