The Raw and the Cooked: Thames Street Oyster House
Foodwise Baltimore
Above: Nice on ice: Rome Point, Stingray and James River Oysters, at Thames Street Oyster House.
The Thames Street Oyster House had a “soft opening” at the end of July, and within a few days, several people told me how much I would like their food, especially the lobster roll and everything at the raw bar.
I couldn’t help but think that you have to be pretty confident in this economy to open a restaurant, let alone an oyster bar mid-summer on Fells Point’s Restaurant Row.
The building is a renovated three-story brick-front on Thames St. with a long bar, along one side, and some high-top tables and chairs.
On a recent Saturday evening I sat near the entrance and was pleased to see that the renovation had included a somewhat old-timey hexagonal white tiled floor, and bright white tiles on the face and sides of a bar that looked as though it had been there for ages.
A large rectangular mirror on the wall opposite the bar acted as a chalkboard, listing the dozen or so varieties of oysters of the day. They were mostly mid-Atlantic and some were from the West Coast and British Columbia.
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Thames Street Oyster House
1728 Thames St. Baltimore, MD. 21231
Mon. – Tues., 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Wed. – Sun. lunch starting at 11:30 a.m.
Wed. & Thurs. dinner until 10 p.m. (Raw Bar and Bar Food until 11 p.m.)
Fri. & Sat. dinner until 11 p.m. (Raw Bar and Bar Food until Midnight)
Bar open until 2 a.m. nightly
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Until recently, when the Oyster House started offering lunch at 11:30 a.m., they had been open only for dinner and late-night grazing. I got there around five and by 5:30 the downstairs bar and raw bar was standing-room only. The patio was filling up and several tables in the second-floor white-tablecloth dining room were occupied. Clearly they were “doing the business.”
Chef Eric Houseknecht and owner Candace Beattie of Baltimore's Thames Street Oyster House. (Photo by Francine Halvorsen)
Candace Beattie, owner and proprietor, knows exactly what business she is in. Beattie is from Baltimore and had a successful career in arts management, her college major. Her business on the West Coast became successful enough to sell, and Beattie returned to her roots. Thames Street Oyster House is her first restaurant, but she has had experience hostessing and being a general manager. Beattie seems determined to get it right.
She said she and chef Eric Houseknecht try hard to “keep it true.”
“We both enjoyed the Eastern Shore as kids and had families that cooked,” she said. “We want the food to taste as good as it did to us then.”
Houseknecht said he grew up eating mostly Maryland Eastern Shore-style fish and seafood “and I’ve continued doing it my whole life.” At 18, he went to the prestigious Johnson and Wales Culinary School in Providence and worked in and around the area. With executive chef Jules Ramos, he opened the Mills Tavern in Providence.
Grandmother’s Way
Having worked and eaten his way around New England, Chef Eric knows his oysters. He is partial to the mid-Atlantic varieties, such as the James River, Chincoteague and Rappahannock from Virginia and the Choptank sweets from Maryland.
The chef makes a crab stew the way his grandmother did, with short ribs. The oyster stew can be with or without homemade Portuguese chorizo Falls River style. There is a large Azorean population in Falls River and this dish is a nod to that culture.
From Rhode Island, the Rome Point has become my new favorite. Beaver Tail and Black Point were also available. Check the menu daily. Chef Eric never orders more than a hundred of any one kind and will have from eight to twelve types available on any one day.
The shrimp are generally colossal, from the Gulf and, depending on availability, there are clams, varieties of crab claws and lobster tails. These are all available with Old Bay cocktail sauce and horseradish. House-made mignonette varieties include shallot black pepper, cucumber-tarragon and watermelon chili. These change with availability. If you are with a group you might think of ordering a shellfish tower with an assortment.
When Houseknecht says he wants “authentic local and mid-Atlantic tastes and recipes that my grandmother would know,” I know what he means. The day I went, I ordered the steamed warm lobster roll. It was as promised, tender tail and claw pieces with drawn butter. The lobster was from Maine and so was the taste.
With it, I had a cucumber salad, which was crisp and fresh. With everyone talking about their grandmother I have to say, though, it really does taste like my grandmother’s cucumber salad – quite vinegary, thinly sliced with onions and a hint of sugar. No wonder they order 300 lobsters a week and steam and de-shell them as needed.
Thames Street's lobster roll, drawn butter and cucumber salad. (Photo by Francine Halvorsen)
Final Thoughts
Desserts are made in house and that night the offerings were: Peach cobbler with early morning market peaches in a cream crust, orange crème brulée, and a Dolce de leche bread pudding.
The wine list and beer selection seemed thoughtful and varied. But I went there for the oysters and the lobster roll, and I was not disappointed.
It used to be that oysters were eaten only in months with an “R” in their name, but since the advent of Refrigeration all months have an “R”.