Oyster Guy

Yes, Oyster Bob is still turning the knife at Joe Forte's. I had the pleasure of seeing him at 2 competitions this summer. The Canadian National's and The World's Invitational in Charlottetown, P.E.I. There is only one oyster festival in Vancouver and that is the BC Oyster and Wine Festival held in January. Kind of a shame but what can u do? Keep on shucking Oyster Guy

Whe I am in the weeds, I like the Ramones or Iggy Pop. I shuck oysters at an incredible rate to "Rockaway Beach." Keep on shucking Oyster GuY

Money isn't the only issue but it is certainly a big one. Appreciation (or the lack thereof) is a major one as well. If you treat people like shit and pay them like shit, they are going to act like a shit. You can only go so far with a good work ethic when the owner is being an asshole to you and paying you squat. Keep on shucking Oyster Guy

We are all in agreement. There is a distinct lack of skilled chefs in, not only Vancouver, but all across the country. All I was saying is that these schools contribute to being part of the problem rather than to part of the solution. A cook taught in a restaurant setting will not be able to mess up your guest's food if he/she is working with someone professional enough to teach them and watch what they are doing. I have been in this position for the last 10 years. I always get the new people and it is up to me to teach them the ropes and evaluate their skills, both learned and potential. Do you hire people who have gone to bartending school with no real work experience to work your bar? All I am saying is that you are either part of the problem or part of the solution or just part of the landscape. I like to be part of the solution. Keep on shucking Oyster Guy

This is nothing but a total marketing ploy by the VCC. While here in Charlottetown, I have seen the same thing by culinary colleges here. They charge an arm and a leg to attend and the students coming out of them have only the basic skills and an arrogant attitude. They have little or no respect for their fellow cooks or their hydro-ceramic engineers (dishwashers) and think that they are the next Rob Feenie. They think that coming out of the schools that they should have no position lower than sous chef or executive chef and they are not taught people skills. Personally, I think they are the biggest waste of money and do more to add to the chef shortage by instilling unreal salary expectations and saddling the students with a 25,000 dollar debt load. They get their first job which usually pays jack shit and they find that the work is much more stressful than in the controlled environment of the school and quit. IMHO, they should make everyone work their first 2 weeks in the dishpit so they have a little respect and humility and a reality check as to what the business is really like. Keep on shucking Oyster Guy

Hardly seems fair to accuse Don of shilling without mentioning the many others (particularly on this website) that have made shilling almost an everyday occurence. My God, man all you have to look at is about 70% of the threads in this forum to find someone either shilling their restaurant, new magazine, etc. I don't wish to point out individual examples but we all know who they are. As for Van Mag, I find their awards a joke and based more on who takes out ads in their rag than on any actual culinary merit. Look at the winners from years past and then look at who took ad space out and it's not that hard to figure out. If you're going to beat up on Don, who is a nice guy, beat up on the rest of the people doing it as well. Fair is fair, after all. Keep on shucking Oyster Guy

Great article, Ivy. It was a pleasure to meet you in PEI and a fun tour of the Colville Bay Oyster Company with you. Looking forward to your article on that trip. All the best Keep on shucking Oyster Guy

I have an oyster with an oyster knife stuck into it. Keep on shucking Oyster Guy

Whistler is very green as well but when your salary is below poverty level (as it is in Vancouver as well, hence the shortage of cooks), this doesn't mean a single thing. I don't mean any slight but you can starve in a beautiful, livable city just as well as in an ugly one. Keep on shucking Oyster Guy P.S. I agree with stovetop. If you want the bucks, go to Calgary. It might not be as pretty but with the money you earn, you can spend as much time as you want in BC or anywhere else you choose to visit.

My understanding is that GFS has owned a chunk of Albion for a while and recently took complete ownership. ← GFS had formed a partnership with Albion, as much as they have a partnership with Intercity packers, Hills foods ect. ← Then God help us all.

If you are planning to move in January, forget about Whistler. If you don't have a place to live by the end of October, your chances of finding one are next to impossible unless you want to live in staff housing. And believe me, you don't want that. Jobs are plentiful but living space is not. I have lived in Whistler for ten years and they still have not done anything about the housing problem. Best of luck! Keep on shucking Oyster Guy P.S. The wages are in line with what is being offered in Vancouver but the housing prices are out of control. Most places offer about 12-13 an hour to start but your food prices in the grocery store is about 20% higher than in Sqaumish. This is where you will probably have to live if you come in January. The rent is cheaper but the money you spend on gas will more than make up the difference. Not trying to burst your bubble but I won't lie to you about the way it is.

