Food Stuff

Local kitchens take their cues from the classic mignonette, but dress their oysters in flavors of their own choosing.

There’s nothing quite like eating a raw oyster: its cool, gray body quivers on the tongue, then slides down the warm throat in a singularly thrilling, salty rush. It is fitting that, in the Pacific Northwest, the cool, gray weather of fall and winter means that local oysters are at their finest. 

A plain oyster needs little (some might say nothing) to be delicious, but the most classic oyster accompaniment is mignonette – a simple sauce of red wine vinegar, shallots and cracked black pepper. Think of a mignonette as vinaigrette minus the oil, with the oyster’s own juices acting as a distinctive substitute.  The acidity of mignonette counteracts the oyster’s natural softness and salinity, somehow rendering its flavors brighter, cleaner and sharper.

Photograph by Andrew Waits for City Arts.

While classic sauces are revered in the kitchen, variations inevitably lead to more variations, which leads to experimentation and new versions of old favorites. Around town, chefs at several restaurants have played with the traditional mignonette, infusing the sauce with their own taste and creativity.

At Frank’s Oyster House & Champagne Parlor, diners have their choice of three mignonettes: red wine, champagne, or gin and Lillet. “Mignonette is the classic sauce,” says Frank’s sous chef Helen Hong, “but we really want to give our customers unique options.” (Frank’s goes even one step further in the sauce department, offering a Bloody Mary granita topping, which gives oysters both an additional savory element and the cool crunch of ice.)

“The gin and Lillet mignonette brings a sweetness that counteracts the super-briny flavor of oysters like a Kumamoto or Chef Creek,” Hong says of spirit-soaked sauce. “Also, gin has an herbaceous quality that goes nicely with the cucumber finish of some oysters, and pairs nicely with very minerally ones like those from Deep Bay.”

For the champagne mignonette, Frank’s finishes the sauce with a bit of bubbly straight from the bottle. “Champagne and oysters are a classic pairing,” says Hong. “The dryness of the champagne really brings out the mineral flavors of the oyster.’

That iconic pairing of oysters and a glass of bubbly is also the inspiration behind the signature mignonette at Ballard’s new Walrus and the Carpenter, where oysters take center stage. The knowledgeable staff helps guide diners through as many as seven varieties of oysters that are listed on the regularly changing menu and laid out beautifully on ice in wire baskets at the bar. The champagne mignonette here is particularly refreshing, light on pepper and loaded with shallots whose bite and tang have been nicely mellowed. 

The most daring mignonette in town can currently be found at Anchovies & Olives, chef and restaurateur Ethan Stowell’s seafood haven on Capitol Hill. Chef Charles Walpole and crew don’t seem content with the classic and currently offer a scallion mignonette. A&O’s version swaps out the traditional allium, shallots, for superfine slices of green onion and adds the distinct pop and crunch of coriander seeds. Purists may be taken a little aback – this sauce definitely takes a more aggressive approach to flavoring, rather than merely accompanying, the oyster. But perhaps you don’t get to be among the best (A&O was recently named one of the best new restaurants in the U.S. by both Bon Appetit and GQ magazines) without pushing the limits of tradition, no matter how small and saucy your materials. •