They always say that you can pick up with a real friend no matter how much time has passed. I found that to be true when meeting my friend Amy at the Hourly last night. We hadn’t seen each other in about 7 years, but just talked and talked. The advantage of social media is that if friends are on it, oh stay in the loop!
Amy and I met at the merchandise booth at a Carbon Leaf show, right when I was putting my life back together. She saved my cat’s life when I was on vacation, and I will always love her for that.
So I had to get her to my favorite Cambridge restaurant before she moved (sad).
We sat at the raw bar, where we got to sit by Salty John and watch him work his magic. 
He offered to get out the smoker and smoke us some oysters, which I was over the moon about!
This was fascinating to watch! He smoked us two Fin de la Baie and two Spearpoint. I preferred the Fin de la Baie, as it is a larger East Coast oyster. The smoky flavor was so amazing that I would have eaten the shell if I could have!
While we were waiting for these and the other oysters that we ordered to arrive, the apps arrived.
Amy ordered the octopus, which was perfectly done. Sadly for my taste buds, I gave up Octopus for moral reasons. This dish came with squid ink rice crackers, cucumber, sundried tomatoes and Klamath olives. I did try those!
It was so gorgeous that I had to take a close up! Total food porn!
I ordered the asparagus with frisée salad and a (perfectly) poached egg, which I happily got to eat by myself. I feel the Frenchness of this dish from Chef Taryn, which I greatly appreciate! There was no overwhelming flavor, but it was so fresh and light, which I needed!
We split the tuna poke. The tuna was super fresh, and the seaweed was saltier than sweet- which is good because it probably means it doesn’t have a lot of sugar!
Next came all of the oysters- hot and cold. Not on the menu, but fortunately I asked before arriving, John made roasted Belon oysters with a wonderful compound butter that were topped with crispy shallots. He explained to us that not everyone likes Belon oysters due to their flavor. I was iffy on them when I tried them, but I guarantee that everyone would like Belon oysters prepared this way. Amy is not a fan of cooked oysters, but she agreed that they were delicious.!
Then the oysters- all sorts from both coasts! Not a loser in the bunch! 
The final star of the night was a main dish that has just been added to the menu- soft shell crab with corn, avocado and tomatoes. This one was not “on the plan,” but it was worth the cheat!
We learned a lot about oyster life and shucking.
I guess if you worked at a raw bar, you wouldn’t want to eat it all of the time. 
Or would you?!?!
There was talk of smoked pineapple in the near future. Which will send me flying back down the Mass Pike back into Cambridge.
We finished the night with a lovely Carbon Leaf concert, reliving many happy memories from when we first met.
Until the next time!
Xxoo, PF