I totally agree with you on all your points, Steve. You have almost nothing but multinationals running our seafood industry. Companies like Albion actually contribute to the problem by paying so little to the fishermen that they would prefer to sell their catch overseas or at least out of this province. I know plenty of oyster farmers who don't sell their product in BC but ship to Calgary and Toronto as this is where people are willing to pay a fair price for the product. The consumer isn't without blame in this situation either. People in BC would rather pay a lower price and put up with second rate product than spend a couple of bucks and support local fisherpersons and get first rate product. If you don't believe me, look at all the threads relating to cheap places to eat in this forum. I am all for looking for deals but sometimes it is definitely better to pay the higher price for better quality. And I am for keeping the profits in the small guy's hands. Just my 2 cents Keep on shucking Oyster Guy

I feel that to remain true to the interview process and journalistic integrity that censorship is not the way to go. If in this day and age of massive media exposure that the reader is not aware of how chefs really talk, they are showing an amazing amount of naievity. However, in the interest of not losing loyal (and overly sensitive readers), the idea of a brief warning makes sense from the point of view of the publisher. But never censorship. I mean, you gotta be f------ kidding! Keep on shucking Oyster Guy P.S. I have never had a chef that didn't use the F word

Well, I have to recomend a couple of places for fun eating. 1. Oyster Boy at 872 Queen Street West, the home of the 2006 Canadian Oyster Shucking Champion, Jason Woodside. It has a great atmosphere, small but good wine list and some fantastic oysters to boot. 2. Starfish Oyster Bar and Grill at 100 Adelaide Street East, the home of a former World Oyster Shucking Champion, Patrick Macmurray. The menu is quite interesting and their chef Martha is incredibly talented. Go on in and say hi to Pat, Bruce and Lawrence and they will show you a great time. Lots of interesting beers on tap and a very knowledgable staff. 3. Rodney's Oyster House at 469 King Street West. The place is famous for fun and very little else has to be said. All in all, when I am looking for fun in T.O., this is where I go. Keep on shucking Oyster Guy

Sometimes, it is better to go balls to the wall and take the penalties especially when you are up against guys (or girls) who can really shuck. Sometimes it is the person who takes a little longer and shucks a clean plate. It really depends on your competition and how strong they are that is the deciding factor. The PEI Shellfish Festival is something you should attend if you can swing it. Aside from the fun and the food, it will also be the sight of the World's Invitational Oyster Shucking Championship. Shuckers from Canada, France, Norway, Sweden and the United States will be attending and competing. It is also the home of the party of the year for PEI, The Shucker's Ball! It is held in a secret location with cabins available to those attending so that they don't have to drive anywhere. (A good idea and safe) The tickets are t-shirts with the directions to the party printed upside down on the front of the shirt so that only the wearer will know how to get there. If you are interested in attending Johnny, pm me. You seem like a true friend of the oyster(judging from these and other posts I have seen of yours) and that puts you in good stead with us. Keep on shucking Oyster Guy

