Oyster shucker Dave Leck (r) with Taylor Shellfish assistant manager Tom Stocks. Below, Leck with map of Puget Sound oyster beds
Yes, Seattle is home to the nation's reigning oyster-shucking champion. That would be Jorge Hernandez, the celebrated oyster shucker at Elliott's Oyster House. But he's not our only local hero. Consider Dave Leck, Hernandez's predecessor as champion oyster-shucker at Elliott's, who "jumped ship" (as it were) for a spot at the Taylor Shellfish oyster bar on Capitol Hill.
Elliott's is a sit-down restaurant, but Taylor follows the European market-hall model of an oyster stand where you can buy fresh oysters (and clams, mussels, crab) to take home, or hop on a stool and sample a few specimens while you're in the store. We wrote about Taylor back in October of last year, just before Leck signed on.
The guy is speedy! His record: two dozen oysters in just under two minutes. When a friend and I stopped in for a glass of sauvignon blanc and a few bivalves this week, we had our oysters before the wine could even be opened.
The big East-Coast oyster-shucking competition takes place at the International Boston Seafood Show next week, and Leck will be there.
As it happens, Taylor's rival Penn Cove Shellfish is providing the west coast oysters for the competition.
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