This farm-and-sea-to-table restaurant gets everything right. We arrived for Sunday dinner and feasted on a dozen local oysters, briny, bacon-studded clam chowder, a tasty pile of tuna crudo perched on guacamole, and, Vietnamese caramel braised chicken with star anise lime. (An unusual stew: Soeltl Farms chicken falling off the bone in a spicy, cilantro-scented broth with sweet potato chunks and jasmine rice. Yum.) There’s plenty to please the adventurous diner (southern fried quail, garbanzo bean – pumpkin curry) and elevated classics for the rest: hot lobster rolls and that perfect chowder are always on the ever-changing menu. Nothing is overdone or contrived, from the spare barn-board dining room to the waiter’s uniforms of plaid shirts and jeans. Reservations a must. Get Oyster Club’s chowder recipe here. 

Update: Oyster Club just reopened this week after a renovation; can’t wait to see what they’re up to.  www.oysterclubct.com

tags: oyster club, mystic, chowder