Oysters

Red all over The Chicken Parmigiano at Russo and Sons in Watertown is dangerous – and not only because it’s just about the size of a Buick. The thinly sliced chicken filets are fried to perfection, the marinara has tang, and the sub roll is firm. You tell yourself you’ll eat half now and save the rest for tomorrow, and, well, good luck. Before you know it, your hands are drenched with red sauce, mozzarella cheese is dripping onto the table, and the thing is disappearing.

The Associated Press has withdrawn its story about a California man finding a massive oyster. The story is outdated and based on information originally published in 2008. No substitute story will be filed.

"In the 1960s, there were a thousand bushels of oysters out here," said Bob Prescott, director of Mass Audubon's Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary. He spreads his arms wide and turns. We are standing on sand flats off the western edge of Lieutenant Island in Wellfleet Bay, and I'm trying hard to imagine such a thing. I see sand in every direction, an undulating toast-colored landscape punctuated by shimmery pools of tidal water reflecting the periwinkle sky. A dozen of us cluster around Prescott.

Everything looks right at Mare Oyster Bar. Patrons are shoulder to shoulder at the bar and knee to knee at the tables, which are only a slender leg's worth of space apart. The lighting is just low enough, and the floor-to-ceiling windows that stand in for walls are open to the breeze. It's a fine night in the North End. Shellfish line a bed of gleaming ice, on tantalizing display. Chic women teeter past on their way to the restroom, turning to check out the oysters. They are wearing their shuck-me pumps.

TOMALES BAY, Calif. — There’s something about oysters akin to astronomy or philosophy: The more you know, the more you realize there is to learn. It’s a vast, complex universe when it comes to these briny mollusks. But if there is a science to oysters, there is also poetry to them, a reason they have found their way into the pages of Steinbeck, Hemingway, and M.F.K. Fisher. The taste of the sea, alone or with a squeeze of lemon. On a recent windy weekend, I headed north out of San Francisco on Highway 1 in search of science, poetry, and shellfish.

The members of LA indie band Foster the People, whose song "Pumped Up Kicks" can be heard up and down the radio dial, are big fans of Eastern Standard. Band members Mark Foster , Mark Pontius , and Cubbie Fink gave ES a shout-out while talking to Eater.com about a few of their favorite dining experiences on the road. "In Boston, we had oysters at Eastern Standard. It was seriously the best seafood I've ever had in my life," said Pontius. "My first time having oysters, and I'm definitely in love with them.

SOUTH KINGSTOWN - When touring the aquaculture shellfish farm behind the Matunuck Oyster Bar restaurant, you not only learn about where your food comes from, but you also walk through its breeding grounds here on the southern coast - and if you're lucky, you harvest a few oysters to eat later. Or sooner. On a tour led by Perry Raso, 32, owner of those two enterprises, he showed a dozen or so adventurous customers who had slogged to the aquaculture site in nearby saltwater Potter Pond the spot where he also grows gracilaria, a tannish,...

Neptune Oyster has long been a North End favorite. Now the neighborhood will have even more bivalves, as Mare revamps itself as Mare Oyster Bar . Plans are for the new restaurant to open in the first half of February. Executive chef Greg Jordan remains, as does a menu of pasta, meat entrees, and other cooked dishes. Because 2012 is shaping up to be the year of the burger, there will be one here, too. Oysters, however, are meant to be the main event. There will be six to eight Northeastern kinds on offer, from Massachusetts, Maine, and beyond.

Finely J.P.'s 554 Route 6 508-349-7500 www.capecodchefs.com The Beachcomber 1120 Cahoon Hollow Road 508-349-6055 www.thebeachcomber.com Mac's Shack 91 Commercial St. 508-349-6333 www.macsseafood.com The Bookstore & Restaurant 50 Kendrick Ave. 50 8-349-3154 www.wellfleetoyster.com The Wicked Oyster 50 Main St. 508-349-3455 ...

