Marsha Brown's raw bar

Oysters on Ice
Tina Phillips

Date night...where to go? 

Last night it was raw oysters. De Anna’s has great raw oysters but we were just there...so we ended up parking our tired butts at Marsha Brown’s - at the bar. 

I am not a fan of the big “congregational” room upstairs. The bar has even been feeling kind of dated decor wise. But alas, last night Randy told us there is to be a renovation starting next week. His description included booths. Not a fan. But we’ll see. Maybe it will be better. Out with bordello burgundy and in with? We’ll see...

At any rate we were there for squishy,salty things that come on platters of crushed ice with lemons and tabasco and maybe to channel some “New Orleans.”

Louisiana, particularly New Orleans, is renowned for it’s culinary culture of oysters. Why oysters in New Orleans? The estuarine environment (which describes a place where fresh and salt water mingle) in Louisiana provides a home for a veritable cornucopia of mollusks who end up on raw bars throughout the land - lucky for us all. So it stands to reason that Brown would include a raw bar in her Creole inspired restaurant. 

We ordered two of each of the three oysters offered. Two’s picky brother Voislav wants his oysters to convulse with the first squirt of lemon juice. This has never happened at Marsha’s. But then he is used to eating seafood at a restaurant on a dock in Sicily, where we are relegated to an old church in a dark, cold river town. 

Nonetheless, the oysters were very good last night. They did conjure the oceans they came from. The shrimp were fresh and had the right texture. There is nothing worse than the wrong texture or the taste of soapy water from a bite of shrimp. The snow crab claws were good as well. The colossal lump crab meat in remoulade was his good idea.  Despite a vow to eat only sprouted whole grains in the new year we polished off the warm baguette as well. I really do love the chopped salad with gooey blue cheese and bacon. They are very nice to split the order onto two plates. 

All was well last night in rawville. No complaints and really only praise for the raw bar experience at Marsha Brown’s.