Chefs Brigade Sponsors Off-Bottom Oyster Tasting

We all can get mired in convention, especially when it comes to oysters. But as Robert Landry, an oyster shucker at Pigeon and Whale, puts it, off-bottom oysters are something chefs and restaurants need to explore.

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“I think it’s a tastier oyster,” Landry says, referring to the off-bottom bivalve. “I think sometimes we get stuck in tradition and we’re a little afraid of tasting different things.”

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Landry is part of a group of 20 New Orleans restaurateurs, chefs, shuckers and food service workers at an oyster-tasting event sponsored by Chefs Brigade and held at Cafe Degas. The group seemed very enthusiastic about the offerings from off-bottom oyster farmers, Eagle Point Oyster Co. of Ocean Springs, Mississippi and Bright Side Oysters from Grand Isle, Louisiana. 

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“I’m super intrigued,” says Joe Riccobono, owner of Sala at West End and part of the Riccobono family of restaurants.

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Off-bottom oysters have been around for decades but have recently started to take off on the Gulf Coast with improved aquaculture techniques that result in increased sustainability, lower mortality rates, and as off-bottom oyster supporters claim - a higher quality oyster. Traditional oyster farming involves placing oysters directly on the seabed and formed into oyster reefs, but off-bottom farming suspends oysters in cages, bags, or other structures above the ocean floor, where they can access cleaner water, more food and sometimes, better salinity conditions.

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For chef/restaurateur and Eagle Point Oyster Company owner, Matthew Mayfield, production control and conditions are the keys to success. The outfit began in 2021 and their farm is located on the south side of Deer Island in the Mississippi Sound, just off the coast of Biloxi, Mississippi. 

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“Where we grow these oysters because of the fresh algae they feed on, water temperatures and other influences, oysters from elsewhere can’t taste like this,” says Mayfield. "The flavors are unique to our waters."

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During the tasting, the Eagle Point staff starts serving the just shucked oysters, which Mayfield describes as a hit of salt with a sweet buttery finish. Landry agrees.

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“These really hold the best assets of the Gulf without the murkiness,” Landry says. 

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For oyster connoisseurs, merrior is a topic often discussed. Merrior refers to the concept of how an oyster's taste and flavor reflects the environment and waters where it was grown - identical to the term terroir in relation to wine. It’s a topic that Nathan Herring, the sole proprietor of Bright Side Oysters, is very familiar with. During his presentation, Herring tells the audience how he has been raising oysters since 2018, and how the business has been increasing sales to restaurants in the past couple of years. 

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That’s where the merrior comes in. Herring talks about how diners can taste the varieties from different waters and compare them. In Bright Side’s case, the oysters come from his farm off the coast of Grand Isle, where Herring, who holds a degree in Wildlife and Fisheries with a focus in aquaculture from Mississippi State University, has raised them for the past six years and had to rebuild the farm after hurricanes Zeta and Ida. The Bright Side oyster is a bit saltier than Eagle Point, but as Landry points out there’s also a sweetness to it, which he describes as “iconic to the Louisiana oyster.”

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As the presentations conclude, the guests mill around the oyster tables, slurping down the off-bottom oysters and talking about the possibilities. Scot Craig, who owns Katie’s and Francesca’s, says he’s contemplating opening an oyster bar in the near future. It wouldn’t be surprising to see that bar featuring some off-bottom offerings. 

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Chefs Brigade’s Executive Director Troy Gilbert is impressed with the turnout for the event, and even more so for the future of these off-bottom oysters. 

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“I love it,” Gilbert says. “We’re lucky to live on the Gulf Coast and be able to taste and experience our world-class oysters from traditional bottom leases and now off-bottoms. I can definitely see a future where you go into many New Orleans seafood restaurants and order a flight of oysters from different parts of the Gulf of Mexico, or even different bays and estuaries in Louisiana. It’s time to stop thinking of our Louisiana and Gulf oysters solely as a horseradish and ketchup delivery system.”