(Photo: Kenneth Chen)

Okay, so there’s not a lot of competition out there. But that’s only testament to this oyster roll’s untouchable superiority. What makes it the best? A perfectly fried oyster for starters: piping-hot, relentlessly crisp, plump, and juicy. Then there’s the fact that Rebecca Charles crams them into butter-grilled hot-dog buns the way circus clowns pile into Volkswagens: “I tell the guys it needs to look full and bursting, very plentiful.” That goes double for the heap of shoestring fries. So how do you eat it? Well, knife-and-forking it won’t get you thrown out of the joint, but it’s best devoured with your hands in a kind of ecstasy of bad table manners—dripping tartar sauce and escaped oysters notwithstanding.
Pearl Oyster Bar
18 Cornelia Street
212-691-8211

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• Archive: “Best of New York Weekly”
• Articles by Rob Patronite
• Table of Contents: Aug 4, 2003 issue of New York | Subscribe!