September 28, 2006
OY! SHUCK OFF!
One of the greatest Ella Fitzgerald songs ever recorded is "Autumn in New York." Its romanticism is insoluble and if I were to ever leave the city, it could instantly transport me to shuffling through brightly colored leaves as I meandered through Central Park wearing a new sweater I'd had to buy after an Indian Summer finally cracked. There is another favorite memory that I associate with autumn in NYC. It's the Oyster Festival.
It used to be the Guinness Oyster Festival when it was up on East 4th St. in front of the Merchant House Museum, but it moved downtown a few years ago to Stone St., adjacent to Hanover Square, so now it's the Stone St. Oyster Festival. The street is narrower, but Stone St. is a throwback to one of NYC's oldest neighborhoods and reflects the architecture of the mid-19th Century, when the neighborhood was rebuilt following a devastating city-wide fire.
There's a big oyster-fest going on in Grand Central Terminal this week. It's fairly fancy pants. Tickets are $95. The Stone Street Oyster Festival is a little more democratic: $10 for a half-dozen oysters on a paper plate, cocktail sauce and lemons gratis; $6 for a beer. The bands are there for your enjoyment.
To eat raw seafood prepared in a NYC alleyway, one basically must be inebriated, so the Oyster Festival tends to be a huge street-long party. It runs from 12pm-11pm. You'll find me down there, with a mouthful of raw sea-salty goodness. I highly recommend it.
Tagged:Posted by Lexiphane at September 28, 2006 1:34 PM
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