VCA Spotlight: 42nd St. Oyster Bar & Seafood Grill committed to serving, helping local seafood
'Time to eat.' That's been the sign in front of 42nd St. Oyster Bar and Seafood Grill since 1987, but the restaurant's history spans over eight decades.
It began as a grocery store serving oysters on 42nd Street. Then in 1933 after prohibition, the store started serving draft beer. The restaurant's website states that it was the first place to serve "draft beer in a frosted mug."
Then in 1987, it moved to it's current location on the corners of Jones and West streets.
In 2019 and 2023, the restaurant won the WRAL Voters' Choice Award for best local seafood.
To this day, employees are committed to using as much local seafood as possible. Diners can try different types of oysters from North Carolina and Virginia.
Diners can watch their oysters shucked to order, or those not interested in seafood can try the restaurant's steak or chicken.
The restaurant also participates in the North Carolina Oyster Shell Recycling Program, which puts used oysters shell back into the waters along the North Carolina coast to help baby oyster find a shell to attach themselves to and grow.
On average, the restaurant serves around 3,500 oysters a week.
The walls of the restaurant help diners get a picture of the restaurant's rich history. A picture on one wall is a receipt for two from 1956, while another is lined with the names of North Carolina politicians who have stopped in for a bite to eat.
As customer Mable Taylor described,"people sitting at the oyster bar could be the governor sitting alongside construction workers."
For years Raleigh residents have gone 42nd St. to celebrate special occasions.
"In 2000 when I was a senior at Cary High and me, my date and 8 friends went there for our dinner before our prom," recounted Burt Lawson.
But the seafood spot isn't just for special occasions -- diners can come enjoy live music or sit at the bar the lines the restaurant.
Another Raleigh resident, Susan Murphy, remembered going to the restaurant to listen to live music in the 90s. She even remembered being in the restaurant watching the O.J. Simpson police chase in Los Angeles in 1994.
