written by Lauren Kramer | photography by Oyster & Thistle
Like many restaurants, the menu at Oyster & Thistle changes depending on what’s in season. Only, at this sixty-seat fine dining restaurant in La Conner, the changes happen faster than most. We sat down for a spring dinner and ordered salmon from a menu sheet printed that day, only to find the salmon is now halibut.
“Duane flagged down a fisherman as he pulled his boat out of the water and bought two halibut he’d just caught,” said chef Josh Van Hine, who purchased Oyster & Thistle in January with sommelier Duane Bunch. The two are fast friends who fish together, hunt together and are planning a working, professional farm that will supply specialty livestock and produce directly to the restaurant.
“We both have passion and drive, are perfectionists in our field and share the same vision,” Bunch said. “We call each other out and hold one-another accountable to higher standards.”
The restaurant is open for Pacific Northwest-inspired cuisine with French roots and serves lunch and dinner seven days a week. Many diners drive north from Bellevue and Kirkland. “They appreciate how we do things,” Van Hine said. “There’s no produce truck delivering to our back door. We go to local farmers, fishermen and meat processors to get our ingredients, and we transition our menu to whatever they’re pulling out of the ground, or fishing from the sea.”
I ordered filet mignon, thrilled to learn that all the ingredients on the plate were grown in a 30-mile radius of Oyster & Thistle. The beets in my salad were pulled from the ground 5 miles away, and the microgreens were grown in Whatcom County. The food was exceptionally tasty and exquisitely presented to highlight different colors, textures and flavors.
Because ingredient selection changes so quickly, the menu looks different each day. It keeps things interesting, said Bunch. “Come for a meal and the food will be fantastic, the best meal you’ve ever had,” he said. “But you won’t know what’s on the menu until you take a seat at our table.”
205 E. WASHINGTON ST.
LA CONNER
www.theoysterandthistle.com
