Brandon Hayden is on a journey to bring more oyster culture to our landlocked city. After throwing Kansas City’s first Oyster Fest at J. Rieger’s Electric Park back in May, the chef and certified oyster ambassador is now opening a raw bar in the East Crossroads (1739 Oak St., KCMO).
Currently, all of Kansas City’s raw oyster bars are part of a larger restaurant, like Earl’s Premier, Farina or The Parker Hollow, where Hayden currently runs the raw bar as the restaurant’s sous chef. The Shuckers Union, however, will be just an oyster and cocktail bar.
“There’s not a kitchen,” Hayden says. “We’re not putting in stoves or fryers or a hood system or any of the things you would normally get at a restaurant. There’s no fish and chips or burgers. We want to be a cocktail and oyster bar. A before-or-after place.”…