My head is hurting and my brain is fuzzy but I feel compelled to tell you the results. The new Canadian Oyster Shucking Champion is...................drumroll please........ Jason Woodside of Oyster Boy in Toronto! Using a contraversial and unorthodox move (now known and forever as "The Woody"), he turned in a flat time of 1 minute, 23 seconds for 18 oysters! The times recorded for this event were the fastest on record and the competition, though friendly was extremely fierce. I met Jason at the airport when he arrived yesterday and we drove to Tyne Valley and on the way, he confided in me that he had come up with an idea on how to reduce his time but he was worried that it wouldn't be legal. After some prodding, he told me what he had in mind and it was sheer and utter brilliance but I told him that a lot of people were going to pissed about it. Upon arrival at the event, I got a copy of the official rules and after scanning them thoroughly, I could not find anything that would prevent him from using this technique in competition and I told him to go for it. When his turn came up, he placed all 18 of his oysters on the presentation tray instead of on the table and he first removed all the top shells and then spinning the tray on the table, he severed all the adductor muscles while cleaning any shell or grit from the oysters. There was immediate and loud protests from a lot of the shuckers to the judges as I sat there and chuckled to myself while they looked at the rules and came to the same conclusion that I did. It was a perfectly legal move. What he did by using this move was to eliminate the need to move the oyster from the table to the presentation tray and saved a least 1 second on each of his oysters. He also managed to phsyce out his competition! When a couple of the shuckers moaned to me in private about this, I told them quite simply, "Suck it up, buttercup!" Second place was taken by Eamon Clark of Rodney's Oyster House in Toronto while wearing a camo t-shirt reading "Shuck and awe." Third place was taken by Rodney Clark (my old and dear friend and mentor and also Eamon's father). Rodney had the least penalty time with a mere 6 seconds which meant all but 2 of his oysters were perfectly shucked. It was also a heartwarming sight to see father and son on stage together. Your humble narrator placed 10th overall out of a field of 27 with a flat time of 1 minute, 47 seconds and 2 minutes, 20 seconds adjusted time. I will be posting the pictures when I get to a computer that I can upload them on. All in all, a great event and afterwards we all gathered at Patrick Macmurray rented cottage and hoisted more than a few cold ones while a couple of shuckers broke out their guitars and we all sang along till the sun started to make it's appearance. The thing about oyster shuckers is that we are a very socially diverse group of people that get along very well together. (With the help of a little social lubrication, of course) More details when I post the photos. Kent, in answer to your question. Yes some species are more difficult than others to open. I find the European Flat or Plate oyster (Ostrea edulis) difficult to open due to it's small and narrow hinge and incredibly strong adductor muscle. The Olympia oyster (Ostrea lurida) is difficult due to it's small size as it doesn't get much bigger than an inch (2.5 cm) in diameter. The Kumomoto (Crassostrea sikamea) is one of my favourites to open despite it's smaller size because of it's thicker shell. The Pacific or Japanese oyster (Crassostrea gigas) and the American or Eastern oyster (Crasostrea virginica) are the easiest due to their shape and size and the fact that these are usually the most available oysters in most oyster bars in North America. Got to get some sleep before my shift tonight. Keep on shucking Oyster Guy

Nothing but a baking sheet. I always lay a bar towel down so that they remain upright.

You start by getting a box of 20 Malpeque small choice oysters that have been hand picked by the judging commitee. Of the 20, you are to open and present 18 on a tray for judging by the panel of judges. The 2 extra oysters are known as "discards". They are in case of getting a bad oyster or having the shell break on you. If you present 17 or 19 oysters, you are automatically disqualified. You would not believe how many people this happens to. If you take longer than 5 minutes to open 18 oysters, you are automatically disqualified. But at this level, you rarely see novices in this competition. The criteria is that the oysters have to be ready for consumption. This means no cut stomachs, gills, bits of shell or grit in the shell. The oyster meat has to be completely severed from the bottom shell. Failure to do the above will add 3 seconds for every oyster not perfectly shucked. They add the penalties onto what is known as your "flat'" or "straight" time. (This is the amount of time it takes you to open the 18 oysters) Human blood in the oyster is a big no-no and will net you a penalty of 30 seconds for every oyster found to have a drop in it. If, while placing the oyster on the presenting tray, it happens to slip off the shell, you be penalized 25 seconds for each oyster not perfectly nestled in it's shell. If you break or crack the bottom shell, they add 10 seconds for each oyster. You have to raise your hands over your shoulders to start and once you have finished shucking and indicated to your timing judge you are done, you cannot even touch the tray of oysters as you will be disqualified. All in all, a very tough competition. I will be taking pictures of the competition and the finished plates for everyone as well as the party that always follows this event. Well, got to go and sharpen my knives. Keep on shucking Oyster Guy P.S. Thanx for the good luck wishes. It really comes down to skill but luck does have a rather significant influence.

Well, the big day is fast arriving. On Friday August 4th in the small town of Tyne Valley, PEI, the best and the fastest oyster shuckers from across the country will be gathering. The reason.... The Canadian National Oyster Shucking Championships. This is the show, people. The major league for oyster shuckers. This decides who will represent our great nation at the World's Oyster Opening Championship in Galway, Ireland in September. This also entitles the winner to what is most important to an oyster shucker's heart........the bragging rights of being the fastest and cleanest oyster shucker in the country. I have been working since early July with John Bil (3 time Cdn Champ) at his new digs, The Claddagh Oyster House in Charlottetown. The list of this year's competitors reads like a who's who of oyster experts in Canada. We have coming from the West Coast, Robert "Oyster Bob" Skinner of Joe Forte's in Vancouver. Myself, I am representing both the Bearfoot Bistro in Whistler and The Claddagh Oyster House in Charlottetown. (As ZZ top said, I'm bad, I'm nationwide) From Calgary, we have the fast and slick Eric G (fomerly of Catch) From Toronto, there will be Patrick MacMurray (5 time Cdn Champ and World Champion in 2001) who is the owner/operator of Starfish Oyster Bar and Grill. Jason Woodside (2004 Cdn Champion) of Oyster Boy. And quite a few others whom I will posting when the results are final. This is serious stuff for us oystermen and women and although some people think it's a joke, you try to open 18 oysters in 1 minute, 31 seconds and see how you fare. Unfortunately, Rodney's in Vancouver is not sending a rep this year but in a way it's not entirely a bad thing. The attitude of these guys is really tiring after the first 5 seconds anyways. Stay tuned for the results............... Keep on shucking Oyster Guy

