Eventide and 5 other great Portland oyster bars

Photo courtesy of Eventide Oyster Co.

Adding to its numerous accolades, Portland’s Eventide Oyster Co. was recently named to Food & Wine magazine’s list of “America’s Best Oyster Bars,” coming in at #2 out of 21. The oysters at Eventide, all on display in a granite trough on the bar with wooden markers to tell you what’s what, are $16 for six or $29 for 12 ($2.30 each). Eventide will give it to you fancy, pure, raw, roasted, local — any way you could want your slimy, briny treats. Food & Wine got it right, but we have suggestions for some additional places to slurp. Roughly in order:

J’s Oyster

5 Portland Pier
Always a solid seafood pick and at $7.50 for six or $12.50 for a dozen ($1.04 each), its quality to price ratio is the highest on this list. Due to the volume they sell, they get their oysters from the Chesapeake Bay.

Old Port Sea Grill and Raw Bar

93 Commercial St.
This contemporary seafood restaurant usually offers four or five varieties of East Coast oysters, which will run you $3 a pop.

Boone’s Fish House & Oyster Room

86 Commercial St. on Custom House Wharf
Although the Oyster Room is upstairs, you can enjoy them in the downstairs main dining room, too, as well as on the two outdoor decks. To order oysters here, the server brings you a slip of paper with all the day’s varieties listed and you check off what you want. Prices vary, but generally range from $2.85 to $4.

Five Fifty-Five

555 Congress St.
Five Fifty-Five makes our list for their Oyster Thursdays when the little guys are $1.55 each.

El Rayo Taqueria

101 York St.
Not technically an oyster bar, but $1 oyster Mondays? Yes, please. Note: Fall – Spring only