It is a sunny day in late October, and some 50 people—an eclectic mix of ages and ethnicities, bound together by an air of casual cool, have made a journey from Burlington to Duxbury for an oyster immersion class. Scoter, a fluffy orange retriever, wanders among the students, getting a stroke or a nuzzle as Chris Sherman, president of Island Creek Oysters and Scoter’s owner, welcomes the group to the famed oyster farm, visible outside the classroom’s windows.
The students, who arrived that morning via two bright yellow school buses, represent the opening team—both front of the house and back of the house—for the new Island Creek Oyster Bar in Burlington. Their oyster 101 experience will include a visit to the hatchery to learn how the shellfish spawn, a boat trip to see where and how they are farmed and graded, and even instruction in shucking, as well as a review of the provenance of the small production oysters destined to be slurped during the opening days of the new location.
Not many restaurants include a full day of oyster training in the preopening itinerary, but not many are the temple to bivalves that Island Creek Oyster Bar has become. The Burlington location will be the fourth to take its mission from the oyster farm launched by Duxbury native Skip Bennett in 1992, joining the original Kenmore Square restaurant and two more-casual Row 34 locations, one in Fort Point and one in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. All four are driven by a strong commitment to local seafood and sustaining the local community—while serving the best oysters around.
“Today, not a lot surprises me about the demand and passion for oysters,” says Bennett, who owns the restaurants along with partners Shore Gregory, Garrett Harker, and chef Jeremy Sewall. “But looking back to the beginning, I didn’t have any idea that we would produce this many oysters or that people would have the passion for the oysters that they do.”
Indeed, Bennett, in his pursuit of flawless bivalves, has grown Island Creek into one of the largest oyster companies in the country, selling more than 200,000 carefully raised beauties each week to restaurants around the United States and internationally. And Bennett himself is often credited with the oyster fever that has overtaken the country.
“Skip is so passionate in the pursuit of growing the perfect oyster—his restlessness is an inspiration for all of us,” says Shore Gregory, who came up through the ranks at the oyster farm—as did much of the group’s management staff. Burlington’s executive chef, Nicola Hobson, helmed the flagship kitchen in Kenmore Square since its opening in 2010, and Burlington general manager Erin DiNatale started as a server at Row 34 in Boston before rising to become a manager at Island Creek Boston in 2015.
While the group has earned an international reputation—Island Creek oysters are revered by the top restaurants in the country—it is still very much a local business with a family feel. All four partners devoted extensive time to Burlington staff training, including a “know your fish” seminar with chef Sewall, who brings a keen dedication to New England cuisine to the kitchens in all of the group’s restaurants—and whose cousin, as everyone likes to point out, is a fisherman who keeps the restaurants stocked with lobster.
But it’s not just the lobsterman who has a story—one of the tenets of the Island Creek brand has always been putting the farmers and fishers at the forefront.
“We can trace everything back to where it was caught, who caught it and when it was caught,” Sewall says. In fact, staff education includes not just the flavor profile of each oyster but also a little backstory about the many small farmers that contribute their catch to the restaurants as well. “If I can support a local fishing fleet and a local economy, I will do that,” Sewall adds.
Sewall’s deft hand with seafood, including favorites like Ethel’s Lobster Roll and the Lobster Roe Noodles, isn’t the only thing fans of the Boston location will recognize in Burlington. The décor echoes the iconic Kenmore Square spot, with light fixtures housed in cages reminiscent of the upwellers that nourish baby oysters, and the eye-catching 3-D wall of oyster shells that was built over six months with meticulously cleaned shells collected from the group’s other properties.
In addition to that spectacular wall, all eyes will surely be on Burlington’s seafood cooler, designed with a picture window, through which guests can observe cooks gutting whole fish, backed by shelves stacked high with the mouthwatering bounty of the sea.
Building a restaurant to their specs—Island Creek is housed in a standalone building in Burlington’s newest development, The District—is an experience the team has relished, notes partner Garrett Harker, who has been involved in the design of nine eateries, and whose passion for oysters stretches to childhood memories of slurping bags of them with his dad, who popped the bivalves open with a screwdriver.
“It’s the first time we’ve built from the ground up,” Harker says, noting that it gave them the luxury to put more thought into the comfort of the staff. To that end, hidden away above the kitchen, snaking through the ductwork, is a cozy space with offices and an employee locker room.
“In Boston, we have to steal space from everywhere,” Harker says. He adds, “As a guest, you see the performance, but so much more goes on behind the scenes.” In fact, for guests the biggest difference between the Boston location and the Burlington one are lunch service—Kenmore Square is strictly dinner—and state-of-the-art private dining spaces.
The restaurant’s opening is fortuitous, both for holiday parties on the North Shore and for the namesake bivalve. Bennett says Island Creek oysters are at their best in the winter months, when they hibernate, storing up fat and sugar to last the cold winter months.
“For me, they are most complex in the winter and spring,” Bennett says. “I feel that is the real defining characteristic of what makes an oyster great.” And he’s excited to spread his oyster gospel to the suburbs. “I like the thread of continuing to push this oyster renaissance in all directions.”
Island Creek Oysters
300 District Ave., Burlington, 781-761-6500