Well hello friends! Suddenly it’s Tuesday. How the hell did that happen? Hmm…. no idea. This past weekend was surprisingly uneventful in my culinary life. The reason? Dead broke. Even the clever starving artist has to step back and let life catch up every now and then. And I’m ok with that. Been wrapping up some smaller music projects and catching up on other business so that I can continue bringing you all sorts of food, love, and sass. The good part about having an uneventful weekend is that I can now catch up on telling you about some of the other places I’ve visited this month that have yet to make it to my blog. Hooray!
Several weeks back, when my bank account had more than two digits before the decimal point, I had the occasion to visit the L&E Oyster Bar, a fairly new and totally hoppin’ spot in Silver Lake. Now I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I am a New Englander, born and raised in the suburbs of Boston – there is no fooling me when it comes to seafood. As excited as I was to visit a serious oyster house, I was definitely scared for my wallet. Nothing can devour cash like seafood, particularly fresh oysters. Honestly I can’t even remember when I was last in an oyster bar…. a past life? Never? For the starving artist, “seafood” usually means at the very best fish and chips, or perhaps some seared Ahi tuna at Tender Greens. Never oysters. But come on, life is short. It doesn’t take much convincing to get me to drop some money on seriously good seafood.
The restaurant is small and very loud, but totally bursting with character. Friendly staff, happy clientele, huge wine selection; the kind of place that makes you feel really cool and important. Look at me, eating oysters in Silver Lake – I’m so in the know. I’m going to wear my oversized sunglasses and feign indifference. As much as I was ready to drop some cash, I couldn’t drop THAT much, but I still wanted to try a couple of things. So, I split the Daily Dozen with my friend Christina, which gives you the chef’s selection of 4 different kinds of oysters at a more than reasonable price (even more so when you split it). You can imagine my shock to see oysters on the menu from Duxbury, Massachusetts, the town where I took my first piano lessons in eighth grade… who are you, L&E Oyster Bar? Seriously… Of course they were totally fresh, totally amazing, totally worth the price… but lets’ face it, 6 raw oysters does not a meal make (at least not for me). So I went for the clam chowder. Let me tell you, nothing takes me home like good clam chowder. Total weakness. If you nail this, you’ve won me over for life. When I found out theirs was house made with fresh clams, I didn’t even hesitate. And good thing because it was seriously the best chowder I’ve had on west coast. Clams still in their shells, deep, flavorful broth full of bacon… took me home. Bravo. In addition to my chowder and oysters I got a few bites of the Lobster Spaetzle and Cheese – basically a super high class over-the-top lobster mac and cheese. Utterly ridiculous. Eff you guys.
My verdict? Love. Definitely gets my “payday” label – come here on payday when you’ve got some cash to burn. Or have your sugar daddy take you – whatever works. But you know, even if you don’t have a payday or a sugar daddy, you can always pull a starving artist and share (or flirt with men at the bar… but I do that anyway…). So jump in, have a glass of wine, make some friends, suck down some oysters – you will not be unhappy with L&E.
L&E Oyster Bar
1637 Silverlake Blvd.
Los Angeles 90026
www.leoysterbar.com