A Love Letter to Fair Haven Oyster Co

I had been wanting to go to Fair Haven Oyster Company for months after hearing rave reviews from my friends. I was on the waitlist for a two person table on the busiest night of the year, Valentine’s Day, and I was losing hope. At 5:45pm the night before, I got a call from an unknown number saying they had a cancellation last minute, and asking if I still wanted the table. Of course, I said yes. They got extra points already for actually paying attention to a waitlist; I feel like either I'm extremely unlucky, or they usually are just forgotten about. Valentine’s Day was saved.

26 hours later, my boyfriend and I ubered to the restaurant (a 12 minute drive from Pierson College). We were a little confused by where we were dropped off as it looked like we were at a shipyard parking lot. When I searched up the location in the daylight, it was exactly that. Our instincts led us to a blue shed-looking building with twinkly lights, and we saw the name “Fair Haven Oyster Co” on a tiny little plaque. I loved the discreet, fisherman vibe – I felt like I was stepping into a scene from Moby Dick. When we walked in, the boat theme continued via the round circular windows, New England beach decor, low ceilings, wood-plank benches, and covered patio outside. 

When we sat we were greeted with QR code menus, which I don’t typically love, but when our server told us the dishes change daily it made a little more sense. After looking for a while, and my boyfriend relinquishing menu control to me as usual, I decided to start with two oysters, one sweet and one salty, the gochujang roasted little neck clams, and the scallop crudo. 

The oysters were delicious, cold, very fresh, and served with a delightful nori mignonette. I wish we got more as they were definitely worth the try. The clams were our/my least favorite of the appetizers, though I still ate them all. They were doused in gochujang butter, a fermented spicy miso paste, which makes it almost impossible to be bad because I just love gochujang. However, I did unfortunately think it overpowered the flavor of the clam which I wish I tasted more of. The lime squeeze definitely elevated the dish. Skippable, but yummy nonetheless. Finally the scallops were very interesting. I LOVE a scallop, and I'd never had a warmed-raw one. I imagine they were cooked simply with the heat of the sauce because the tops were raw and the bottoms just cooked. They were served with a butter sauce, orange segments, and roasted hazelnuts. I think the hazelnuts were a bit burnt which gave it a slightly bitter flavor. But overall, a lovely dish.

Up until now, I had made my boyfriend try all the seafood dishes, but I ended up eating almost all of them. He’s a simple man who likes his steak and chicken. So, to my slight disappointment, we decided to get the steak instead of the whole fried fish. I think he was thrown off by the thought of a fish head and eyes. But, since it was Valentine’s Day, I compromised. The steak came with a lobster bernaise, which we asked for on the side so he could enjoy it plain. I was just excited that there was gonna be some seafood with the dish.

I wasn’t expecting much from steak at a seafood restaurant, but wow was I mistaken. The boneless ribeye was cooked to a perfect medium-rare and had an incredible charcoal-grilled flavor and a drizzle of olive oil. The lobster bernaise, a type of French butter sauce, was packed with poached lobster and was a perfectly-rich addition to the steak. I eat a fair amount of steak, and this was truly high in my rankings. We absolutely loved it and I would go back just for that. It was also somewhat reasonable at a price point of $75 for around 16oz and very filling. 

Finally, for dessert, we shared the milk and cookies. It’s quite difficult to go wrong with warm chocolate chip cookies, and unsurprisingly, they were delicious. I personally like thicker cookies with a crusty, gooey center, but these were thin and crispy, and still yummy. Not much else to say but mmmhmhmmmm. 

All in all, I’m dying to go back already, especially with the daily changing menu. Fair Haven Oyster Co lived up to my expectations and saved my Valentine’s Day. Might be my new favorite New Haven Restaurant??