It’s no secret that on the rare occasion I go out, I go to three different places. It’s either Birdie G’s, Found Oyster, or Korean BBQ. All three touch a nostalgia nerve for me, but in an elevated way. If you’re like me and you grew up or spent any time at all on the east coast, you ate some seafood during the summer on Cape Cod. Probably something fried..Or a lot of things fried…Mostly things fried…Clam strips, scallops, oysters…But there were also other staples such as broiled haddock, steamers (pronounced steam-uhs), lobster rolls, lobsters in general, boiled crab. The list goes on. The main thing was just to cook the living shit out of whatever it was and serve it with lemon and tartar sauce.

My diet as a kid revolved around anything out of a can or box. A common lunch was Spaghetti-O’s with hot dogs sliced into it. Dessert was peaches or fruit cocktail from the can. In the summer, fresh strawberries with evaporated milk and powdered sugar. Hungry Man salisbury steak TV dinners, mac and cheese, the 10 for a dollar Top ramen packs with a can of tuna thrown in, tuna cassarole, any type of frozen pizza whether French bread or no, and of course, the Friday night staple–take out Chinese. I’m not sure I touched a fresh vegetable or real piece of meat for the first 18 years of my life.

In a way, restaurants saved me from this life of thin, tasteless gruel. Eating real food, seeing it prepared and then eventually jumping in and preparing it myself, tasting it, seeing others do it, working on a line, talking about food, living the job, going out and planning specials in the wee hours of the night. All of this led to a better palate and the skill of being able to cook for myself which, sadly, most people do not have. This of course put me down the crazy paths of many different diets as well. I’ve tried paleo, vegan, vegetarian, carnivore, and then just not caring anymore.

I discovered the thrill of raw seafood through sushi (thanks Luci) late in life and then all the paths to follow afterward. Yes, I grew up in Vermont and didn’t eat sushi until I was at least 24 or 25. Keep the shame jart throwing to a minimum (yes, jarts, not jorts…lawn darts). Good cocktail name: Shame Jart. Anyway, raw anything wasn’t my jam until I moved from New York to Boston and really started to go to town on oysters. I used to go to the Legal Seafoods in Dedham where they had them for a buck apiece before five o’clock. A couple dozen of those and a couple glasses of muscadet and hey, it was time for some afternoon delight…And a nap…

At some point Boston became this mecca for oysters mostly due to Island Creek Oyster bar from the farm of the same name. Boston always had it’s big, old school oyster houses–Neptune Oyster and The Union Oyster House to name two–but Island Creek came along and opened their joint right next to Eastern Standard in Kenmore Square and just blew everyone away. The wine list was all white. It was big, massive and modern inside, the service was great. Not the same as the tiny Neptune or the super outdated, awkward, mediocre, and weird Union. No, these guys brought the heat and it was spectacular. It really changed everything at the time.

Out here on the west side of the country, it’s hard to find a decent oyster joint partly because there’s very few farms here in Southern California. I think it’s an actual physical and geological phenomenon due to the lack of bays. San Francisco Bay used to have billions of oysters before it got polluted, yada, yada.

At any rate, Found Oyster hits that East Coast nerve in me. It takes what they did at Island Creek and squeezes it all down into a teeny tiny little place you’d drive by and not even know was there. Fresh as hell but also fun. They’ve got the good chowder with the appropriate Westminster crackers from Rutland Vermont. There’s the seafood tower I always get with the delicious shrimp, the East Coast oysters, the crudo, the crab dip. They’ve got a killer lobstah roll (the mayonnaise kind, not the butter kind) but in my opinion not enough celery. This weird raw scallop tostada with basil. Everything is good there. The best thing too is that Jo and I can always agree to go here. We both love this type of eating where the food doesn’t have to be altered much. We also don’t understand how Found gets their seafood and keeps it so fresh but it doesn’t matter. We went yesterday for a sort of pre-birthday dinner for me. Two tired parents out on the town at 5 o’clock, circling the block looking for parking under the shade of the Scientology church. Across the street, glancing over at Saffy’s. The perfect night, actually. 76 and a light breeze which is uncommon for Hollywood. In the right light we were still young, but you know what? We still are. Forty ain’t old anymore and these old dogs still have a long way to go.

If you haven’t been, go. Pound a cold Coors Banquet short neck. Swirl and swill some wine. Look across the table at your loved one while you’re slurping down an oyster. There’s a great vibe at Found. The music is good, the beer is ultra cold, and the service is unpretentious but attentive.