When you think fresh seafood, Denver doesn't come right to mind.
But there's a place in town that serves seafood that's as fresh as just a few hours out of the water -- Blue Island Oyster Bar.
“I’m from Boston, south of Boston,” said Sean Huggard, owner of Blue Island Oyster. “Grew up there my whole life, grew up eating seafood, oysters the whole nine yards.
Huggard did more than just eat his way to becoming an expert, his career as a chef started on Nantucket, an island off of Massachusetts.
“It’s a magic land of seafood,” Huggard said. “Guys coming right off of the boat, fresh seafood, it was amazing.”
But when he came out to Denver, he wanted to make sure the fish here was just as fresh.
“We're flying stuff in every single day -- clams, fish, oysters.”
Not only that, he has a hand in raising the oysters himself.
“We have our own oyster farm, we have our own oyster hatchery,” Huggard said.
Look on the wall for the orange pin, you can literally see where the oysters just came from on Long Island.
“Spat is like baby, baby oysters, the size of sand in your hand,” Huggard said. That grows out to seed like you're growing a flower. You plant that seed in our farm on Long Island and then we grow that into an oyster. Then we put it on an airplane and ship it to Denver to eat.”
It arrives in Denver in just hours.
As expected, the food is phenomenal and classic New England -- lobster rolls, clam chowder and clam fritters.
“The fritter is a fancy word,” Huggard said. “Let's call it what it is, it's a clam donut.”
Blue Island Oyster Bar is also a place to learn about the food you're eating.
“We really teach you about oysters, from the basics of how many different species we eat to how to shuck the oyster,” Huggard said.
In fact, they have Chef and Shucker classes twice a month.
“We kind of eat and drink a lot through the whole event,” he said.
>> Blue Island Oyster will be at the Cherry Creek North Food and Wine Festival Saturday, Aug. 17th.
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