Who knew that White River Junction needed an oyster bar? A visitor from Dartmouth tipped me off to this place. SO and I grabbed a last-minute Saturday reservation sitting at the oyster bar. Oyster shooters made with horseradish-infused vodka and tomato jam started things off with a bang. The breadboard of serviceable focaccia was served with two mounds of herbed butter, one topped with olive tapenade, the other with some fruit preserve. We then worked through half-dozen excellent NH oysters (remarkable given that NH has only a few miles of Atlantic coastline), tuna “ceviche”, raw-beef Thai-inspired salad, Piri-piri mussels, and finally Korean fried chicken “bao”. The “ceviche” was freshly-cubed tuna tossed a la minute with coconut milk, grated ginger, pickled jalapeños, another pepper and lime zest; very good, but not really a “ceviche”, as the tuna hadn’t “cooked” in the acid/marinade. The mussels were small and delicate, and the piri-piri sauce a wonderful pairing. The raw beef salad hit all the right notes, a bit of spice from Thai chilies and a nice bit of texture from chopped peanuts. The “bao” were also excellent.
The oysterman, Ron, was helpful with descriptions and watching him was entertaining. An advantage of sitting at his bar is that he lined the shucked oysters in the ice-filled trough directly in front of us. Our waitress, Molly, was attentive and helpful with navigating the menu.
The wine selection looked interesting (one of my favorite zins, Ridge Pagani Ranch, that one doesn’t often see), though we stuck to beer on this occasion. They had two offerings on draft from Hill Farmstead.
Althoug we thoroughly enjoyed the food and service, the hostess - apparently a co-owner - is singularly inhospitable. We were the second couple in the door when they opend at 4pm. As the only available last minute slot on Resy was at the oyster bar, she proceeded to usher us to the very end at the back next to the service. Of course we were the only people at the bar at that point, and when we asked to sit at the opposite end, away from traffic, she resisted. When we asked if people had reserved specific seats at the bar, she told us Resy assigns the seats. We were about ready to walk out when she relented. When we departed at 5:15, there was only one other couple at the oyster bar. Nonetheless the dining experience was pleasant enough to warrant braving the cold reception.
Food sounds right up our alley. Love the oyster bar set-up. When we get oysters out, all the wasted ice on the platters makes me sad (because that’s water after all).
Hopefully the host was just having a bad week, as many of us were. I had to run a couple of client-facing meetings this week and while we’re not supposed to mix politics and business, I did say that I hoped everyone was doing ok. I can’t imagine having to put on a good face constantly this week.
OK, forewarned that they let Resy determine seating, we returned with our Spring Onion. Booking on Resy I requested the corner of the oyster bar so we could converse. When we arrived, we were informed that they restrict the oyster bar to parties of two. AHHHH…so now I know that while they lean on Resy to organize seating, they don’t read any requests or comments posted there…or at least they don’t respond to them. My Significant Other and I were in disbelief – you can’t make this up.
But the food…still worth a trip. This time we sampled Joly oysters from MA – small, sweet/briney, everything we look for. We revisted the raw beef salad, very good, and tried the foie gras torchon, and an evening special of scallop crudo. The crudo was diced with bits of apple and tossed with a very light coating of kewpie mayo and finely diced scallion. This was outstanding. The torchon, served with onion jam and grainy mustard, was also excellent. On to the piri piri mussels and Korean fried chicken bao, favorites from our first visit that didn’t disappoint. For desert we sampled a baked chocolate pudding that had a brownie-like texture, topped with vanilla ice cream and whipped cream, and a lemon curd trifle. Both were quite good.
A muscadet with the oysters was a generous pour, but a shade sweet. A sparkler from the Jura went nicely with the bao.
Service was friendly and efficient – in contrast to the hosts.
So that wasn’t a one-off at your last visit. I’m glad the food made up for the unpleasant “welcome.” I gotta keep my eyes peeled for Joly oysters.
There’s a place like that near me - the greeting and seating part is comically awful and the rest of the experience is terrific. Sometimes I’m ready to put up with the first part and sometimes I’m not. So weird!!
