Sunday, December 2, 2007

Max and his Wellfleet Oysters

"This morning, I opened my eyes and saw snow falling from the skies..." Snowboarding, anyone?

No river fishing today...but in the late afternoon on Saturday, I decided to venture up to West Hartford Center for some Wellfleet Oysters and a glass of wine at Max's Oyster Bar. I had some Christmas shopping to do in the Center, so I decided to combine the excursion into one to ensure the consumption of some good seafood.

Now the rule about Oysters, as seasoned consumers know, is that you must avoid eating oysters in months that do not have an 'R' in it. Primarily, do not eat oysters in the summer (May - August). This is a general rule that I have always followed, as oysters are typically not as good when the waters from which they come are warmer.

Max's was mobbed. I'd been there on a casual Sunday before and once or twice for dinner on Saturday nights. All I wanted was a seat at the bar. Knowing that there would be a wait (1 hour mind you), I put in my name and off I went to complete part of my shopping.

As it turned out, I was able to complete all of my shopping (JoS A. Banks, The Toy Chest, etc.). My thought was that most people are probably out for the night, so why not shop (since I adore it so much). For those of you who really know me, you know that this is a complete stretch of the truth. I can't stand shopping in any form, with the exception of grocery/meal-related shopping, which I love.

Anyway, I returned to Max's for my seat at the bar and there it was, waiting for me. I swear, someone had spit-shined it because it looked particularly new. At once, I ordered a glass of the lone Malbec on the menu (Malbec Reserva, Terrazas, 2004 (Mendoza, Argentina). About 10 minutes later, I order a dozen Wellfleet oysters (raw), and I began a conversation with a lovely gay male couple sitting next to me. One was a doctor (Louis) and the other was a chef (Tom). They had just come from an afternoon Baroque quartet performance at the Hartt School of Music. One of my personal favorite things to do - listen to chamber music.

Tom, Louis, and I had a lovely conversation. The oysters were amazing. They also had Chilean Sea Bass as the fish of the evening. Sparks thoughts of one of my favorite recipes.

Thank you, Max, for a great evening.

1 comment:

Michele said...

Well, I did not know that about Oysters. I learned something new today! :)