The master oyster shucker

[TAPrice]

Personally, I only eat raw oysters when Casamento's is open. I know that these days they're safe year round, but it's a taste thing.

So I've been gorging on oysters recently (and having to sneak around to do it--my wife is pregnant and she doesn't want to see others enjoying what she can't have). I'm beginning to wonder if the master oyster shucker is really part of an exclusive club.

How many good shuckers are there around town? A small cadre seems to rotate through a small number of places. Anybody know the scoop?

And who are your favorite shuckers?

[TAPrice]

Over on the Gourmet's blog, Francis Lam watches shucker Chris Armstrong work at Grande Isle:

Chris Armstrong is a man proud of his work.  "They don't come much better than me," he said when I was bellied up to his bar, at the Grand Isle restaurant in New Orleans.

....

Every few minutes he swung his arms like a swimmer practicing his butterfly stroke, as if his bright white coat was too tight for his massive fullback's frame, and got back to working his pile.  "I've been doing this for 13 years," he said.  "I'm a master shucker.  I don't consider what I do work.  What I do is art."

[HungryC]

I don't know his name, but he's been shucking oysters at the Fairgrounds oyster bar (outside, alongside the paddock) since the new building opened some years back. I like the guy b/c he accomodates my pleadings for "small ones" and always throws in a few extra because he feels as though I should get extra since they're so small! The paddock oyster bar is my absolute favorite place to eat oysters in the city, on a nice day.