A marble counter, oysters shucked as you watch, and a clam bake that appears only if you know to ask two days ahead. Avalon is where I send anyone who takes their seafood seriously.
There is a particular pleasure in a restaurant that does one thing beautifully. At Avalon, that thing is seafood — served on ice at a marble table, with a glass of something cold and pink. It has quietly become my midweek habit, and this month I'm letting you in on how to do it properly.
Every Wednesday · 5–8pm
Seafood Wednesdays
Wednesday evening is when the ice comes out. Oysters shucked to order — not a minute earlier, which is the only way I'll eat them — alongside a rotating table of whatever arrived that morning.
It runs from five until eight, and it goes quickly. That tells you most of what you need to know about how good it is.
Sit at the marble counter if you can. You'll watch them shuck, and you'll eat better for it.
The Pre-Order Menu
The Forty-Eight Hour Rule
Here is the part most people miss entirely. Avalon keeps a menu that never reaches the table: dishes you have to ask for two days in advance. Monday's Cajun shrimp with cheddar grits. Wednesday's New England clam bake — half a lobster, blue mussels, the whole ceremony. Saturday's peppered prime rib.
None of it is on display. You simply have to know it exists, and to pick up the telephone.
Ring 2115 1551 forty-eight hours ahead. That's the entire secret — there isn't a cleverer one.
“The best things on the menu aren't on the menu. You only have to know to ask.
Tell Them Reyna Sent You
Avalon has extended something to this book. Quote the code and they'll take 10% off the à-la-carte menu — or pour you a half pint, if that's the sort of evening it is.
Enter the code when you book. It doesn't stack with other offers — Seafood Wednesdays included — so keep it for one of the other six nights.
Avalon is the kind of address worth keeping close — unshowy, generous, and very good at what it does.
Tell them Reyna sent you.
— Reyna Harilela