A beginner's guide to the best shellfish in NYC

Good news: you're not allergic

Jun 02, 2025

Growing up in New England and coming into the restaurant world via an oyster restaurant, I feel like I came out of the womb with the ability to shuck oysters and was eating shrimp cocktail by the time I was in 1st grade. Surely, neither are true. I learned how to shuck oysters at the

Island Creek

farm at the ripe age of 16, where I was subsequently told I could eat as many as I could pry open, and my parents can attest that I was a picky eater, certainly not brave enough to eat chewy pink shrimp before hitting puberty. From what I remember, there were a lot of chicken nuggets involved and probably a fair amount of quesadillas.

Eventually, I came to my senses and I began to eat nearly any seafood I could find. I learned to cook mussels and clams at home, shucked oysters in my kitchen, and sought out lobster rolls at every opportunity. Shellfish have since become a foundational part of my diet. But not everyone grows up with exposure to sea creatures still in their shells—or gets past the idea of boiling lobsters alive (fair).

My roommate, Liora, exists in a similar, tangential category. Her aversion to shellfish was that she lived her entire life thinking she was allergic. She found out 2 weeks ago that she was not, in fact, allergic at all. She came to me with a request: where to start?

While it’s not the fried clams at Mac’s on the Pier or the lobster rolls at Row 34, New York has become a place where you can find the best-of-the-best without traveling all that far. With a suddenly moot aversion, the question became, where does one start? With so much of everything in the city, how does someone become acquainted with an entirely new-to-them subset, an area of their diet they previously deemed completely outside the realm of possibility?

The answer is as follows, your shellfish introduction—via some of NYC’s best dishes—mapped out in order of increasing textural intensity.

As always, all restaurants are hyperlinked for easy saving!

Hart’s clam toast
A manageable start. Small, tender clams are tossed with herbs and pancetta and layered on fried sourdough that soaks up all the herby, salty oil. The clams are really a supporting player here in a buttery, crunchy, deeply satisfying bite. More on Hart’s here.
Left: clam toast during a Ha's Dac Biet pop-up at Hart's, Right: the classic
Le Crocodile shrimp cocktail
Shrimp cocktail is, in my eyes, an essential shellfish to be able to enjoy, and enjoy often. Working at a nice seafood restaurant taught me the importance of doing shrimp cocktail right, and Le Crocodile’s is my favorite. Though only 4 per order, they are substantial and meaty, flavorful and so fresh. Served on pebble ice is a huge bonus and the cocktail sauce is about 50% horseradish (necessary)

El Pingüino scallop conservas
El Pingüino is a playground of shellfish and conservas, serving an abundance of oysters, clams, and sardines. Scallops, when cooked, are more tender than a mussel or a shrimp, but meatier than a flaky white fish. The flavor is quite neutral and often is obscured by a buttery sauce or neighboring vegetable. Raw scallops, which I love, are probably a bit too big of a step right now, so you can start right in between with a conserva. Pingüino generously donates a bowl of saltines and aioli to accompany tinned fishes, and there is nothing more delicious than a tender, oil-packed scallop, with a tangy aioli draped over top, a squeeze of lemon for brightness, and the crunch of a saltine. We will get you to scallop crudo eventually. More on El Pingüino here.
Demo lobster au poivre
For many, lobster is an easy shellfish to conquer. The flavor is not overwhelming and the texture is not unfamiliar. It shouldn’t be tough like chicken, but it won’t be soft like salmon. What gets people, usually, is the difficulty of eating them, or overall nervousness about the whole-claw-or-tail of it all. Demo’s lobster au poivre is an easy entry point. Nothing has ever tasted bad on a bed of butter and pepper sauce, and this was an insanely rich plate of food that I think would make anyone be excited to try lobster again. More on Demo here.
Crevette littleneck clams
I know we all freaked out over the chicken and fries from Crevette, but lest we forget it is a seafood restaurant, and boy is the seafood good. I was really into our raw bar, among a lot of other dishes you can read about here. Clams freak people out, whether they are breaded and fried in a greasy plastic basket, or served raw on a bed of ice. I am actually partial to the raw littleneck clam, I think it is an easier raw-bar starting point than an oyster. They are smaller in size, less slimy in texture, and have much less brine. Crevette’s clams were special, with a supremely bright and crunchy green pepper relish that tasted like a bite of Spring. I wouldn’t skip the mussels with salsa brava either, but go for the clams. You’re working your way up!!! Be brave!!
Dame grilled oysters with chartreuse hollandaise
I think about Dame all the time. You should go and eat plenty: the tuna toast, the smoked mussel and cucumber salad, the squid skewers!!! As your shellfish adventure continues, the grilled oysters are the only choice. I never thought I could be excited about a warm oyster, and never totally understood why anyone would cook them. However, this is an extraordinary bite. Each shell is topped with a buttery, balanced hollandaise brightened with green chartreuse topping a delicate and salty oyster. I would love to know how that makes its way into the sauce—a seasoning after it is cooked? Incorporated as it cooks down? Can someone let me know?
Ha’s Snack Bar escargot
This might feel like a big jump. I hear you. I see you. Escargot is a buttery bite of food that just happens to be… snail. At Ha’s, it comes swimming in garlicky tamarind butter, perched on crusty bread. Fruity, acidic, deeply savory—it’s more about the sauce and bread than the snail, which is a tiny, meaty addition. And then you get to say you’ve had escargot! Full Ha’s right up here.
Running the menu at Penny
If I could marry a restaurant, it would be Penny. This is, to me, the final boss, the epitome of good NYC seafood. The ice box is 1000% worth it, and absolutely should be your first oyster. You’ve already tried shrimp cocktail, clams, and mussels… you’re ready. It sort of feels like you’ve earned a prize by getting here, having worked yourself up from a little clam in a bite that is 90% bread, to a plate full of oysters. More on Penny here.
Cervo’s head-on prawns
Your graduation test. Your final exam!! Cervo’s is one of my favorite New York restaurants and is home to one of the more adventurous shellfish dishes—head-on prawns. When Liora first came to me with her request, Cervo’s was the first place that came to mind. Upon further reflection, though, I realized it was a place you would need to work up to. The mussels escabeche are divine, though substantial in size and quite meaty, and the oysters are served relatively straight up—both dishes that require some previous shellfish dabbling. The crispy shrimp heads are a league of their own. Some will scoop the meat out of the crispy shell, but you are really supposed to just eat the whole thing—shell, eyeballs, and antennae. They’re delicious and like a very crunchy, very umami rock shrimp that you can’t think about too much as you eat it. They are pretty extraordinary though, and are worth trying. You automatically get an A. Yay!