Oil spill puts a halt to oyster shucking at 134-year-old business

[Ed Barrow]

An early morning workday ritual -- the shucking of small mountains of oysters for New Orleans restaurants -- fell victim to the BP offshore oil spill Thursday at a 134-year-old French Quarter oyster house where neighbors treated the news like a death in the family.

Amid the din of nearly a dozen men and women hammering and prying at the last piles bags of craggy oyster shells at P&J Oyster Co., Jerry Amato wandered in bearing comfort food: aluminum trays full of scrambled eggs, fried ham, grits and biscuits.

"That's what we do in New Orleans. After the funeral, we bring food," said Amato, proprietor of Mother's Restaurant.

P&J isn't quite dead yet but, barring an unforeseen reopening of the oyster beds that supply the business, Thursday was to be the final day of shucking at the family owned business.

"I'm going to try and buy a few shucked oysters from some people in Alabama that are still processing oysters and once they stop, I'm done," said Al Sunseri, who, along with his brother Sal, runs the business that opened in 1876.


http://blog.al.com/live/2010/06/oil_spill_puts_halt_to_oyster.html

[lunatica]

1. Multiply that by a few hundred thousand

[blondeatlast]

2. Let's haul Hayward's ass in his tighty whities thru the french Quarter.

I'll let your imagination do the rest...

[Mimosa]

3. I knew those people

Oh my goodness, P&J oysters are the best, always were.

Jerry Amato is a nice guy, too. Mother's turtle soup is one of the best in town.

[Gregin Orlando]

4. And dead marine life is only the beginning

BP, and their corporate-owned media whores have lied about this from day one. There are three leaks at the Deepwater Horizon site, as well as two other leaks at different sites. Furthermore, this will not only affect beaches and marine life, it could have a drastic economic impact that goes beyond that. Power plants could be shut down and desalization plants that produce drinking water through reverse osmosis along the Gulf coast could be shut down if oil fouls their intakes. That would cause an economic disaster of epic proportions. For more info., check out this article: http://www.examiner.com/x-38220-Orlando-Independent-Examiner~y2010m6d9-Satellite-imagery-shows-up-to-three-oil-leaks-in-Gulf-FL-power-and-water-supplies-may-be-at-risk

[NightWatcher]

5. are any of the local seafood restaurants going to be worth anything in a month?

Crescent City Brewhouse?
Acme Oyster House?

Sure, Katrina was tough, but they could reopen. This is a death sentence