There are a number of companies in BC offering shellfish farm tours. Clearwater marine tours out of Campbell River of Vancouver Island runs a couple of them but for the most part many shellfish farmers are more than happy to give you a tour if you ask nice. I personally find them much less snobby than vineyard tours as the fishermen and women tend to be salts of the earth. If you are interested try www.clearwatermarinetours.com or just go out to your local oyster farmer and ask. I find a cold six pack of beer often helps with the persuasion. Keep on shucking Oyster Guy

I would say the docks of Steveston are your best bet. Also it is better to put the money in the hands of the people fishing it rather than a middleman. I find the Lobster Man charges way too much for the product that he carries. I understand about the high rents but I really think that he takes it a bit far. You can also visit Albion Fisheries on Great Northern Way as they have a wholesale office and due to the volume they deal in, the product is going to be fresher. Keep on shucking Oyster Guy

The Effinghams are blessed due to their location. As they are grown on the West Coast of Vancouver Island as opposed to the East, they are usually unaffected by any closures due to PSP (paralytic shellfish poisoning) Before I left BC, I was serving Malpeques from PEI, Skookums and Totten Inlets from South Totten Inlet in Puget Sound. The closures won't last forever and you should still be able to buy some nice locally grown Gallos. I am surprised that Joe's is carrying Kumomotos though. They are not usually that good or even available during the summer months. I am going to start posting a thread in the Eastern Canada forum about my adventures this summer in Prince Edward Island where I am working at the Claddagh Oyster House in Charlottetown. www.claddaghoysterhouse.com I will be writing about the culinary choices here and of course, the various oyster and shellfish farms I will be visiting during my working holiday. A good summer to everyone and stay tuned. Keep on Shucking Oyster Guy

Farmed salmon is neither safe or sustainable in any way. It doesn't matter if it is ocean-pen raised or raised inland. People are sheep when it comes to telling them that the food is organically grown. As P.T. Barnum said, "There's a sucker born every minute." And to believe that this abomination is either safe or sustainable, you have to be blind and stupid. So much for C being a responsible advocate of sustainable seafood using this farmed "frankenfood."

He has already filmed a episode where he tries to become a champion oyster shucker in a week. (Yeah, good luck on that, pal!) He made a complete mockery of the whole event which, we as professionals take very seriously. The man is an ass and the only thing I find funny about this jerk is the fact that he is on tv at all. ( I mean, aside from being the poster child for Planned Parenthood) I have met him twice in person and I come away from each time hating him more than I did before. And what is with the hair? I wish the Food Network would pull the plug on him in more ways than one.

No, the Olympia (Ostrea lurida) is not common at all in Vancouver. I can only get a limited supply every year as it is a very popular oyster south of the border in Washington State. And rightfully so. The Olympia oyster, for it's size, packs a whallop in the taste department. It has a surprisingly crunchy texture with a slight metallic edge and a finish like Portabello mushroom. If you get the chance to try this oyster, Canucklehead, definitely do so. Due to modern refrigeration and deep water growing techniques you can enjoy oysters all year round. The only real exception is the European Flat or Plate oyster (also known as the Belon) which is only good till May. This is the oyster the whole "month with an R in it" saying was written about in the first place. The Euro Flat (Ostrea edulis) has the unique ability to change sex up to 4 times in a regular breeding season and unfortunately this talent does not lend anything to the taste and texture of this oyster during this period. (May-late September) I would be going after some Malpeques right now as they just started shipping the freshly fished ones last week. The East Coast varieties are very good during the summer months as well as certain cold water conditioned West Coast varieties. Don't wait for the cold weather, Canucklehead. Enjoy an oyster today. Keep on shucking Oyster Guy