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Beneath Grand Central is a maze of tunnels, winding their way to and from the train station in a way that truly only makes sense to the city’s rats. But if you know the right place to look, you’ll also find one of the city’s oldest haunts: Grand Central Oyster Bar.
Now, it’s not what you’d expect when you consider your previous understanding of what an oyster bar is. For us, it’s usually either a beach side open-air bar, or a restaurant where the light streams in from huge windows, people casually saunter in and out, downing a half dozen at a time, in no real hurry to call it quits. This, though, is not that.
Grand Central Oyster Bar opened its doors for the first time in 1913 and in 1974 it was given a face- and menu- lift when the New York Metro Transit Authority took over. The high vaulted ceilings and beautiful marble columns are reminiscent of a architectural age gone by, and seem to draw on the beauty of Grand Central itself. It’s several stories below the busy Manhattan streets, so its a bit dark but not at all dreary. The logo itself is sprawled in rainbow letters and suddenly, you’re back in the 70’s. *fun 70’s comment here*
The food in simple and delicious. The raw bar menu is extensive and exciting and on any given day, they offer 25-30 different varieties of oysters. The fresh seafood offerings are hearty, served with veggies and a steamed potato. They’ve got seafood sandwhiches and shellfish platters a-plenty.
While travelers may not stop in here on their way to or from somewhere like they did in the early 1900’s, this is still one of our favorite spots to pop in for a cold beer and a dozen oysters, whether Grand Central is our final destination or not.
GET THE: Oysters (duh), although the Lobster Roll and Crab Cake Sandwich are pretty scrumptious as well
