By 10 a.m., the 10 judges whom organizer Jessica Silva (a Journal contributor) had asked to arrive by 9:30 a.m. were finally assembled around the long table on the stage at the rear of the Wild Hare Tavern. Entries for the Arcata Bay Oyster Festival’s annual Best Oyster competition were trickling in on paper plates and metal trays laden with ice.
Once everyone had a handle on the protocols, the judges, ranging from event sponsors to chefs, began what looked like a very intense cocktail party, circling the anonymous platters with their scoring pamphlets in hand. Each entry bore an assigned number with an H for hot or a C for cold, most accompanied by a title and description with local ingredients highlighted in yellow. A pair of plates — one with oysters hidden by a ribbon of tagliatelle and the other with fresh tomato — included only three oysters each, instead of the required dozen, and would be judged on presentation alone.
Where once competitors for the coveted awards for hot, cold, use of local ingredients, presentation and best overall needed to be selling the same items out on the plaza, rules have relaxed. But the majority of the oysters presented could still be found at stalls or nearby restaurants.
The arrival of a wooden sushi boat laden with grilled oysters, their raw counterparts overboard in the ice, drew a collective gasp. The deck was quickly raided, likewise the icy sea below, as judges plucked the half-shells, tipped them back into their mouths and made their notes with murmurs of approval.
Having tasted every offering, the judges returned to the table with their pamphlets, conferring over the respective flavors and acidity of their favorites, and debating whether oysters and cheese should ever be allowed to mingle.
Chef Josh Wiley, formerly of Restaurant Five Eleven and soon to be helming dinner service at Bayside Farmstead, did not mince words. “There’s five decent oysters out there,” he said, noting issues with both flavor choices and knife work, as some oysters weren’t fully released from their shells.
At the opposite end of the table, chef Marisela Carrillo of Cocina Mariposa was taken with the Surf and Turf offering, a Pacific oyster topped with wagyu beef and cured duck egg, saying it was “perfectly balanced.” She demurred, however, when asked about another entry with coconut cream.
Silva’s final tally saw Best Cold Oyster go to a ginger and citrus shooter made by Tomo’s Joe Doherty. The bright shotglass was a favorite of judge Laysha Roberts, who said she found it “acidic and flavorful.”
Best Presentation went to David Orluck, sponsored by Septentrio Winery, for his Blue Oyster Cult entry, a platter of raw Pacific North Bay Shellfish Oysters served with pineapple chutney, cucumber, tobiko, Sunken Seaweed dulse and a dollop of coconut cream tinted baby blue with spirulina. Overlooking the oysters were a few of the spiky purple urchins that have been ravaging our local kelp — a dramatic tableau.
Best Local was won, fittingly enough, by James Taylor of Locavore Popups, his Crunch Miso and Garden Slaw, every ingredient of which, from honey to carrot to miso to ghee, was sourced in our neck of the North Coast. The slaw was bright and made good on its promised crunch and miso flavor.
After some discussion, the crowd reached a consensus to award Best Overall and Best Hot Oyster to the Rango Tango, one of the boat’s passengers prepared by Sushi Spot’s chef Jaime Osorio. The grilled Kumamoto got a touch of heat from both pickled wasabi, chili garlic and Japanese seven spice, and a sweet crunch from a thin slice of apple and miso apple aioli. It was Wiley’s favorite of the day, though he admitted lack of stiffer competition gave it an advantage. “It was properly prepared, the flavors made sense.”
Journal contributor and judge Wendy Chan noted arriving mid-judging and still hot gave it further advantage, though it was her clear favorite as well.
There was some lamenting over what might have been from judge Wil Franklin, who, being among the few to taste the trios of oysters that could only be scored on presentation, felt the entry topped with tomato-cucumber mignonette could have won the day, if only there had been enough to go around. “It was the best but it got disqualified,” he said, extolling its virtues. “A little tang, nothing was overpowering, a little tiny pop of caviar.”
It was hard not to imagine where the oysters that didn’t enter the competition would have ranked, looking at the lines at booths around the plaza and smelling aroma from the busy grills behind them.
A standout among them, the $3 grilled oysters at Community United of North Arcata’s grilled Kumamoto with pureed verde sauce was tart, fragrant with cilantro and just a little creamy. Worth swiping a finger for the last drops in the paper tray, it brought out the richness and the marine brine of the oyster. Perhaps too simple to take a trophy in the end, it still could have given the competition a run for its money.
Jennifer Fumiko Cahill (she/her) is the arts and features editor at the Journal. Reach her at (707) 442-1400, or jennifer@northcoastjournal.com. Follow her on Bluesky @jfumikocahill.bsky.social.
This article appears in Restaurant Week 2025.
