Avenue
LONG BRANCH
in opening avenue on the
boardwalk in Long Branch in
2006, general manager Thierry
Carrier, a French native, recalls,
“Before we thought about
anything else, we wanted a
separate raw bar with seats
where you could watch the guys
shucking and could look out at
the ocean.” Over the years, and
especially in summer, Carrier
says, about 40 percent of tables
in the tall-windowed restaurant
order something from the raw
bar. There is much to choose
from: Jersey clams and oysters,
plus oysters from Maine and the
West Coast. Happy hour prices
and selections are generous. “In
France,” says Carrier, “from the
south to Bordeaux to Paris, you
see raw bar plateaus in all the
brasseries.” These are the tow-
ers that are the ne plus ultra of
slurping. At Avenue, the petite
plateau is $55, the grand is $85
and the royale, which serves
six to eight people, is $135. It
includes 12 oysters, 12 clams, 24
Prince Edward Island mussels,
8 jumbo shrimp, a whole chilled
1.5-pound lobster, four snow
crab claws, an octopus salad, a
conch salad and raw razor clams.
Avenue also sells a lot of caviar,
including Russian osetra at $135
an ounce. “It’s hard to come by,”
Carrier says. “Somehow, people
know we do. I’m always amazed,
but it’s great.”—Eric Levin
F23 Ocean Avenue, 732-759-2900;
leclubavenue.com
UP AND DOWN THE SHORE, RAW
BARS ARE BOOMING AS SHUCKERS
FILL PLATTERS WITH LOCAL
OYSTERS, CLAMS AND MORE.
ICE
Summer on
PHOTOGRAPHS BY PAUL S. BARTHOLOMEW
R
E
GUID E
FRENCH
ACCENT
Avenue features
outdoor seating, huge
oyster platters and
the seafood towers
known in France
as plateaus.