What can I say about Grand Central that hasn’t already been said? There’s no oyster bar in the city that will make you feel more like you’re in New York than here, and you won’t find a wider selection of oysters anywhere else.
Does that mean you should run up right this second and plop your ass down at the counter and order a half dozen Belons? Maybe, but I know for me it’s a place that requires a certain mood. Maybe it’s simply the trek up to midtown or maybe it’s the crowds and the noise, but heading to the train station for oysters requires a certain emotional state that I don’t always have.
Here’s what I like to do when I am in the mood though. I find my way over to the West Side of the station near the entrance on Vanderbilt. There’s a door to the Oyster Bar that you might not have noticed, but it doesn’t doesn’t bring you into to the main dining room. The stairs bring you down–rather steeply I might add–to the Saloon room of the bar, and it’s my favorite place to sit. I always head straight to the bar, I’ve never had trouble getting a seat, and before anything else I order an ice cold martini, usually with Bombay Sapphire and a twist of lemon.
After that it’s all about what’s on the menu, what I haven’t had before, and how deep into my pocket I’m willing and able to dig. It’s not a place I usually go to if I want to gorge myself, but it is a place to bring a date, an old friend I haven’t seen in twenty years, or occasionally colleagues who are in the mood for some nostalgia.
I find that six oyster or maybe a dozen do the trick quite well, and I can sit there for at least two hours (although I try not to order that third martini). It’s warm, friendly, and of course the food and the drinks are delicious. But aside from all that, there’s something a bit honest about it that you don’t always find at fancier places. The oyster at the Grand Central Oyster bar are not always those tiny pristine mollusks you usually see at fine dining establishments. On more than one occasion they’ve been almost too big to eat, gritty as well, and I’ve had to knock them back with enough drink to remember this is how they’re supposed to be.
So head up when you’re missing New York and you need to find her again. Go visit when you need to sit and talk for hours with a cold drink in your hand and an old friend who always understands you. Go during the holidays if you can stomach the crowds and pretend you’re in an old movie, although definitely you’re not the star. Go with good friends or someone you adore and eat and drink until you finally remember what it is you love about this city and your heart is bursting once more with celebration.
The Deal
Mon-Wed from 4:30-7 they have some oysters (usually Blue Points) for $1.25 along with some $5-$6 beers, a few $7 wines, and a fantastic $8 martini. Check their site though because the happy hour changes.
The Location
You can find the Oyster Bar in the basement of Grand Central Station (E 42nd Street) up the ramp in the center of the food court. Or seek out the back door.
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