Going out to eat is a great way to treat yourself after a long work week, especially since it means you won't have to cook for yourself. If you've decided to celebrate the end of the week with your family and friends, then you'll probably end up ordering something to share with the table. But, chefs and restaurant employees want you to know that not everything on the appetizer menu is a good choice...
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Oysters are the one appetizer that chef Mark Nichols never eats when he dines out. And if he does decide to order them, he makes sure that they've been harvested no more than 100 miles away from the restaurant he's chosen. "If handled and stored incorrectly, raw oysters can kill you," he tells Reader's Digest. He does make a good point there.
Not only do you need to factor in how far away the oysters were harvested, but also how much they're priced at. Business Insider notes that oysters with cheaper price tags are a big red flag in the restaurant industry, as this probably means that they're very low quality. "If the restaurant is letting them go for this cheap, you aren’t getting a deal—they’re just really, really low-quality oysters," writes Lindsay Champion.
Restaurant employees are also on Champion's side of this oyster debate. One employee said that customers should avoid "seafood specials or buck-a-shuck oysters" because "it means, 'My seafood delivery is tomorrow, and I'm trying to get rid of my old stock.'" Gross!
Well, you can bet that we're definitely going to be more cautious with where we get our oysters from. Hopefully these tips will help you stay out of some pretty fishy situations when ordering appetizers, too!