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The Basics: Island Creek Oyster Bar restaurant information

Island Creek Oyster Bar

500 Commonwealth Ave
Boston, MA 02215
617-532-5300

Island Creek Oyster Bar restaurant information
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The freshly opened Island Creek Oyster Bar, adjacent to the Hotel Commonwealth, is a one-of-a-kind collaboration bringing together the culinary talent of chef Jeremy Sewall; the front-of-house genius of Garrett Harker; and the oyster farm know-how of Island Creek Oysters' Skip Bennett. Their collective efforts have yielded a sleek, high-energy oyster bar and seafood restaurant dedicated to highlighting the best of New England's local purveyors, ingredients and talent.

The menu leans heavily to seafood with plenty of classic preparations alongside more daring dishes - and of course, lots of oysters (12-18 varieties daily). For diners who prefer their meal to have had its feet planted firmly on solid ground - there are plenty of plates that won't leave them wanting. The bar program, developed by the team behind the bar at sister restaurant Eastern Standard, is top-notch, whether you're in the mood for wine, a beer or craft cocktails.

Taking inspiration from the Island Creek Oyster farm, the restaurant brings a little slice of laidback Duxbury life right to the heart of the city with Gabion cages filled with tens of thousands of Island Creek oyster shells; reclaimed Wyoming snow fences used to create window shutters: and an oversized photograph of the Duxbury Bay tidal flats.

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Lauren Kroesser

Chef at Island Creek Oyster Bar

Chef Lauren Kroesser at Island Creek Oyster Bar

Pastry Chef Lauren Kroesser, who currently oversees the Pastry Department at Hotel Commonwealth grew up on the North Shore of Massachusetts in Wenham.

A graduate of the University of Delaware honors program, Kroesser studied broadcast television working at restaurants during college. During the summer, she tended bar on the island of Nantucket at both The Ropewalk and The Club Car. After college, she continued working in the restaurant and catering businesses in both Nantucket and Key West.

In 2008, Kroesser chose to channel her passion for food into a career and headed back to school. She attended Boston University, where she studied under Jaques Pepin and some of Boston's top chefs, ultimately earning her culinary certificate in 2008.

Shortly after graduating from BU, Kroesser was hired as a pastry assistant at Sel de la Terre, an upscale French restaurant on Boston's waterfront. She soon moved to head pastry where she remained for two years writing dessert menus, developing recipes, hiring and training new pastry staff, while also developing a bread program and making daily pastries for both the restaurant and its retail store. She has also worked as a private chef and is experienced in teaching both baking and pastry.

Kroesser, who lives in Charlestown is currently Executive Pastry Chef at Eastern Standard and Island Creek Oyster Bar.

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Agnolotti
1. noun Small, half-moon-shaped ravioli.
Aïoli
1. noun A blend of ail (garlic) and oli (oil) in the parlance of the Provence region of southern France. Around here, we'd call it a garlic mayonnaise.
Brioche
1. noun A soft, yeasty French bread enriched with butter and eggs.
Chanterelle
1. noun A wild and nutty mushroom with a trumpet-shaped head.
Chantilly
1. noun Prepared or served with whipped cream.
Chorizo
1. noun Crumbly, spiced pork sausage.
Choucroute
1. noun French-style sauerkraut, cooked with goose fat, onions, white wine, and juniper berries or caraway seeds.
Confit
1. noun Meat (usually goose, duck or pork) that is slowly cooked in its own fat and preserved with the fat packed around it as a seal.
Crème fraîche
1. noun Cream that is allowed to set and thicken to a velvety rich texture.
Gravlax
1. noun Cured raw salmon.
Jus
1. noun French for juice, jus also refers to the unthickened juices from a piece of roasted meat.
Lemongrass
1. noun A lemon-scented herb used liberally in Thai and Cambodian cooking.
Nage
1. noun This culinary buzzword usually indicates a bouillon with (among other things) white wine, shallots and herbs.
Pâté
1. noun Ground meat, fish or vegetables blended with fat and seasonings; can be smooth or chunky, served cold or hot.
Pâte
1. noun French for dough, paste or batter.
Pesto
1. noun An Italian sauce traditionally made with basil, olive oil, garlic, pine nuts and Romano and Parmesan cheeses.
Praline
1. noun A sweet made of almonds and sugar invented for the French Comte du Plessis-Praslin by his cook in the 1600s.
Prix fixe
1. noun French for fixed price, a complete meal that features a limited number of selections at a preset price.
Quinoa
1. noun These small, round, pale-brown grains look similar to millet and have a mild taste and a firm texture. Quinoa is considered a complete protein because it contains all eight essential amino acids.
Ragoût
1. noun A thick, seasoned stew of meat or fish, sometimes with vegetables.
Rémoulade
1. noun A cold mayonnaise sauce flavored with mustard, gherkins, capers, anchovies and herbs.
Risotto
1. noun Italian dish made from rice cooked by intermittently adding small amounts of stock or broth. Other ingredients are added as required.
Shiitake
1. noun Bold and meaty, these are called "black mushrooms" on Chinese menus.
Skate
1. noun Firm, white and sweet-tasting, the wings of this kite-shaped fish are showing up on more and more menus.
Spaetzle
1. noun Tiny flour-and-egg noodles or dumplings.
Tapenade
1. noun Thick paste - made from olives, anchovies, capers, lemon juice, olive oil and seasonings - that can be a condiment or a spread.
Tartare
1. noun Ground or finely chopped, seasoned raw meat (traditionally beef). May or may not come mounded, and with a raw egg.
Tasso
1. noun A Cajun specialty, tasso is a lean, seasoned cut of cured pork.