Half-price oysters and sparkling wine at Parkside

On Wednesday, Rachael and I visited Parkside, which is located on 301 E 6th St in Austin, right smack in the heart of the 6th Street district. Presumably, we were meeting Justin of ModernWino.com there to talk shop about wine blogging. But in actuality, I think we were all the most excited about the great deal that Parkside offers all day on Wednesday: half-price oysters and sparkling wines by the glass or bottle. Justin told us about this great deal, and I’m forever grateful to him for that. I love oysters, and we’ve shucked Gulf oysters and written about oyster and wine pairings in the past.

Parkside offers ten different types of oysters, and we tried the Cameron Shoals, Blue Points, Barcats, and Umami oysters. I’ve only enjoyed Blue Points in the past, but on this particular day, the Cameron Shoals were hands-down my favorite. They were a creamy texture, with less salt than the others, but purely delectable – like melt-in-your-mouth-delectable. All the oysters served were fresh, wonderfully cold, and high quality. Though not half-price, we also tried some of their fish from the raw bar, and the ceviche and crab salad were a nice finish to the meal.

We tried three different bottles of sparkling wine. Before the meal, we shared a bottle of Lucien Albrecht Blanc-de-blanc from Alsace. These bubbles were fantastic, full of fruit and rich flavor. There was a soft touch of caramel that really brought this one home. With the oysters, we enjoyed a bottle of Poema Cava Brut and then a Bisol Prosecco. These extremely drinkable wines were perfect with the oysters, and the Bisol Prosecco was a great sparkling wine that rivaled even the Lucien Albrecht BdB. To me, it fell a little below the BdB, but Justin ranked this wine his number one if I remember right.

Overall, our visit to Parkside in Austin was very nice. Our server was very kind and helpful, and it was a great way to spend the evening. Keep an eye on Justin over at ModernWino.com. I have a feeling he’s going to feature a ridiculous (in the good way) podcast sometime soon.

Oh, and I’ll leave it up to you to figure out what this beauty is below. I’ll give you a hint: goat cheese ice cream…

Check out these related posts:

1. Food and wine pairing: oysters with Champagne, Prosecco, and Cava
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3. Food and wine pairing: Oysters, red snapper, and mushroom risotto
4. The high price of drinking wine in Austin, Texas restaurants
5. Wine, food & friends – better than Valentine’s day