Another aid to rumination might be a half-dozen bluepoint oysters ($6), briny fresh and served with three sauces.

I liked the skillet-roasted bluepoint oysters, too, in their rich, caviar-embellished cream.

The runoff from Long Island duck farms was killing beds of bluepoint oysters.

Farmed, cool and perfectly fresh bluepoint oysters could have stood a more assertive sauce.

But nothing was amiss with a plate of cold, luscious bluepoint oysters: big, pristine and properly briny.

Skillet-roasted bluepoint oysters, too, in their rich, caviar-embellished cream.

A plate of bluepoint oysters were almost as good.

"I can see the wheels turning in there," he said as they were served the first course of fresh bluepoint oysters.

But not all is well - a half-dozen bluepoint oysters were mediocre, lacking a hint of bracing salinity.

One of the house specials is deep-fried bluepoint oysters coated in fresh horseradish over a spinach chiffonade.