Lorraine Eaton on food and dining for The Virginian-Pilot April 3 2013:

As the humble oyster continues its ascent back into the ranks of the most rarefied of foods, Ludford thinks that demand will grow for merroir-terroir tastings, and he plans to begin offering them in private homes.

One day last week, Lynnhaven River oysterman Chris Ludford stood behind the bar at Terrapin restaurant in Virginia Beach, oyster knife holstered on his hip, set to co-host the first in a series of merroir-terroir tastings at the restaurant.

For the event, Ludford selected a trio of bivalves – Pleasure House Oysters that he raises in the Lynnhaven River; some extremely rare Belons, a French strain that were grown in Maine; and Keeling’s Pride, a wild Lynnhaven River oyster, and the rarest in Virginia.

“People used to think an oyster was an oyster and just douse it with cocktail sauce,” Ludford told the guests seated at the bar. “We’re going to do something completely different.”

Lorraine Eaton on food and dining for The Virginian-Pilot 01 April 2013 | 10:33 AM:

With many thanks to some of my favorite oystermen: Chris Ludford of Pleasure House Oysters, H.M. Terry Co., and Tom Gallivan who sent the Shooting Points and Nassawaddox Salts across the Chesapeake Bay.

And to Terrapin Restaurant in Virginia Beach, which hosted the first in a series of merroir-terroir wine and oyster tastings on Friday afternoon, after which much oyster trading took place.

Visit Trust for Public Land and read the Land&People Magazine Fall/Winter 2012:

Our trip is a celebratory voyage of sorts, complete with champagne and oysters shucked out fat and creamy on the half-shell. Local conservationists – some of them along on today’s trip – have recently learned that their quixotic effort to preserve Pleasure House Point has succeeded… But perhaps no outcome is as potentially delicious as the continuing recovery of these renowned fancy oysters… Back on the Lynnhaven, oyster farmer Chris Ludford serves us samples of his product, which fetch up to $21 a dozen at local restaurants. It’s the salty – but not too salty – taste from the mix of Lynnhaven water and water from the bay that elevates these oysters above all others, he opines, adding, “If that development had gone in, my business would not exist.”

Soon Ludford will be farming oysters within sight of the new environmental education center.

Visit Chesapeake Bay Magazine November 20 2012

I wanted to take a closer look, so I contacted Chris Ludford, one of most enthusiastic of the oystermen.

Ludford, who works fulltime as a fireboat captain for the city, spends much of his free time growing and harvesting oysters on the river. It’s crazy, he admits, spending all this time on the water, but he clearly loves it—the waders, the oyster cages, the outdoors. One morning I went out with Ludford and two friends, Jerry Boothe and Ray Hunter, to a channel through the marsh and watched him cull through his latest crop. A puppy drum jumped as he dropped anchor from his 18-foot Parker Sou’wester.

The baby oysters he had bought in May were about two millimeters, he said. “When you see it, it’s going to blow your mind.”
And of course it did. The babies in fine mesh baskets were the size of quarters. And the ones that had been around for nine months were about three inches and just about ready for market. Chris picked up a couple of the larger cages and culled through the oysters, returning smaller ones for more growth, eliminating the ones that had opened, and selecting several dozen of the larger ones. He placed them in plastic baskets and polished them by gently shaking them and then plunging them in the water.

“It’s almost like panning for gold,” he said, the wonder of it all in his voice.