The state's moose are giving the town's oysters a leg up. The state has awarded the New Hampshire chapter of the Nature Conservancy a $24,000 grant to help restore oysters to Great Bay by rebuilding a reef in Newmarket. The grant was funded by the $30 New Hampshire conservation license plates, which are also know as moose plates because pictures of the animal appear on them. - Tom Long

Continuing an Island Creek Oyster Bar tradition, employees of the Kenmore Square restaurant and bar headed to Duxbury's Island Creek Oyster farm Tuesday for a day of hands-on training. See more photos from the trip.

AYER - How many ways are there to open an oyster? Several, if you use specialized knives produced by R. Murphy Knives, in business since 1850. You've got the Boston oyster knife, the Providence model, the New Haven, Chesapeake, Seattle, Gulf, and New York knives. Not to mention a new one, the Duxbury, developed by R. Murphy owner Mark Furman for Island Creek Oysters. "All oyster knives work," says Furman. But shuckers have their preferences, and Furman, who, along with his wife, Mimi Younkins, bought R. Murphy three years ago, says, "You give the customer what they want.

Event planner extraordinaire AJ Williams hosted a French-themed oyster soiree at Les Zygomates on Wednesday night. Guests at "An Evening in Paris," included Patriots coach Bill Belichick with Linda Holliday, publicist Kristen Daly, local former "MasterChef" contestant David Miller, and Celtics co-owner Wyc Grousbeck with his wife, Corinne.

It takes concentration and some brawn to open an oyster. Keri Cassidy, co-owner of the North End Fish Market, Mercato del Mare, says you need to use your core. If you've always wanted to learn how to pry loose these bivalves, the store offers oyster-shucking classes on Saturdays from 1 to 3 p.m. Lessons are free, but you pay $1.75 for each oyster you open and slurp down. Condiments are on the house. Last Saturday, half a dozen people in plastic gloves, holding sharp oyster knives, are elbow-to-elbow in the back of the small shop.

Neptune Oyster has long been a North End favorite. Now the neighborhood has doubled its share of bivalves. Earlier this month, the Italian restaurant Mare reopened as Mare Oyster Bar. The bar area has been remodeled, with a shucking station and more seating. Executive chef Greg Jordan remains, and pasta, meat, and other cooked dishes stay on the menu. This is shaping up to be the year of the burger, and Jordan has added one here. But seafood will be the main event.

Think of Fellini crossed with Charlie Chaplin and laced with Edward Gorey and Salvador Dali. The charmingly off-kilter world Israeli artists Inbal Pinto and Avshalom Pollak have created in the evening-length dance theater piece "Oyster" is a surrealistic circus asylum of freakish folks in white face, wigs, and outlandish costumes. They delight one moment, confound the next, but they never disappoint. "Oyster" is the signature piece of the Inbal Pinto & Avshalom Pollak Dance Company, and from the troupe's Boston debut last night, presented at the Paramount Theatre by...

Continuing an Island Creek Oyster Bar tradition, employees of the Kenmore Square restaurant and bar headed to Duxbury's Island Creek Oyster farm Tuesday for a day of hands-on training. See more photos from the trip.

A ballerina in a black tutu and whiteface, with an orange fright wig and a folding stool attached to her backside. A 60-something actress in a clown ruff leading two women who hop about on leashes. Two men imprisoned inside the same giant coat and wheeled about on a wagon. Men in tails and tattered collars; women dancing with what look like red ski poles attached from their fingers to their toes. A woman in a hoop skirt swinging from a harness, resembling a bell clapper as she endeavors to perform a pas de deux with her partner on the ground below.

Serves 4 Peel the Chinese kale or broccoli stems like you would asparagus to make them tender. 1  bunch Chinese kale or Chinese broccoli  1  tablespoon canola oil  1  shallot, chopped  2  cloves garlic, finely chopped  2  tablespoons oyster sauce   Splash of sherry vinegar   Pinch of chili flakes  1. Bring a large saucepan of water to a boil. Add the Chinese kale or broccoli and cook for 1 to 3 minutes or until still bright green but not quite tender.