If oysters are the reason you're going out, Shuckers Oyster Bar & Grill at 96008 Wade's Place prepares them at least eight ways, with views of the Intracoastal Waterway around Amelia Island. Shuckers opened in 2008 in a small spot behind a gas station and has since moved to its current location on the water.
The oyster list is the core of the menu:
- Raw on the half shell, or steamed, by the half dozen or dozen.
- A steamed oyster bucket that you shuck yourself.
- Rockefeller, with creamed spinach, bacon, breadcrumbs and parmesan.
- Chargrilled with garlic butter and parmesan.
- Shucker's Famous Oysters, topped with bacon, bleu cheese and garlic butter.
- A broiler trio with four of each style, plus hand-breaded fried oysters as an entrée.
Shrimp is the other headliner. The restaurant serves local Mayport shrimp all day, grilled, fried or blackened, as peel-and-eat, or tossed as bang bang shrimp. The crab boil brings crab legs, sausage, shrimp, potatoes, corn on the cob and a boiled egg in a mild sauce, and Grouper Amelia puts grilled grouper and shrimp over a creamy Cajun sauce. There's also a seafood platter for two, gator tail, seafood gumbo, a seared ahi tuna salad, and a Little Shuckers menu for kids.
Shuckers serves daily, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., for dine-in or takeout, with online ordering for pickup and delivery. It also takes inquiries for weddings, special events and catering. The menu's motto is "Enter as strangers, leave as friends," and parties of eight or more get an 18 percent gratuity added.
Down Under Restaurant is also on Wade's Place if you want to compare oyster lists. Downtown, the Salty Pelican calls its broiled oysters a signature, and if a full boil by the pound is the goal, The Hidden Crab builds them to order.