All summer long, Wednesday through Sunday from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m., The Real Mother Shuckers’ “Oyster Bike” will be stationed right in front of Lincoln Center‘s David Geffen Hall. I took a trip over on Friday night to check it out.
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Music was in the air as I walked up the steps to Josie Robertson Plaza. The disco ball was in full swing for Lincoln Center’s Summer for the City festivities, with Stud Country performing 90s country music and new pop songs. While attendees line danced, I got in line at the mobile shucking station.
The menu comes with east coast oysters (from Blue Point, Long Island) for $3 each or six for $15 and west coast oysters (from West Cortez Island in British Columbia) for $4 each or six for $20. You can also get a mixed six-piece for $17.
Your oysters can be topped three different ways: Classic, with parsley, shallots, cocktail sauce and mignonette; Sushi, with cucumber, seaweed, ponzu and wasabi; or Candy Apple, with apple, horseradish, yuzu, hot sauce and mirin.
I got two from each coast so I could sample the three topping options while letting the shucker surprise me with the fourth. I took my oysters to the Reclining Figure statue behind David Geffen Hall, which has tables and all sorts of eye candy set up for Summer in the City. The flamingos in the water are a nice touch this season.
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The oysters were all amazing.
The biggest and best surprise of the night, though, came when the shucker told me to come back with my oyster shells, as they donate them to the Billion Oyster Project. The project’s goal is to restore a billion oysters to the New York Harbor by 2035. I learned that recycling the shells helps rebuild the reefs so new oyster populations can grow. It also improves the quality of the water and stimulates marine life. Shuck yeah!
Can’t Wait!!
These kinds of tips are why I love ILUWS!
Also a fun fact: Mother Shuckers makes a quick cameo in the new Spider-Verse movie during the the opening scenes in Brooklyn!!
The Billion Oyster Project’ is super creative and satisfying. There’s something almost anyone can volunteer to do.
Anyone interested in diving deeper, Journalist Mark Kurlansky’s book The Big Oyster is an entertaining popular history of the bivalves that helped make New York famous, and why they are among the stars of the environmentalist movement. You can read it while enjoying enjoying your treat from the Oyster Bike.