Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Food & Drink

A chef breaks down East Coast vs. West Coast oysters (plus, which is best)

Chef Michael Cressotti of Mermaid Oyster Bar breaks down the flavors and varieties of these delicious mollusks

Hunter Lu
By
Plate of oysters on ice.
A dozen oysters at Mermaid Oyster Bar. Melissa Hom

Fresh, flavored, and packed with umami, raw or cooked oysters are some of the best bites of seafood anywhere. However, for those of us who aren’t seafood experts, deciphering the different types of oysters can be confusing. From the labels of East Coast, West Coast, Kumamoto, or Island Creek, there’s a lot of information to break down for oysters.

To help guide us on this oyster breakdown, we spoke to Chef Michael Cressotti of Mermaid Oyster Bar in Midtown Manhattan. A New York City seafood restaurant with a Cape Cod vibe, Mermaid Oyster Bar in Midtown is the newest establishment of the renowned Mermaid Inn restaurants — the other locations are in Greenwich Village and Chelsea. 

Recommended Videos

East Coast oysters vs. West Coast oysters

The oyster bar at Mermaid Oyster Bar.
The counter at Mermaid Oyster Bar Midtown. Alex Staniloff
Simply put, there are a lot of oyster varieties in the world — a total of 200 species. At Mermaid Oyster Bar, some popular varieties include East Coast varieties like East Beach Blonde and Naked Cowboy, and West Coast varieties like Kusshi. When it comes to East Coast vs. West Coast oysters, there are a few key differences, mainly salinity and the amount of salt, according to Cressotti.
“East Coast oysters tend to have more brine and salt,” says Cressotti. “If you close your eyes and [slurp] an East Coast oyster, the flavors you are getting would reflect a little local beach water in the mouth. West Coast oysters, on the other hand, would contain less salt, be sweeter, be smaller in size, have a deeper ‘cup,’ and be a little plumper.”
But what about the sustainability between the two coastal varieties? Are there any differences between East Coast and West Coast varieties you should look out for with your next trip to an oysters bar?
“Not in my opinion,” says Cressotti. “All oysters we serve at The Mermaid Oyster Bar are farmed, meaning they are cultivated in a more sterile and controled environment. Throughout the year, I see more ‘farm closures’ on the West Coast rather than the East Coast due to occurrences like ‘red tide,’ a type of algal bloom.”

How to serve oysters

Raw seafood tower at Mermaid Oyster Bar.
The Grand Platter at Mermaid Oyster Bar Midtown. Alex Staniloff
Now that you’ve gotten a breakdown of the differences between East Coast and West Coast oysters, it’s time to figure out how to serve them. While they can be delicious grilled or fried, Cressotti prefers eating oysters in their most natural state — raw.
“This is all preference,” Cressotti says. “I personally prefer raw, no lemon, no cocktail, just ‘naked.’ I want to savor and imagine the waters where these delicious creatures came from. I do, however, enjoy a good fried oyster every now and then, or the classic New Orleans-style broiled oyster if done right.”
To prepare these tasty shellfish at home, Cressotti recommends investing in a quality oyster knife and a heavy-duty cloth towel. This towel will come in handy for holding oysters for shucking. Finally, a pro tip: Make your own crushed ice to lay your oysters on. To make the ice, smash some ice cubes in a towel with a sturdy frying pan. Then you’ll have an icy, fresh plate of oysters to enjoy — perhaps to pair with an alcoholic beverage.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Hunter Lu
Hunter Lu
Contributor
Hunter Lu is a New York-based food and features writer, NYU graduate, and Iraq veteran. His fiction has appeared in The Line…
Chef reveals how to make a Smashburger taco, the tasty heir to the viral food throne
You know about the Smashburger, but what of the Smashburger taco? Here's how to make one
A profile of the Smashburger chef Ty Goerke

The Smashburger is coming for your favorite dish and the taco is next in line. The internet is already making the tasty hybrid dish, so we thought it was high time you knew how to as well.

What is a Smashburger? It's pretty much what it sounds like, a burger pressed with some weight as it cooks, locking in flavors and creating added texture. Turns out, it works with foods beyond the burger, too. If you're working with some good meat or meat substitute, it's like making an elevated version of your favorite fast-food burger.

Read more
The best foods for prostate health (and what to avoid)
Include these important foods in your diet
Veggies

Although it may not be a topic of conversation around the dinner table or with your buddies at work, taking care of your prostate health shouldn’t be something you defer until it becomes a problem. Prostate problems are extremely common after the age of fifty. For example, according to the National Institutes of Health, 50% of men over the age of 50 have benign prostatic hyperplasia, or an enlarged prostate, a condition that can lead to thickening of the bladder wall, urinary incontinence, and urinary retention.
Even if your 50s are decades away, younger men can take strides to prevent and delay prostate enlargement by consuming foods rich in vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants known to support prostate health. These types of foods reduce inflammation, improve circulation, minimize oxidative damage, and support healthy hormone production, helping protect against benign prostatic hyperplasia and prostate cancer. Keep reading to find out what the best foods for prostate health are and to start taking control of your future health.

Fatty fish
Fatty fish, such as salmon, tuna, sardines, herring, trout, and mackerel, contain omega-3 fatty acids, which have been shown to reduce inflammation and can slow the progression of prostate enlargement. There is even some evidence pointing to the ability of omega-3 fatty acids to reduce tumor size in cases of prostate cancer.

Read more
ChefSteps’ cherry pie video is actually a (free) masterclass in rolling pie dough
These are the secrets to absolutely perfect pie crust.
Person rolling pie dough

Any day of the year, but especially during the lazy, carefree days of summer, there's nothing nearly as wonderful as a gorgeously made pie. Give us your apple, your chocolate, your blackberry, and key lime. We'll take all of the peach and lemon meringue, too. But our personal favorite is good old-fashioned cherry, complete with a flakey, buttery crisp crust. The only problem? That perfect crust can be awfully tricky to master, and a lackluster pie crust can all but ruin this favorite summertime dessert. So we've turned to ChefSteps' YouTube page to help us create the perfect pie crust.
The video opens with ChefSteps' Grant Crilly discussing the differences between "regular" cherry pie and ChefSteps' Ultimate cherry pie. He goes on to list the all-too-often gripes one can have with cherry pie, including an underbaked, soggy crust and overcooked, cloyingly sweet-tasting filling. He then describes the regular pie's crust as having a soft, doughy texture, which is never appetizing. But then he digs into the Ultimate pie, the obvious superior, describing its flakiness, dark golden brown color, and perfect texture and flavor.
How to Make the Ultimate Cherry Pie at Home | ChefSteps
While the video is an incredible tutorial on making the Ultimate Cherry Pie as a whole, we'd like to draw attention to the making of the pie crust specifically, as that seems to be where most home cooks (and even professional Chefs) can run into issues.

Not all crusts are created equal
Chef Matthew Woolen begins the lesson by explaining the texture of the pie dough should depend on the kind of pie you're making. A mealy crust is preferred for this cherry pie as it will stand up to the heavily liquid cherry filling better than a lighter, more delicate crust. This texture is achieved by processing the bits of butter into small pieces instead of larger pieces of butter which would provide more flaking.

Read more