Eating Our Way Through The North Fork - Little Creek Oyster Farm

After a relaxing afternoon visiting farms and vineyards, we decided to get find some fresh seafood for an early supper.

Thanks to my mother's Yelp! phone app, my family found a novel experiential snack in Little Creek Oyster Farm down by the port area of Greenport.

You can almost miss this place, because it's located in the back and only has the "Bait Tackle" sign. This place was actually the restaurant/retail store outpost of the Peconic Bay sustainable oyster farm.

The kitschy place is really tiny inside, but they do have several outdoor picnic tables for seating as well. The menu is even more sparse with only oysters and clams along with a variety of drinks, including a bloody mary made with beer and topped with a raw oyster ($10).

The novelty comes in when you see the menu. You can order some raw oysters that are already shucked for you (as you would in a regular restaurant) for $30 a dozen. But you can save a lot of money (almost 50%) if you opt to shuck the oysters yourselves ($16 a dozen).

Now, shucking oysters isn't for the dainty princesses of the world. But my family loves getting our hands dirty and having experiences. Plus, it's hard for my father to pass up a big deal like 50% off.

So we ordered two dozen DIY oysters ($30). Soon, we were brought a bucket of 24 raw oysters on ice and knives, along with some gloves.

They taught us how to hold the oysters (flat side up with the nob pointing to 3 o'clock).  It took a few tries, but my parents and aunt got the hang of it eventually.

It also helped using the wooden oyster holder that allowed us to push the knife in with force without fear of missing the oyster and stabbing your gloved hand.

It was all pretty safe, but since I wasn't allowed to play with the knifes, they gave me a wooden stick and small shell to practice on.

After we shucked our two dozen oysters ourselves, we showcased them proudly on the tray.

We even had one oyster with a "good luck" oyster pea crab that my aunt found as she shucked her oyster. While it didn't look particularly appetizing, my father decided he would eat it and take the good luck!

According to my father, it had a crunch and a liquid burst with little "meat" to chew on. The texture was more the dominant sensation than the flavor which has been described as "sweeter than most shrimp, with grassy, mineral notes and a little bit of sea salt." Apparently a delicacy among certain circles, my father didn't mind either way.