I had my first raw oyster some twenty years ago on a road trip to Boston with some girlfriends.  And so the love affair began.  In my early twenties, we made many road trips to Boston annually, and it still remains one of my favorite places to visit.  Guys with a Boston accent certainly don’t hurt!

We always stopped at Union Oyster House, a place frequented by John F. Kennedy, and would sit at the raw bar, eating oyster after oyster until we could barely move.  The restaurant itself is a little pricey, but between either focusing on just lunch or the raw bar, we saved money and still had a feast.  Such good memories.

These days, friends who like raw oysters are few and far between.  The Ex likes them, but, well, we’re not really sharing a platter of raw oysters these days.  On Sunday afternoon, one of my friends wanted to hit the casinos to get her fix.  I don’t gamble at all, and neither does my friend Beth, so we took that opportunity to kill some time wandering around the shops and restaurants at Mohegan Sun.

After poking around all the stores (which consisted mostly of overpriced things that we didn’t need), we set off to find a spot to sit and relax and have a Diet Coke.  It’s all about the simple things, and doesn’t take much to keep us happy.  As we were walking past a few restaurants, I spotted the sign below, with all the raw oysters available, and we ducked in there for a drink.  Unfortunately as soon as we smelled all the fresh seafood and saw the raw bar, it was all over for us.

I just noticed Oyster Shooters on the chalkboard above – darn it, I missed out!

I didn’t make the connection who Jasper White was at first, until I saw one of his cookbooks for sale in the display case.  He of 50 Chowders fame, which, of course, I have at home and am now totally inspired to start cooking from again.  On reward meal day though, since chowder isn’t exactly “clean eating.”

We adored the decorating inside the restaurant, which aimed to replicate a seafood shack down the Jersey shore.  Speaking as one who spent many summers down the shore growing up (and now), they did a fantastic job.  Their slogan is Food is Love, which was perfect, completely summing how I feel about food, cooking, and breaking bread with family and friends.  I took the picture below, and plan on enlarging it and hanging it in the kitchen.  Nick was less than impressed with the slogan.  I got him a t-shirt from the restaurant store, and the response was “Food is Love?  I can’t wear this!  Why did you buy this for me?”  Typical boy.  I thought it was more appropriate than the “eat oysters, get lucky” t-shirt, no?

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