Oyster Menu Regulars: Rappahannock Oyster Co.
When it comes to friendships and seafood, distance shouldn’t matter. If anything, when it comes to our friendship with Rappahannock Oyster Co., distance was an added benefit.
Dedication to quality seafood knows no bounds. Be it Australian Spiny Lobsters or just a hankering for good east-coast oysters, delicious seafood doesn’t end outside of our home base in Southern California. That’s why we turn to our partners who continuously produce the quality we expect and help us secure the best seafood from around the world.
Although our relationship with Rappahannock Oyster Co. started in the 2000s, their story begins in 1899.
Photo courtesy of Rappahannock Oyster Co.
How Rappahannock Oyster Co. Started
When purchasing a few acres of fertile Rappahannock Riverbed near Butylo, Va., J.A. Croxton surely couldn’t have known that he was creating a company that would last for over a century.
By 2001, after a century of over harvesting, the oyster population in Chesapeake Bay was less than 1% of the amount present when J.A. Croxton made his purchase, and Chesapeake Bay had just recorded its lowest ever oyster harvest.
As cousins Ryan and Travis Croxton took the helm of the company, threats of placing the Bay oyster on the Endangered Species List and a movement away from native oysters in favor of introducing a Chinese oyster in its place was underway.
A mission to resurrect the native Bay oyster quickly expanded into a crusade to pave the pathways of restoration of all Chesapeake Bay food ways. Because of the oytser's ability to filter 50 gallons of water per day and provide habitat for countless species, it was the perfect weapon to attack this growing problem. Using oysters as their paintbrush, Rappahannock Oyster Co. set out to paint a cover over the decades old graffiti of a wall that is the Chesapeake Bay, laying the base for the gorgeous mural of seafood that it has become.
After two decades since the Croxton cousins took over, Chesapeake Bay is now seeing numbers not witnessed in generations and now leads the entire East Coast in oyster production.
Rappahannock Oyster Co. Methodology
Rappahannock Oyster Co. oysters are grown directly next to wild oysters, however by growing them in cages rather than the ocean floor, they preserve the fragile river-bottom. In their growth cycle that lasts from 24-to-36 months, the oysters filter the river water, clearing it of excess nutrients and cleaning it to provide a habitat for the fish that call the river home.
The oysters are carefully monitored during its growth. Keeping an eye on salt and temperature levels help to guard the oyster against unsightly growth habits and fight disease, ensuring a healthy, attractive and succulent oyster.
Once grown, they are hand-selected and placed into an iced-down shipping container destined for King’s Seafood Distribution, where they are closely monitored, quality-checked and sent out to all Water Grill locations.
Rappahannock Oysters At Water Grill
Depending on season and availability, any of the three oysters grown and supplied by Rappahannock Oyster Co. can be found on our Water Grill menus. Check out today’s menus for availability.
Rappahannock Oysters At-A-Glance
Rappahannock River
Species: Crassostrea virginica (native)
Location: Topping, VA
Flavor: Sweet, buttery, full-bodied taste with a refreshingly clean, crisp finish.
Rochambeau
Species: Crassostrea virginica (native)
Location: Yorktown, VA
Flavor: Sweet and mildly briny with a clean crisp finish.
Olde Salts
Species: Crassostrea virginica (native)
Location: Chincoteague, VA
Flavor: Bold seaside brininess with a smooth, clean follow-through.
Softshell Crab Season Has Arrived!
The season's first catch of Wild Maryland Softshell Crab has arrived! They're making their West Coast debut at Water Grill.
THE START OF THE SEASON
The end of spring is a wonderful time. For starters, we get more daylight (and eventually recoup the hour of sleep lost at the start of Daylight Savings Time). That means little to Mother Nature though: the world continues to turn, and tilt on its axis, bringing warmer weather to the Northern Hemisphere. It’s here, in the Mid-Atlantic, where we begin to reap those rewards. Watermen take to their boats on the Chesapeake Bay and prepare their traps for the blue crab harvest.
As water temperatures rise, these blue crabs are harvested in anticipation of them molting and shedding their shells.
Learn more about their journey – from blue crab to softshell, and from the country’s largest estuary to one of our favorite seasonal offerings – here.
ABOUT BLUE CRABS
Who says Latin is dead? The language tells us a lot. Exhibit A: the scientific name for blue crab is Callinectes sapidus, meaning beautiful savory swimmer.
These crabs propel themselves through the water using their back fins, or swimmerets. You’ll find this species all along the Atlantic Coast, down through the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, and even to some northern parts of South America. But all roads lead to Crisfield, Maryland – the softshell crab capital of the world.
You could say this crab is the Chesapeake’s answer to the jewel of the Nile. It’s the most valuable fishery in the bay.
HARVESTING
Blue Crabs live anywhere from three to four years and reach maturity around one year to 18 months. Growth is very dependent on temperature. Mating occurs from fall through the spring and, interestingly, females can only mate once during their life but can spawn multiple times.
Females, especially those carrying eggs, prefer higher salinity areas and often migrate towards the mouth of the Chesapeake to spawn. Males prefer lower salinity waters and can often be found closer to river mouths and estuaries.
Harvesting generally begins in late Spring as water temperatures warm and crabs prepare for their summer growth. This is often marked by the first full moon in May.
A COMING OF AGE
Softshell crabs are blue crabs. They’re harvested throughout the Chesapeake Bay by commercial crabbers when the hardshell blue crabs are deemed to be peelers, or crabs that are ready to molt.
Watermen will look for signs, such as white, pink and red colors on the shells, to tell which crabs will molt, and when. In fact, a red outline, called a “red sign”, on the swimming fin indicates that a crab will molt in less than two days.
These crabs are then transferred to shedding tanks where they are monitored until they molt. The tanks are shallow, and the water temperature is carefully regulated to emulate the crab’s natural molting habitat.
Once a crab molts, it is removed from the shedding tank as soon as possible before the shell begins to harden (which can take as little as a few hours). It’s at this moment when a blue crab becomes a softshell crab. They’re then carefully packed and arrive to us daily – directly from the Chesapeake to our restaurants.
FLAVOR
Iconic, sweet and earthy, softshell crab is a crunchy treat with olive-like notes imparted from the shell.
At Water Grill, our Wild Maryland Softshell Crab is prepared with a watermelon and cucumber salad and a brown butter soy ginger sauce.
