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The oyster obsessives at Island Creek Oysters are adding an indoor raw bar to their sprawling farm operation on the South Shore.
There’s been an outdoor raw bar available for years at the farm — which is located at 403 Washington Street, in Duxbury — but this will be the first time that customers have access to a year-round raw bar on site. The bar, which opens on Friday, January 27, is stocked with Island Creek’s own oysters as well as Aunt Dotty oysters from nearby Saquish, plus other comforting seafood dishes including clam chowder, ceviche, and a seafood cocktail with oysters, shrimp, salmon, and clams. The warmly lit, wood-paneled space is dotted with couches and cushions to lounge on while looking out across Duxbury Bay.
“Our farmers are out on the water 12 months out of the year,” Jess Cagle, the farm’s director of on-site hospitality and retail, said in a statement on the news. “Getting a perspective for how things operate in the winter months will give guests a better understanding of how our oysters make it to their table.”
Cold-weather customers will also be able to check out the farm’s winter caviar and hatchery operation where the team spawns baby oysters before they are moved out to Duxbury Bay. 90-minute tours are available on the weekends for $75 per person. Tickets include oyster and caviar tastings.
Owner Skip Bennett founded Island Creek Oysters in 1995, and has grown it to become one of the most recognizable commercial oyster operations in the country. The farm supplies oysters to Michelin-starred restaurants and maintains a bustling retail operation for direct-to-consumer sales. The now-closed Island Creek Oyster Bar in Boston was a separate endeavor in which Bennett was a co-owner; Island Creek is also behind seafood mainstay Row 34 in Fort Point, Burlington, and Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
Take a look around the indoor raw bar and check out the menu below:
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Island Creek Oysters’ indoor raw bar is open on Wednesday and Thursday from 4 to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 12 to 10 p.m., and Sunday from 12 to 8 p.m.