Fridays are for Shucking

Shellfish is my new thing. Oysters, crab, shrimp, lobster, clams (in that order)...you name it. It all stemmed from my love of cocktail sauce.  Since eating it by the spoonful seemed rather uncouth, I had no real choice but to learn to love it's acceptable vehicles. But I digress. 

Mussels have always have been hit or miss for me. I could eat gravel if it was bathed in a delicious enough broth, but the texture of mussels themselves have always fallen a little flat for me.

Until now that is. 

Enter Flex Mussels. A friend of mine had heard great things about the place so we decided to check it out. Up until this point mussels weren't exactly my go-to, but I was on board solely for the oysters & cocktails. (Specifically "the one with the spicy tequila") 

The place itself was smaller than I imagined, but despite the amount of people there (always a good sign), it never felt crowded (another plus). 

After a drink at the bar, we were brought past the galley style bar area where the restaurant opened up into the dining room. 

The menu was split into two parts. "Mussels" and "Not Mussels". Simple enough. 

Before we dove into the mussel selection, we started off with some oysters & burnt fingers (fried calamari, shrimp, & oysters with a spicy aioli for dipping). Both fabulous choices. 

Now on to the main event. The list of mussels was quite extensive and included every possible flavor profile you could possibly imagine. 

Sure, there were the one's you'd expect- Classic (white wine,garlic) & and Fra diavlo. But that's just the start. From Mexican (think chorizo & adobo) to Italian (red wine & roasted garlic), to Southern (ham, dijon, corn & bourbon) and everything in between. 

Narrowing it down to one was out of the question, so the four of us decided to share. 

Classic. White Wine, herbs, garlic.

Parma. Parmigiano cream, lemon, scallions, toasted garlic, shallots.

Puglia. White beans, chorizo, tuscan kale.

And the crowd favorite...

THAI. Coconut curry broth, lemongrass, kaffir lime, coriander, lime, ginger, garlic.

Above are the Thai. None of us had ever tried anything with that type of flavor profile but the server said that was one of their most popular, so who were we not to try them. Any my god were they delicious!

As if things couldn't get any better...DONUTS. I very rarely save room for dessert, but there was no way these were passing me by.