Oyster Happy Hour

Tomorrow the gang is going to celebrate a couple birthdays by partying at a club in the Lower East Side, so the plan tonight, Friday, was to take it easy. Start with a happy hour, head over to a casual dinner party, and maybe catch a movie. Janet had the great idea of not just going to any happy hour, but an oyster happy hour. The last time we went to said hour of boozin and shuckin was at Amuse in Chelsea, which by the way should still have a $1 oyster and $3 wine deal, but that must have been almost a year ago so it was definitely due for another one. As with any specific search for something in the city, I started looking on CitySearch and a couple foodie blogs, but neither returned any decent results. It wasn't until I hesitantly went to Chowhound's Manhattan board that I found what I was looking for. I mention hesitantly because, although Chowhound is probably the best content provider of everything foodie for NYC, its interface is hardly user-friendly, if you go to the site you'll know what I mean. But no fear, I finally discovered how to find what you're looking for on it using Google's best hidden secret: the site search parameter. Here's how I conducted my search of the site on Google:

Google the following string: "manhattan+oyster+happy+hour site:www.chowhound.com"

And voila - a list of Oyster Happy Hours in the city:

1. Fish - Bleecker and Jones - 12-7p - 6 oysters and a drink for $8
2. McCormicks and Schmicks - 52nd and 6th Ave - 4-6p and 9-11p - $0.50 oysters
3. Aquagrill - Soho - 4-6p - ??
4. Amuse - 18th and 6th Ave - 4:30-7p - $1 oysters
5. Five Points - Great Jones and Lafayette - $1 oysters
6. Schaffer City - 21st and 5th Ave - ??


We went with Fish in the Village since it seemed to have the best deal at a convenient happy hour time we all could go to. Fish had an unpretentious and authentic atmosphere about it, much unlike that of BLT Fish Shack. It looks like a place where a Lobster Bisque and Clam Chowder would actually taste good. This is the "Red, White, and Blue Special" - Choice of 6 Blue Points or 6 Little Necks and choice of a house red, house white, or Pabst Blue Ribbon - all for only $8.


The three of us each ordered the special and this was how the tray looked like with all of our 18 oysters on it. Notice the baggie of oyster crackers in the foreground, I've never been served oyster crackers with oysters, but I suppose oyster crackers could be a logical garnish for raw oysters, although by the time I started slurping down my share I totally forgot that I wanted to try the crackers with it - oh well, next time. The only low point of the special was that both Danielle and my first oysters were bad. Luckily it was only 2 of the 18, and for the price, what do you expect? I just hope I'm not shellfish poisoned tomorrow, man, I've got to stop ending my posts like this. 

The hour we had at Fish was definitely a happy one: great oysters, great beer, and greater price. Fish earns a gotta-try-it-again star in my book.

Fish
280 Bleecker St
Btwn Jones St & 7th Ave S 
Phone: 212-727-2879