One Dolla’ Oystah’s.
I’ve got a thing for seafood. Shellfish, in particular. And it’s an all-new craving territory since a recent month spent on the coast in Senegal, eating les fruits de mers straight out of the ocean.
Among other cravings for Senegalese treats I got used to that month, oysters rose to the top of my mental favorites tab, recently becoming a craving to be reckoned with. So when a friend mentioned that her special manfriend, photographer Monte Isom’s week-long tour d’huitres was mid-motion, doing research for his iPhone app, I was on board the train to The Ten Bells on Broome Street in the Lower East Side before you could say shuck ‘em.
Comfortingly named for the pub in London where Jack the Ripper met his victims, our table up front in this garage-door-open style spot was anything but frightening. Neither was their daily $1 Oyster Happy Hour from 5-7 p.m., nor their cool, crisp Riesling.
The place is decidedly European, often described in reviews as a Parisian or Spanish throw-back, meaning I was right at home and in love there.
Ten Bells is an all-natural, organic wine bar owned by Yassine Bentaleb, a manager at Le Pere Pinard, and Fabrice Vautrin, his partner there and also an owner of Les Enfants Terribles. The spirit is casual and open, with passers-by waving hello to the patrons and staff within, wandering by on a gorgeous spring night. Pocket dogs and Lower East Siders on bikes meandered in front of us as we consumed a couple dozen of these little babies, accompanied only by slices of lemon and a tasty vinaigrette. Oh, and a couple glasses of white, did I mention the Riesling?
It was the consummate happy hour, and a perfect Thursday night warm up, if one wishes to keep riding the $1 Oyster Train.
Monte led us next to Essex, where six and a half dozen more fruits de mers were split amongst the four of us. Bellies aching and approaching a comedic record of oysters— large and small, East and West— consumed, we called it a night.
So where are the best $1 oysters in Manhattan? Guess you’ll need to tap in to find out and try for yourself.
Bon appetit!
