“ ‘O Oysters, come and walk with us!’ The Walrus did beseech,” goes the Lewis Carroll poem about a walrus and a carpenter who were looking for a delightful dinner of oysters.
Thankfully, there is no need to entice the oysters to come to dinner in Kinston. The Boiler Room and Oyster Bar is a new restaurant serving them up — raw or steamed — with a variety of unique dipping sauces and homemade saltine crackers.
The restaurant, owned by Benjamin “Ben” Knight and Vivian Howard of Chef and the Farmer, opened Aug. 6 and also offers burgers and beer in a rustic and industrial marine-type setting.
It takes its name from the building’s old boiler, which still stands there, Knight said.
A former elevator shaft is enclosed to make a tiny room where original graffiti is displayed.
“Everybody who’s been in really loves the atmosphere,” he said.
Knight said the idea of an oyster bar came about because people often would say how they missed the old Surf and Turf.
The restaurant is designed to draw the younger crowd into what’s becoming a restaurant community.
“It’s meant to be a fun, inexpensive bar scene,” he said. “… It’s an updated version of the Eastern North Carolina oyster bar.”
The restaurant, open for dinner and late night fare, is managed by Crystal Howard (no relation to Vivian Howard) and Danny Accomado. Sous Chef Adam Atkinson, from Chef and the Farmer, will be preparing the food.
Crystal Howard brings more than 10 years of restaurant experience, including working as a front end corporate trainer for a number of restaurants and waiting tables. Accomado brings an extensive storehouse of oyster knowledge to the table, including the proper way to shuck.
“He’s by far a fast shucker,” Howard said. “He’s taught (the staff) about oyster history and the different varieties.”
There are several varieties of oysters available, including farm-raised and wild-caught from about October through January.
Oysters can be dipped in homemade cocktail sauce, drawn butter with lemon or the house hottie — a homemade hot sauce. For the raw oysters, there is a strawberry mignonette, a light sauce, and a chunky tomato, jalapeno and rice vinegar sauce. Both include garlic and onions.
“We are very reasonably priced,” Howard said, “especially for seafood.”
There are five varieties of burgers, including a butter bean and smoked gouda cheese veggie burger. The meat is freshly ground daily. In the fall, they will offer locally-grown beef, Knight said.
A favorite from Chef and the Farmer is the baked pimento cheese and sausage dip, he said.
Special Southern-inspired desserts are the Pepsi and peanut ice cream float and benne, or sesame, seed banana pudding.
“These (benne) were an heirloom seed grown in South Carolina,” Knight said.
Local beers include selections from Kinston’s Mother Earth Brewing and Farmville’s Duck-Rabbit Craft Brewery.
The restaurant, in the alley between North and Gordon streets, seats about 45 people, plus outdoor cafe seating amidst brick walls and flower gardens in the alley.
The Boiler Room, 108 W. North St., is open from 4:30-10 p.m. for dinner, with a lighter menu available until midnight, Tuesday through Saturday. For information, call 252-208-2433, Ext. 5.
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Tractor Supply Company is holding its third annual Pet Appreciation Week, an event celebrating pets and the joy they add to people’s lives.
The store, 1030 W. New Bern Road, is offering sales through Sunday.
The main event will happen Saturday with pet adoptions, giveaways and nutrition demonstrations. All pets are also welcome to take part in the festivities.
Tractor Supply is partnering with PetFinder.com and the local SPCA to help organize the pet adoption. In addition to matching pets with caring families, the events are designed to increase awareness of local pet adoption programs and the importance of neutering and spaying your pets.
New pet parents will receive an adoption kit, courtesy of MARS Pet Care. MARS will also be making donations totaling $25,000 to animal shelters on Tractor Supply’s behalf. The shelters will be determined by customer recommendations via Facebook throughout August at Facebook.com/TractorSupplyCo.
Customers will receive a free Tractor Supply food scoop or a Pet Appreciation Week/Hills Science Diet Frisbee, while supplies last, and can enter a drawing to win “doggie bag” prize packs, a $150 gift card or a $100 vet services rebate from Hills Science Diet. Customers can also register online for a chance to win in the PAW Great Gift Cards Giveaway where Tractor Supply is giving away $25,000 in gift cards.
To register and find out more about Pet Appreciation Week, visit TractorSupply.com/PAW2013.
Tractor Supply is open 8 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 9 a.m.-7 p.m. on Sunday. For information, call 252-208-0146.
Margaret Fisher can be reached at 252-559-1082 or Margaret.Fisher@Kinston.com. Follow her on Twitter @MargaretFishr.
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Do you have a new retail business that’s undergone a significant change? The Free Press would like to hear about it. Contact Margaret Fisher at 252-559-1082 or Margaret.Fisher@Kinston.com.