Notes From The City: An Abundant Life

When my father was a young man, the thing to do if you lived in Westchester County and were going to college at Yale was to stop off at The Grand Central Oyster Bar & Restaurant on your way to or from New York City and one place or the other. I'm not sure if it was his father who had first taken him there or if it was one of his uncles, perhaps Uncle Howard, who was my great uncle and whose name graces the title pages of Modern Library Edition books as the bookbinder. My father was given his middle name after Uncle Howard, so perhaps it was that uncle or another one of the literary types or other entrepreneurial businessmen in the family who learned that the best way to get from one place to the other when traveling by railroad was to have something delicious to look forward to on the way.

The way I learned from my father, and what he also taught my mother who shared many adventures with me, was that though the Oyster Bar does have wonderful places to sit at regular tables in the dining rooms the place to make a bee line to was the actual oyster bar itself, not a bar in the sense of a place where the alcohol was stored, though you could always order a beer or a martini, but the place where generations of men shucked oysters and clams all day long to serve on the half shell, with shrimp cocktail, or made into a stew. And the thing to do once you'd found a seat at the oyster bar was to look up on the menu hanging above the men shucking oysters and choose a pan roast made of oysters or clams. My father's favorite was clam pan roast, and he loved it so much that he got the recipe for it from one of the men who makes it on the spot there to order. As you sit at the bar you can watch them prepare it after your order is called out and started, as a catch and receive sort of business that is almost impossible to understand as you wonder how they keep everything so straight and running so smoothly with all of the orders they are filling. But fill them they do, and perfectly too, and through the many years of my life that I have been going there I've never been disappointed.

This past week I was meeting a friend at Grand Central who I know through my college - he graduated some years before me and we had met at a gathering of alums. We had scheduled our meeting for 2:30pm near the clock in the central hall, and my earlier meeting had let out much earlier than I expected, so I found myself able to head to the station with time to spare. I could have done anything with my time, but something seemed to be propelling me there, and after I'd arrived and saw that it was only 1:30, I suddenly remembered the Oyster Bar and walked down the passageway to see if I could find a seat at the bar. There was one seat open, in a perfect viewing spot of the shuckers and pan roast preparers, so I sat down and placed my order. I felt a smile from deep in my memory come over me as I heard the order called out and responded to, a slice of white toast put into a large white soup tureen with deep edges, and the specially made steam kettle that is fired and heated from a hidden valve began to heat the seafood and cream that was poured into it. I had ordered a "combination", something that I'd never had before - usually I stick to my father's favorite or occasionally have oysters, but it had been a long time and I thought I'd try something new because I had a feeling that after my long time away I'd be coming back often. As the different pieces of shellfish - oysters, clams, scallops, lobster and shrimp - were heating, the Chef began to add dollops of sweet chili sauce and a splash of Worcestershire, and at just the right moment when everything was reaching the boiling point without boiling, he turned the handle and poured the steaming hot creamy broth into the bowl, covering the toast at the bottom and finishing it off with a good heavy sprinkling of paprika. By this time I had a smile on my face from ear to ear, and when it was placed in front of me I was beaming. With the first taste I knew I had come to the perfect place, where memories meet the senses and warm the heart with the love of living the best life.

While I savored my combination pan roast, and the seats on either side of me began to empty, a man came to sit at the bar and after looking at the regular menu asked me which soup I was having. I explained what it was, pointing up at the hanging list of different types of pan roasts and stews, and said it was a family tradition. He said his father had taken him there too, and his father's father had done the same for his son, and so it seems that the story of generations was continuing. He decided to order a combination pan roast, as much I think from the wonderfully appetizing aroma and the beautiful way it looks in its pristine white bowl as from my enthusiastic recommendation, and as we continued our conversation I learned that he worked in a very special area of real estate that focuses on projects for renewable energy and sustainability. It was not surprising to find such a wonderful conversation at that bar that has held many a wonderful conversation over these many long years, because the Oyster Bar is one of those places where a conversation like that can happen. It's a place where you can meet someone new while waiting to meet someone you know, and in the space of an hour's time, order a pan roast, watch it be prepared, and enjoy it without feeling in a hurry. Within the space of that sixty minutes while the world rushes by, you can take a moment to savor something simply delicious and make a connection with history and the ebb and flow of life.

Grand Central Oyster Bar & Restaurant

Lower Level

Grand Central Terminal

89 East 42nd Street

New York City

http://www.oysterbarny.com/