Eat: An Oyster Bar

Eat is a Cajun and Louisiana Creole restaurant on North Williams Avenue in the northeast Portland part of the Boise neighborhood. Chad Walsh of Eater Portland has described the oyster bar as a "Louisiana-inspired stalwart".^[1] The website's Krista Garcia said the menu "nods to New Orleans, and is a bonanza for everything bivalve: baked oysters, fried oysters (a la carte or stuffed into po boys), oyster shooters, and of course, oysters on the half shell, served with classic grated horseradish and mignonette".^[2] The menu has also included blackened catfish, fried okra, frog legs, and shrimp etouffée.^[3] The restaurant has offered a $1 oyster happy hour,^[4][5] and supplies oysters to many other local restaurants.^[6][7] Eat offered 15 varieties of West Coast oysters, including Puget Sound-sourced Chelsea Gems and Hammersleys, as of 2018.^[8]

Owners Tobias Hogan and Ethan Powell opened Eat, once considered a sibling to The Parish,^[9] in 2008.^[10][11] Eat has hosted an annual Cajun gumbo cook-off.^[12][13]

Douglas Perry of The Oregonian gave the restaurant a 'B' rating in 2009.^[14] Michael Russell included Eat in The Oregonian's 2016 list of Portland's 12 best oyster bars. He recommended, "Don't go expecting speedy service or flawless bivalves at this split-level Cajun/Creole restaurant. Do go on Tuesdays, when select oysters are $2 a pop."^[15] Willamette Week included Eat in a 2016 list of "Where to Get the Best Happy Hour Oysters in Portland" and said the restaurant "has some of the freshest bivalves in town from mostly Oregon sources".^[16] Staff writers also included the restaurant in a 2016 overview of "the best seafood spots" in the city.^[17]

Thrillist included Eat in a 2018 list of "The 21 Best Oyster Bars in the Country". The website said, "There's no pomp and circumstance at this dirty south-influenced fixture of a fast-changing stretch of the hip Williams restaurant district, but you might notice some familiar faces eyeballing the oyster board: The place supplies farm-fresh bivalves to many of Portland's fancier joints. But those joints don't have tiny ½ pints of beer. Or frog legs. Or whatever the hell's smoking outside on the perpetually running smoker, which often wafts in to accompany live blues bands. Grab a set of shooters and a tiny beer and let the shuckers go to work."^[18]

Eater Portland included Eat in a 2017 list of "18 Hidden Gem Restaurants in Portland".^[19] Jenni Moore and Nathan Williams included the restaurant in the website's 2022 overview of "Where to Find Stellar Seafood in Portland".^[3]

• List of Cajun restaurants
• List of Louisiana Creole restaurants
• List of oyster bars
• List of seafood restaurants