Oysters

Like Maine's lobster, New York's oyster used to be our iconic food. New Yorkers feasted on them, exported them, and bragged about them. This attracted visitors (including Charles Dickens!) to our town, where you could find oysters of every possible preparation, if you were careful to walk around the enormous heaps of oyster shells (which are called "middens") on the sidewalks. Oysters could be had at fancy restaurants like Delmonico's, oyster cellars like Downing's, and even the eternally ubiquitous street carts. But where are all those oysters now?? Kathleen and Kate tell you all about these amazing little bivalves, their history, and their future in New York Harbor. The name of our favorite historical walking tour company, Urban Oyster, will make sense after you listen to this podcast. The Oyster Blog is truly remarkable. They have a complete (updated as of 8/2/2012) list of NYC happy hours with oyster specials, cross-referenced by the day of the week. So if you're looking for Kate, she's probably in one of these bars.