Seattle comes out of its shell at Shuckers’ completely satisfied hour.
The one factor frozen at Shuckers’ completely satisfied hour on a current Tuesday afternoon was the ice underneath my Wildcat Cove oysters. The shellfish-centric bar within the basement of the Fairmont Olympic Lodge manages to embody lots of Seattle’s greatest stereotypes whereas rejecting considered one of its worst—frosty social expertise.
The large wooden bar and chalkboards of contemporary fish mortgage a real seafood atmosphere to the room, however it’s the oyster experience from the workers that assures me I’m in the precise place. Shuckers does what its title implies in addition to anyplace on the town. The sharpness of the golden mignonette and contemporary grated horseradish woke my sleeping oysters from their shells. After I slurped the plump, silky bivalves, they slid out on a river of crisp brine.
On the restricted, truly-only-an-hour completely satisfied hour, the oysters price $2 every, about the identical as anyplace else, with the bonus of being consumed on this beautiful house. The carved oak alcoves, upholstered banquettes, and shimmering chandeliers elegantly nod to the previous haberdashery’s historical past.
Shuckers serves oysters precisely as they’re meant to be eaten.
Lodge bars have a tendency to assemble an oddball mixture of enterprise vacationers and wide-eyed vacationers, however I discovered myself chatting with not solely fellow Seattleites, however ones who really lived downtown. The bartender, Brent, embodied the archetype of the job, guaranteeing that drinks and dialog flowed all through the bar. It felt just like the day-to-day banter of a dive bar, relatively than the stilted informality of a lodge bar.
Shuckers isn’t good—and the non-happy-hour costs make {that a} powerful clam to chew. The $39 price ticket on my Crab Louie salad felt affordable after I noticed that it seemingly included the meat from a whole Dungeness. A lot much less so upon inspecting the insipid greens and overcooked egg.
However for completely satisfied hour oysters, it’s a basic of the very best order: subtle, unstuffy, and alive.
