Over The Top Oysters

The sign inside The Village Fish House restaurant in Carmel Valley gave lip service to eating locally, offering discounts Tuesday through Friday for drinking local wines or ordering locally raised food. Why then, did they offer only oysters from the Hood Canal in Washington State instead of the excellent locally grown oysters available here in Northern California?

I can only assume it was for their size. The picture doesn't do them justice but each shell was as long as my hand and nearly as wide.

This "appetizer" plate of six of the biggest, plumpest, juiciest oysters I've ever eaten would have satisfied the appetite of a stevedore and killed the appetite of anyone who labors less than that! Simply enormous, they are the only oysters I've eaten which required two large or three smaller bites to consume - I honestly don't think they could have been downed in a single swallow.

They were cooked to perfection with a very light dusting of garlic mince and buttered crumbs on top and bathed in nothing but their own briny goodness. They had been oak-grilled so they had a smokiness as well - pure, over-the-top oyster goodness, even if they did come all the way from the Hood Canal.