The Grand Central Station Oyster Bar has been shucking them out for over 100 years. Located below Grand Central Terminal one has to wander past an assortment of food stalls, vendors of all types and shoeshine stations until you find it. The original vaulted and tiled ceilings along with checkered tablecloths and unpretentious but efficient service make it an old school N.Y. experience.
The menu is huge and everything is fresh, but for my money, the raw bar, chowders and pan roasts are where it’s at. The Oyster Bar, as the name suggests, maintains a long list of oyster varieties, but I am a sucker for Blue Points.
My dozen came out, plump, briny and absolutely delicious. Next, I ordered a pan roast. A pan roast is a spicier version of a seafood stew. The oyster bar offers them with almost any shellfish you can imagine, or a combination of whatever you like. I ordered up a decadent pan roast of lobster and scallops.
P.S. If you can snag a couple of seats at the bar, do, as it’s fun to watch the cooks prepare the pan roasts in the old steam cauldrons they’ve been using since 1913.
