Detoxing a killer Greenmarket cocktail from Shojo, I headed out to find Turner Fisheries. It was still early in the day, around noon and I stumbled onto a juice place advertising “jugos” (the juice stands I love from South America, though it could also have been owned by Mexicans) near a subway near all the hotels in the Copley Square area. A little spinach, celery, apple, ginger, and lemon later and I was back o track. Pricey, but worth it, I think.
Turner is a fancy restaurant. In the spring and summer they do a happy hour, which was I first read about them online. But they don’t anymore. And they had a private thing happening at lunch. I’d maybe come back later. This did lead me to the Copley Farmers Market, however. Seriously, it’s as though I have a honing device on me that leads to the nearest farmers market in whatever city I’m in at the time. The Copley Market took all my disappointment in the Quincy Market and bottled it and threw it into compost tea for a biodynamic farm.
I bought Mutsu and Macoun and russet and spencer apples, and other varieties I’d never seen before. There were so many. And I talked pesticidal sprays with the vendors, since apples are nearly impossible to do organic in these parts. Then there was an Asian vendor doing apples and fresh veg, and I found my favourite Japanese pears. They didn’t taste like Butterscotch, like they did in Seattle, but they were good. There was a fresh pasta place that sold gluten free pasta and I said I’d try to make it back before they closed at 6 to pick some up and some homemade “red sauce.” That’s just tomato sauce in New England. Huge Italian population here.
Next stop, Marliowe happy hour with $1 oysters. Closed. Rush back to the farmers market to get the sauce. Also found a fishing co-op and bought 5 more kinds of apples.
And some purple and yellow sweet potatoes (two kinds, not striped…), and some gorgeous radishes with fresh radish greens. Pasta dish of champions.
Decided to go back to Turner for the oysters. Barnstable, RI oyster. Best of the bunch. I skipped the PEI Malpeque, though they’ve been huge and juicy and sweet this year.
The bartender at Turner told me you could still get $1 oysters on Tuesday nights at McCormick & Schmick, and it was on my way home. I did have the half lobster, steamer clams, crab claws, and 3 oysters at Turner, so I needed more seafood, clearly.It was also empty and quiet, and I wasn’t into the baseball game. Good time to leave Turner, I figured.
McCormick and Schmick’s: Much more boisterous. I met two pilots who fly for Delta Air and we talked jumbo shrimp and oysters. The poor oyster shucker had his work cut out for him, as the bar has a daily happy hour with a bunch of specials (mussels, fried things), but Tuesday is $1 oysters and $1 jumbo shrimp. The shrimp are unsustainable and in my opinion not worth $1. The oysters, however, are a different story. They’re not juicy and huge and wonderful and mind-blowing. But for $1, they’re a steal. And you can fill up for $10. They come with cocktail sauce. I’d received a mignonette at Turner too, but here they kept it simple with cocktail sauce, horseradish and lemon.
Today: Fenway, Neptune Oyster, Sakura-bana and/or Avana.
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