🦪 Oyster Papi loves a good shuck

Catch the traveling raw bar next Monday! [View this email in your browser]( [READER Logo]( [Food & Drink]( | April 26, 2024 On picture day in third grade, Rickie Pérez wore his dad’s chef’s coat and toque and posed with his favorite book from the Brentano Math and Science Academy library: Lynne Marie Waldee’s Cooking the French Way. “I got heated for it, because we were in the middle of the second three-peat,” he says. “Everybody else was wearing their Bulls jerseys and carrying basketballs.”  “Chef Rickie,” they roasted him. Or worse: “Chef Boyardee.” But nobody ever laughed when they passed around his homemade adobo to season their bland cafeteria lunches. Later, nobody laughed when he grilled lobster tails for his graffiti crew.  And today, nobody sweats Chef Rickie. That’s just what everybody calls him. Or Oyster Papi, or the Oyster King of Chicago, titles he’s earned over the last decade as the bivalve shucking boss of [Logan Oyster Socials]( the traveling raw bar landing on the patio at the next [Monday Night Foodball,]( the Reader’s weekly chef pop-up at [Frank and Mary’s Tavern]( in Avondale.  Though his fate seemed ordained from grammar school, Pérez—who grew up between Logan Boulevard and his father’s western Puerto Rican hometown, Las Marías (aka el Pueblo de la China Dulce, aka “the town of sweet oranges”)—he didn’t discover his specialty until the end of one fateful, sweltering breakfast shift as a line cook at the erstwhile Elysian Hotel. He volunteered for a double when the regular shucker at the raw bar between the restaurants [Ria and Balsan]( no-showed.  “I was in front of people,” he says. “I could see outside. I'm breathing. I have my hands in ice versus my muscles spasming because the heat was so bad. I just fell in love with being able to do my craft, talk to people, and not be suffering the entire time.”  From there, Pérez took inspiration from established east- and west-coast shuckers to launch the first mobile raw bar in the midwest. When Mariano’s launched in Chicago, he simultaneously built the supermarket chain’s (now-defunct) oyster program and his own catering business while handing out business cards from the raw bar at his Ravenswood HQ.  “I've been utilizing the smaller farms directly. So the guy that’s gonna get my oysters is gonna then ship them out himself that morning.”  That’s why it’s too soon to say what he’s bringing this Monday. But bet they’ll be as fresh as you can get them, whether naked and tasting of the sea, or dressed in his citrusy, textural mignonettes (say, guava and cilantro oil, gin aviation, or strawberry rosé).  He shucks oysters in groups of three and five, augmented by whatever else the vibe calls for: maybe, mini lobster rolls with olive oil caviar, grilled octopus salad with pigeon pea hummus, or michelada shrimp ceviche platters.  Time and tide wait for no one, which is why you’ll just have to show up and see what Pérez puts on ice, starting at 6 PM this Monday, April 29, at 2905 N. Elston in ostraceous Avondale.  Meantime, ogle the full Foodball schedule: [a pizza sitting on top of a wooden paddle]( [Shuck off with Logan Oyster Socials at the next Monday Night Foodball]( Rickie Pérez brings his traveling raw bar to the Reader’s weekly chef pop-up at Frank and Mary’s Tavern. by [Mike Sula]( | [Read more]( → [the outside of a restaurant with wooden tables and barrels]( [Monday Night Foodball kicks off patio season at Frank and Mary’s Tavern]( The Reader’s weekly chef pop-up finds a new home at the venerable 52-year-old Avondale dive. by [Mike Sula]( | [Read more]( → [a selection of beers on a table in a brewery]( [Haymarket Pub & Brewery: strong on beer but hit-or-miss]( February 2011 | Belgian brews rule at Pete Crowley’s riotous brewpub. by [Julia Thiel]( | [Read more]( → [Wine therapy at Red & White]( December 2019 | For when you just need a fucking drink. by [Lee Gusman]( | [Read more]( → Get the latest issue of the Chicago Reader Thursday, April 18, 2024 [READ ONLINE: VOL. 53, NO. 14]( [VIEW/DOWNLOAD ISSUE (PDF)]( [Become a member of the Chicago Reader.]( [Facebook icon]( [Instagram icon]( [Twitter icon]( [LinkedIn icon]( [YouTube icon]( [Website icon]( [Logo] You received this email because you signed up for newsletters from the Chicago Reader. Want fewer emails from us? [Click here to choose what you want us to send you](. Or, [unsubscribe from all Reader emails](. We’ll miss you! [Sign up for emails from the Chicago Reader]( | [Forward this e-mail to a friend]( © 2024 Chicago Reader. All rights reserved. Chicago Reader, 2930 S. Michigan Ave., Suite 102, Chicago, IL 60616