Catalog Critic: The Airborne Oyster

• Published in: The Wall Street journal. Eastern edition
• Main Author: By Pooja Bhatia
• Format: Newspaper Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, N.Y Dow Jones & Company Inc 21.03.2003
• Edition: Eastern edition
• Subjects: Corporate presidents; Mail order; Oysters; Seafood; Taste
• ISSN: 0099-9660

We'd actually been warned about Gulf Coast oysters. The Center for Science in the Public Interest has in the past declared them unsafe to eat raw and untreated, while culinarians say their chewiness and blandness make them better for cooking. Still, receiving them from Louisana Cajun Crawfish was a shock. Rattling around inside a cardboard box were 50 pounds of mud-covered, palm-size oysters wrapped in newspaper. No ice. "You've got to be either really drunk or really hungry to eat these raw," Mr. [Rick Moonen] told us. "Either way, you'd better have a lot of Tabasco." Maine's Browne Trading Co. sent us four types of oysters, all as fresh as if we'd plucked them from the beds ourselves. Though the Moonstones from Rhode Island were a tad mealy, and the Island Creeks were leaner than we'd have liked, both were delicious. But it was the Cape Neddick and Spinney Creek oysters that knocked nearly everyone out. These plump oysters tasted clean and as salty as the ocean. They were the best of the bunch, our Best Value -- and our Best Overall.