Oyster Food Trail Beginnings

The salt-water bivalves pictured here are from Oregon Oyster Farm – not technically a current partner of the North Coast Food Trail.  To be accurate the North Coast Food Trail is “A partnership between three regions of Oregon’s shoreline, the Food Trail brings together the best of the tasty and rugged (and tastefully rugged) food-related fun from Cannon Beach, the Tillamook Coast and Lincoln City.”

Jesse Dolin, OCVA’s Central Coast Destination Development Coordinator tells me the Central Coast Food Trail has been “under construction” and that we may see it launched as soon as May.

C’mon… Can you smell it? Can you taste it? Sometimes the photo does the experience justice. Oysters. Butter. Garlic. It’s beautiful simplicity. Although, shucking can be a little tricky; Good to take one’s time doing that part of the process.

As we begin to enter the “next normal” and considering it’s spring break (wish I was breaking) I thought I might highlight the Oregon Food Trail concept. It helps to have the websites and the social medias to explore options, ponder interesting excursions and culinary personalities.

Recently, we blazed a very short trail not too far from our home near Oregon Oyster Farms. It had been awhile since we grilled oysters and finished them on the half shell with garlic butter.

DAMN! It was sooooooo good. It provided a #pnwoderland moment that was compounded by the fact that I had not realized how much I needed it! So satisfying.

Looking forward to trying new oyster species. A lifetime, really, I have eaten Yaquina Bay’s provisions. Time to experiment. Gonna blaze a new food trail. So, what will a Netart’s Bay oyster taste like? Curious and excited. Have grill. Will travel.

A bonus was having Reed add oysters to his grilling (and now shucking) repertoire. The grilling operation was also an interesting point of focus for our outside gathering. I loved it so. It reminds of parties many years ago where designated bodies crank out grilled oysters on the half shell – afternoon sliding into night.

The whole experience got me pumped for the next round. So, I tapped the Northwest Food Trail for possible seafood providers for our next grilling session.  Possible option… “JAndy Oyster Company has been growing oysters since 2012. The beach-grown oysters are raised in beautiful Netarts Bay, Oregon, and picked by hand.” I found Jandy on this handy dandy PDF brochure located on the Visit the Oregon Coast website.

Reed and Grandpa. They work well as a team. My group’s newbies to the grill/half-shell concept thought it rather time consuming and labor oriented. I can’t imagine it any other way. The one Aussie in the group was our biggest supporter.

I have heard rumors of an oysters farm/dock in South Beach Newport. But, not a lot of details. Keep you posted!

Oregon Coast Visitors Association: The North Coast Food Trail is a collaborative effort to connect people to the bounty available on Oregon’s North Coast. Supporting local food is a way to support our communities and the producers and crafters who work hard to grow and use our local ingredients.

Travel Oregon: The Oregon Food Trails program aims to cultivate innovative partnerships between culinary and agricultural businesses, strengthen local food economies and create unique experiences for visitors and locals alike.