Super Bowl LIX
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Where to find the best raw bars and cooked versions of Gulf Coast bivalves.
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Brett Anderson has lived in New Orleans, and written about its restaurants, for 24 years. He ate dozens upon dozens of oysters, both raw and cooked, while reporting this story.
For oyster lovers, there is nothing like New Orleans.
The stylistic variety of raw oyster bars across the metro area is wide and under heralded. And in no other city will you find as many cooked oyster dishes as you do on New Orleans restaurant menus.
The reason for this is simple: Louisiana regularly leads the nation in commercially harvested oyster landings, even as the industry navigates environmental challenges affecting the Gulf of Mexico.
Recipe: Oysters Mosca
The oyster bounty is a reliable source of pleasure to locals. But for visitors in town for the Super Bowl, New Orleans’s idiosyncratic oyster culture could use some explanation.
While local oysters are technically the same species as those on the East Coast, they grow larger here. Their size — which makes them better suited to cooking — and abundance is why home cooks and restaurant chefs have embraced them for generations.
Raw oyster eaters accustomed to the smaller, more uniform oysters from elsewhere are often startled by the girth of traditional Louisiana oysters. But the size and flavor of local oysters are never more attractive as they are now, in the winter months. And the diversity of options at New Orleans raw bars, both locally grown and imported, has exploded.
This guide will help you navigate what’s out there, whether it’s raw or cooked.
Where the Shucking Is a Show
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