I Heart Union Oyster House

You gotta love a classic.  That's why, to celebrate Valentine's Day this year, I'm featuring ye olde Union Oyster House. Usually, I write about the oysters when I visit a restaurant.  This time, however, I think the building and its history should be center stage.

Union Oyster House is America's oldest restaurant.  That's right.  AN OYSTER HOUSE IS THE OLDEST RESTAURANT IN THE COUNTRY.  

Atwood and Bacon Oyster House
Est. 1826

In a sure sign that the building is really, really old, no one is quite sure when the building was erected.  The first records show that in 1742, the building housed a fancy dress shop (which later expanded to include dry goods).  In 1771, on the top floor of the building, Isaiah Thomas published the first newspaper in America called "The Massachusetts Spy."  Later, the building also became the headquarters for Federal troops to receive their war wages and served as a workshop for women to sew and mend clothes for the colonists fighting the war.  

Original menu from
Atwood and Bacon Oyster House

Oysters entered the building in 1826 when Atwood and Bacon Oyster House opened.  They installed the famous semi-circular Oyster Bar that still remains today.  From the Union Street House website: "It was at the Oyster Bar that Daniel Webster, a constant customer, daily drank his tall tumbler of brandy and water with each half-dozen oysters, seldom having less than six plates."  It's also known as the birthplace of the modern day toothpick. 

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Fast forward to 2013 when, on a cold day in January, I visited this historic landmark.  It was only fitting that the raw bar featured two New England classics: Wellfleets and Blue Points.  Fred Pagano, a five-year shucking veteran, was as much a shucker as he was a friend.  A few customers casually sat down at the semi-circle oyster bar and - like Daniel Webster before them - ordered six raw oysters and a beer.  I fully expected Sam and Norm to stroll in after having escaped the Cheers bar down the street.   

In between conversations, Pagano shucked oysters for diners up on the second floor, placing them in a dumb waiter behind the bar.  You can see it in the picture below to the left of Pagano.  In the picture, it looks like two black boxes stacked on top of one another.

Fred Pagano shucks oysters at the famous semi-circle oyster bar.
Daniel Webster and other notable Bostonians have slurped down oysters here.

A dollhouse captures
life in the 1800's

The brick building is warm, cozy, and tight - made for smaller people in a different time.  I wound my way up from the first floor oyster bar to the second floor, where patrons nestled together in booths.  (OK, the people weren't as small as the dollhouse below suggests, but you can catch a glimpse at a moment in time at ye olde Union Oyster House.

JFK's booth at Union Oyster House

On the second floor I found The Kennedy Booth, where JFK himself dined many times.  A climb to the fourth floor was also worth it.  I could picture the newspaper printers whirling - setting the seeds for the Revolutionary War.  (Keep an eye out for the 42-pound stuffed lobster proudly displayed in the stairwell.  The kids went nuts.)

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I talk often about my oyster bucket list.  A visit to Union Oyster House was certainly near the top of that list and I'm honored to check it off.  If you get the chance to visit, you won't find nouveau oysters.  You won't find a Pacific oyster. You won't find a chef pushing the envelop of oyster innovation.  You will, however, find a gem.  A piece of history that, thankfully, hasn't changed much since our oyster eating forefathers slurped down the bivalves.  I believe that the taste of an oyster is affected by it's ambiance.  In this case, Union Oyster House elevates the oyster in ways no one can match.

"Eat Oysters.  Live Longer."
Valentine's window at Union Oyster House

One last note:
Alas, even our oldest restaurant gets in on a Hallmark holiday.  Perhaps as a nod to its retail roots, the Union Oyster House retail shop window was decked out in Valentine wishes during my January visit.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone.  Enjoy your oysters.  And remember, scientists have now proven that two amino acids and high levels of zinc found in oysters can improve your sex life.  I'm just saying.

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Union Oyster House

41 Union Street

Boston, MA  02108
p: 617.227.2750
www.unionoysterhouse.com