Culinary adventures highlight Morro Bay’s famed mollusks

For oyster aficionados, multiple experiences beckon in Morro Bay, one of only six production sites in the Golden State.

Kayak the calm waters of the bay for an immersive adventure with Central Coast Outdoors or enjoy wine pairings with the tasty mollusks ashore at Absolution Cellars.

The common ingredient for the oyster outings is seasoned oyster farmer and Los Osos native Margot Kandarian, store manager at Grassy Bar Oyster Co. and owner of Flying Colors Co., a mobile oyster bar.

“This new tour visits Grassy Bar Oyster Co.’s farm location in the middle of beautiful Morro Bay National Estuary by kayak,” said John Flaherty, co-owner of Central Coast Outdoors. “Once there, trained Central Coast Outdoors guides explain in detail how the oyster farm works and answer questions about the operation.”

Back at the kayak docks, Kandarian further dives into oystering and leads the culinary portion of the adventure.

The intimate two-and-a-half-hour tours are limited to 16 guests and cost $95 per person, with all kayak gear, a waterproof fleece blanket, water, snacks, and six oysters included.

The next outing on Oct. 11 is sold out, but there is still space on Nov. 13, the final tour of the season. Private experiences may be arranged, and public tours will resume in the spring.

“The Grassy Bar Oyster Co. farm is located about halfway between the state park marina and the shore in Los Osos,” Kandarian said. “I would say it probably takes 20 to 30 minutes to kayak out there, depending on the tide and wind.” 

Grassy Bar, founded by George Trevelyan in 2009 and now co-owned by local Nathan Reiss and San Pedro-based Holdfast Aquaculture, actively farms seven of its 150 state-leased acres.

After about one and a half hours on the water, kayakers return to the dock, “where I give a short talk about oyster farming in Morro Bay, answer any questions, give a shucking demonstration, and then assist guests in shucking their own oysters,” Kandarian said.

“It’s been super fun so far,” she added, noting that the inaugural tour launched in August.

“On the tour we typically shuck extra small oysters—our smallest size,” she explained. “They are Pacific oysters—the most common variety farmed on the West Coast, with seed originally from Japan. I would describe the oysters as briny with a sweet, melon-y finish. Sauces offered on the tour include our house-made mignonette—Grassy Splash—which is a cilantro-jalapeño-based mignonette. Cocktail sauce, horseradish, and citrus are offered too.”

For oyster enthusiasts who would prefer to skip the kayaking and leave the shucking to the expert, Kandarian offers a seaside pop-up experience in downtown Morro Bay in partnership with Absolution Cellars on the first Tuesday of every month.

For $30 per guest and $20 for wine-club members, Kandarian shucks six oysters to pair with Absolution wines.

“We love our collaboration with Margot and Flying Colors,” said Dirk Neumann, winemaker and owner of Absolution. “We did our first one in June of 2024 and have been doing it monthly since then and will continue to do so. Customers love it. We have a great mix of regulars and new folks each month. 

“The oysters are always super fresh, and her mignonettes are amazing. People have so much fun mixing and matching because not only can they try different mignonettes, but also three different wines, and because we make so many different wines, there is always a new flight each month—typically a white, a rosé, and a lighter-style red. Yes, you can drink red wine with oysters!”

For the pop-ups, Kandarian often features two different mignonettes based on farmers market produce.

“They change seasonally depending on what’s growing and depending on what wines the hosting venue is wanting to pair with the oysters,” Kandarian said. “Right now I have been doing a lot of stone fruit mignonettes like peach or plum, red fruit mignonettes like raspberry or strawberry, sometimes an Asian-inspired cucumber mignonette. It’s almost time for a couple of my favorites—pear and pomegranate.”

Kandarian sources oysters for the pop-ups from throughout the country, though “oysters farmed in Morro Bay are some of my favorites,” she said.

“Another of my favorites is Glidden Point Oyster Farms in Maine,” she continued. “When I do shucking workshops, I usually will try to do both a West Coast and an East Coast oyster to do a little side-by-side tasting.” 

Morro Bay is farmed by two primary producers, Grassy Bar and Morro Bay Oyster Company, and Kandarian has worked at both establishments.

The former preschool teacher-turned-oyster farmer wanted a job that would get her outdoors.

“My dad is a farmer, so I felt like I somewhat knew what to expect from farming,” she said, “but the added element of working on the water was totally new to me.”

She started oyster farming in 2020 and rose to the ranks of farm manager for Morro Bay Oyster, then launched Flying Colors in 2023. In 2024, she left Morro Bay Oyster for Grassy Bar and became store manager in 2025.

Local oysters—Pacific from Grassy Bar and Pacific Gold from Morro Bay Oyster—benefit from their unique aquatic environment.

“In general, oyster farming requires a bay where at low tide the lines and gear are accessible or on the mud to do maintenance, but also where it is submerged in deep enough water … for the oysters to grow,” Kandarian said. “There are not a lot of bays like that in California. This is part of why oyster farming is more prevalent in Oregon and Washington.”

Grassy bar uses tumble lines—a type of growing system where the oysters are enclosed in mesh bags that have a float on one end. The bags are attached to a high-tension wire that is horizontal and suspended about 3 feet off the bay floor with vertical PVC poles. 

“So each time the tide rises and falls, the bags are tipping back and forth, which puts a little bit more stress on the oysters and causes them to grow a deeper, and more desirable, cup-shaped shell,” Kandarian explained. Δ

Flavor Writer Cherish Whyte admires Margot’s passion for her profession. She’ll be savoring mouth-watering mollusks at cwhyte@newtimesslo.com.

This article appears in Oct 2 – 12, 2025.