In a feature today about the excellent Matunuck Oyster Bar, CBS Morning Show host Jeff Glor tried to keep up with the overflowing tank of energy behind the operation, Perry Raso. Following a childhood spent bull-raking clams and trapping eels, Raso headed to URI where he studied aquaculture and fisheries technology, graduating with a bachelors and a master’s degree. In 2002 he founded Matunuck Oyster Farm.
Raso then expanded that initial operation into this enormously popular restaurant, the seven acre oyster farm in Potter Pond, an adjacent organic vegetable farm, and, in his spare time, Raso gives TED talks on the future of aquaculture and the global need for sustainable food sources.
(One advantage to oysters is that they feed themselves by filtering phytoplankton out of the water. In an effort to return New York Harbor into a healthy ecosystem, the Billion Oyster Project has been restoring the oyster reefs along the shore. Oyster reefs provide habitat for hundreds of species and can protect the city from storm damage. Could we do something like that here in Narragansett Bay?)
The kitchen of the Matunuck Oyster Bar put out a spread for Glor that will have you making reservations (401) 783-4202. They are open daily.
Matunuck Oyster Bar, 629 Succotash Road South, South Kingstown, (directions)