By Nada Khalaf-Jones
Walk into Keys Fisheries, Square Grouper, Schooner Wharf or Half Shell Raw Bar, and the oysters are always expertly shucked and presented over ice. But are they local? Wait. Do we grow oysters? In the Florida Keys? No, but they do in the Everglades. Really? What about cold water only and only in months with an R?
Here’s where things get interesting — and tasty.
The first-ever Key West Oyster Fest takes place Saturday, Nov. 14 at Key West’s Historic Seaport, presented by the Half Shell Raw Bar in partnership with Everglades Oyster Co. Both companies are changing the game — and the rules — when it comes to growing oysters and recycling the shells.
For people who know oysters only as something to slurp from the half shell, there is another story here.
That story belongs to the people growing oysters, the restaurants that buy them and the work of finding somewhere useful for the shells to go. On Nov. 14, Key West’s Oyster Fest brings those parts together on the waterfront outside Half Shell, where culinary students from Key West High School will work alongside professional chefs and shuckers, gaining hands-on experience in sustainable cooking. Drinks will come in cups made with calcium carbonate from oyster shells.
The Half Shell Raw Bar currently recycles about 1,500 pounds of oyster shells each week — 17.5 tons since March — and efforts are underway to develop a larger recycling program involving restaurants throughout Key West and Monroe County.
Enter Fabio Galarce, co-founder of Everglades Oyster Company. He’d been working on an oyster-bar idea in Miami and asked a chef for the distributor’s price sheet. It offered oysters from various locations, but nothing from Florida or the South.
But Florida had oyster farmers. Why couldn’t he buy their oysters? Galarce wondered.
The bar never happened, but Galarce and his partner Joshua Wilkie went on to build Everglades Oyster, which has a farm in the Ten Thousand Islands, a wholesale operation and a nonprofit arm called Gulf Oyster Movement, which works on shell recycling and reef restoration.
In Key West, Bobby Kuchinsky, general manager of the Half Shell Raw Bar, wanted to help. Galarce recalls Kuchinsky asking what it would take to get Florida oysters down to Key West. By Galarce’s account, Half Shell’s commitment helped make that delivery route possible. Kuchinsky then sent him to other restaurants down the street.
“He was the first guy in Key West,” Galarce said.
Half Shell now has its own branded oyster, grown by Everglades Oyster Co. Kuchinsky, who goes by Bobby K, wanted to bring Florida’s oyster fishery to Key West and share it with the world. He also wanted to bring the company’s Miami oyster-festival idea to the Keys to highlight local growers, sustainable seafood and shell recycling.
“I called Fabio and said, ‘Let’s do this in Key West,’” Kuchinsky said. “‘We’re already recycling oysters, why don’t we do this?’”
This weekend, it’s all coming together for the first time.
“Oysters have always been part of the culture at Half Shell, but we want people to understand that the shell still has value after the oyster is gone,” Kuchinsky said. “The oyster fest gives us an opportunity to celebrate the farmers, chefs and restaurants behind them while showing what can happen when thousands of shells are kept out of the waste stream and put back to work.”
That last part matters. Getting an oyster to a restaurant is one journey. Getting its shell somewhere better than a landfill is another. Everglades Oyster picks up shells when it drops off deliveries, Galarce said. Half Shell is its biggest shell account.
The collected shells first go to Everglades City to cure, and finding a site in the Keys large enough to cure tons of used oyster shells remains a problem.
Kuchinsky needs land in the Keys where recycled oyster shells can sit out, dry and cure before they are used again. His curing-site proposal calls for a dedicated concrete pad with drainage, sunlight and air circulation. Shell batches would be kept separate and dated until they are ready for approved reuse.
The festival on Saturday is another way to bring people into that work and support sustainable food practices. Every shell used at Key West Oyster Fest will be collected for recycling, while participating restaurants will serve local oysters raw and cooked.
Key West’s first Oyster Fest is slated for 6 to 10 p.m. with VIP entry at 5 p.m. VIP admission includes a 5 to 6 p.m. meet-and-greet with chef Norman Van Aken, ambassador of Oyster Fest.
The weekend also includes a welcome party and Van Aken meet-and-greet at the Marker Resort on Friday, Nov. 13 from 3 to 6 p.m. A Green Parrot after-party starts at 10 p.m. Saturday and Half Shell’s Sunday, Nov. 15 brunch runs from 9 a.m. to noon and features the inaugural Key West & Monroe County Culinary Legacy Award.
The festival also will welcome back to the island chef Konrad Jochum, who will spend time at Half Shell’s oyster station.
The festival also announces painted oyster-shell art, Reef Relief education, an Oyster Restoration Wall and chef, shucker demonstrations and sustainable products made with calcium carbonate from oyster shells.
Participants in the festival are hoping it will spawn deeper interest in oysters and oyster farming and shell recycling.
Oyster options for the festival
A&B Lobster House — Oysters with crème fraîche and amber osetra caviar; chilled Maine lobster salad on rye crostini.
Alonzo’s Oyster Bar — Asian oysters with sweet soy, ginger and wasabi aioli; mini fried-oyster po’boys.
Cayo Provisions — Raw oysters with a splash of can sumoi muntanya sparkling wine.
Conch Republic Seafood Co. — Raw oysters with mango coulis and jerk-spiced pickled shallots; grilled oysters with crab bienville.
The Docks and Fishwife — Cold key lime Italian ice with a mint oyster topping; lobster rangoons (the Docks); local ceviche (Fishwife).
Florida Man BBQ — Grapefruit “lil juicy fruit” mignonette; alligator sausage topping; pulled pork sliders; lil brisket sando.
Papa Joe’s Waterfront — Lychee mignonette oyster; piña colada leche de tigre oyster; smoked wahoo spread on a prawn cracker.
Square Grouper — Modelo Negra Michelada oyster; shiso Rockefeller oyster.
Schooner Wharf — Baked Creole oyster; raw Tango Mango oyster; sushi-grade tuna nacho.
Half Shell Raw Bar — the Raw Bar oyster with cocktail sauce, horseradish and mignonette; black beans and rice.
Hogfish — Fried oyster sliders with Cajun remoulade.
Roostica — Char-broiled oyster Rockefeller on the Green Egg.
Salt + Ash — Raw oysters with Asian pear mignonette; cooked oysters with Spanish chorizo lime butter; coconut tuna ceviche.
Four Marlins: Menu to be announced.
Café Marquesa: Menu to be announced.
Participating oyster farms: Everglades Oyster, Indian River Oyster Co., Cypress Point Oysters and Pelican Oyster Co.
