This oyster species is native to the Gulf Coast and the East Coast. #3: Apalachicola oysters: Northerners look down on Gulf Coast oysters, but this bay right off the bulge in Florida panhandle is one of the "oyster miracle places," Jacobsen says. Still, the Gulf Coast oyster market has started to reflect changing tastes. They tend to be large, tender, meaty, and mild (due … Any oyster from Long Island Sound can be called a Bluepoint. Blue Pointe Oyster Bar & Seafood Grill: East Coast vs West Coast - See 614 traveler reviews, 78 candid photos, and great deals for Fort Myers, FL, at Tripadvisor. These oysters have been so named after the town Blue Point in Long Island and are commonly found on the East Coast side. A great choice for beginners. Fresh Oysters from Gulf Coast. Blue Points have been a fixture on oyster menus since the early 1800s when wild oysters were harvested in Long Island's Great South Bay near the town of Blue Point, NY. The eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica)—also called the Atlantic oyster, American oyster, or East Coast oyster—is a species of true oyster native to eastern North and South America. However, this does NOT mean they all taste the same. Since the BP oil spill, those numbers have been way down, but if you see a generic oyster in a supermarket or a raw bar, it’s probably still a Gulf oyster, which is a strain of Eastern oyster. C. virginica ranges from … These oysters were, fairly enough, sold as Blue Points, and they can be pretty good. Other names in local or culinary use include the Wellfleet oyster, Virginia oyster, Malpeque oyster, Blue Point oyster, Chesapeake Bay oyster, and Apalachicola oyster. Most come from the Connecticut side. Other than Gulf oysters, you may have tried Blue Points or Quonset Points. Blue Point Oysters. Since they are harvested from multiple locations including the New York and Connecticut oyster regions, their flavor is all over the place, and the brininess has quite different ranges. OYSTERS, 1 quart of freshly shucked Oysters. Of course, Long Island Blue Point oysters are also large and mild. Species. They can be eaten raw, cooked or used in dishes such as oyster stew. As for the Third Coast on the Gulf of Mexico, oysters there don't often mature beyond a mild flavor in their short growing period, but they're valued in cooking for their large size. $30 per quart. Not long ago, the Gulf of Mexico produced most of the oysters in the U.S. With oysters, it's not always easy to pick sides, or to classify them. Start-up companies like Murder Point Oysters, in Alabama, have introduced a new kind of Gulf oyster. Medium-sized, they are mild, pleasingly salty and extremely meaty. They are semi-wild: In the summer, beds of bottomland are cleared and fresh shell is spread on them.Baby oyster spat sets on the shells, and is then transferred to grow out beds elsewhere in the sound, and then harvested by dredge after 3-4 years. A huge set of wild oysters in the sound in the mid-90s led to record harvests—Quartuccio once collected 2,300 oysters in ninety minutes. These bottom-planted, Long Island Sound oysters are harvested from the famous oyster beds of Norwalk and Westport, Connecticut. Atlantic Oysters Sustainability Information. Fried, Stewed, or Nude, they’re delicious. The largest remaining oyster reefs in the world are found in Louisiana. Blue Point Oysters are probably the ones you’ve enjoyed if you live on the East Coast, and you frequent a Raw Bar. Oysters are good for you because they’re high in several important minerals and protein, plus they’re low in calories. Gulf oysters used to have different names.