BBQ Oysters from Little Dom's @ Taste of the Eastside

Yesterday, one of my favorite parks in Los Angeles played host to a slew of "eastside" restros showcasing tasty bites & colorful cocktails.  Taste of the Eastside in it's 3rd iteration was held at the gorgeous Barnsdall Art Park (home to Frank Llyod Wright's Hollyhock House) on Sunday May 15th...

On a whim, Loveonthego & I decided to check it out, so we headed over to the eastside, dropped the $25 entrance fee for a handful of tasting tickets & nommed away.  There were certainly some tasty treats & fanciful bites scattered amongst the booths with Malo & Pharmacie whipping up gorgeous cocktails out on the lawn.  However there was ONE thing that stood out from the crowd...

Little Dom's, kid brother to Dominick's on Beverly (one of my absolute favorites) taught me a little sumthang-sumthang about food that day.  And really, it seems so simple, yet so heartwarmingly delicious.  BBQed Oysters!

Yes, you heard me right.

Now when I walked by their booth & saw that on the chalkboard, I figured they'd whipped up a little BBQ flavored Mignonette which sounded interesting... so I dropped my tickets on the table and slurped up a mouthful.  What I was treated to was a warm, smoky, buttery and ocean-y bite of heaven.  But Warm Oysters?  I didn't see any heating apparatus in the back of the tent, so praying that I hadn't just guzzled one that was sitting in the sun for too long, we followed the ribbons of smoke floating through the air back to a *gasp* charcoal grill flaming the delicate shells.

Topped with a dollop of spiced butter, each oyster was dropped on the grill for a few minutes, just enough to melt the butter, smoke up the oyster and achieve the perfect balance of savory & happy.  One thing we noticed however was that a few oysters decided that it was just too hot to handle, jumping out of their shells before they finished cooking!  What a sad sad way to fail.  If the floor wasn't covered in dirt, I certainly would have scooped them up to give them the love they deserved.

So... Little Dom's if this is how you're playing it, it might be high time for a trek out to the dreaded Eastside for another plateful of these suckers.

Little Dom's
2128 Hillhurst Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90027-2012
(323) 661-0055
www.littledoms.com