Oysters Galore at 42nd Street

There aren’t too many restaurants that survive longer than a decade, more or less three decades!  It could be because this restaurant started as grocery store serving oysters and was the first restaurant in downtown Raleigh to serve beer draft beer in a cold mug in 1933!  42ndStreet Oyster Bar has thrived through the years because of friendly, casual beer and oyster shucking environment and that’s why we chose to visit them for our 2^nd meal of Raleigh Restaurant Week.

The entrance is still reminiscent of old diner/grocery from the 30’s and when you walk in you are greeted with the traditional oyster bar energy; loud laughter, plates clattering and beer mugs clinking.  We went with some friends and we were seated in a booth that had tall backs shielding us from the noise, excellent.  Our super friendly and personable waitress came over and offered us drinks and delivered a fresh basket of warm hushpuppies!  The chips and salsa of the south...these warm, sweet, fried bundles of goodness dipped in honey butter are a good sign of what's to come.  After half the basket was devoured, we dove in to discussing the RRW menu.  Easy choice:  Half Dozen Half Shell and Backed Oyster Sampler.   They offered seafood bisque as well, which was tempting, but I can’t turn down oysters.  Out they came, pretty quickly at that, served with champagne vinaigrette, hot sauce, horseradish, cocktail sauce and saltine crackers – a tasty buffet for my raw oysters.  The Baked Oyster sample was made up of Rockefeller, Garlic & Breadcrumb and Pimento cheese – holy richness but oh-so good.   

 

The flavor of the oyster gets masked with the baked sampler so it was nice to have the raw option to counterbalance it.  After the apps it was time for a little break but the salads quickly came out.  The timing wasn’t exactly my favorite; I don’t like to feel rushed.  Our waitress even acknowledged which was nice so I just took a small bite and pushed it to the side.  She brought our next round of drinks and we then had some time to break from the food for a bit.  Our entrees were ordered in a very predictable fashion – prime rib for the men and salmon for the ladies.  Both entrees were garnished with a nice little surprise  – the prime rib was served with fried oysters and newburgh butter and the salmon with grilled shrimp and pesto.  Now, keep in mind this is an oyster bar so you can’t judge the food based on presentation.  The plates don’t follow any sort of recommended plating technique or have fancy sauces or design, maybe just a lemon or some run-off from melted butter but its ok it’s not that type of place.  The plates were piping hot (a super plus in my book!) and the waitress stood by to make sure the prime ribs were cooked to men’s liking – nice.  They were just right.  We all dug right in.  

The prime rib topped with the newburgh butter made for a rich, tender, creamy bite every time.  The salmon was baked a tad too long but the odd thing was the dish did not come out dry.  The flavorful pesto and drizzle of fresh lemon made the salmon pop in your mouth!  I washed mine down with a crisp Sauvignon Blanc which also went exceptionally well with the shrimp toppers.  That was a delicious, not-too fancy or over produced meal.  

RRW always offers desserts with their 3 course menus, not exactly what we needed, but I can’t resist.  Key Lime Pie AND Chocolate Peanut Putter Pie, yes please.   We got the Key Lime to go (which tasted really good last night!) and she brought out the peanut butter pie.  To my surprise, 42nd Street makes all their desserts in house which made me appreciate my unnecessary calorie indulge even more.  The pie was filled with a Reeses cup flavored mousse and served onto of oreo cookie crust.  This was the lightest, most airy and fluffy pie I have ever tasted and I could not stop eating.  At one point I may have moaned it was that tasty.  It’s everything you want in a dessert without the too dense, brick in your stomach feeling.  Gosh, so good. 

Needless to say, we had a great dinner.  Due to my tendency to over-eat, next time I may stick to the Oyster bar but it’s good to know that if you want a delish 3 course meal 42^nd can make that happen.  Cheers (in a cool frosty mug) to a Raleigh landmark, we will be back!