NEW ORLEANS – Restaurants across New Orleans will host “OysterNight” on Wednesday, Feb. 5 – a celebration of the “protein that built New Orleans.” Oyster specials will be on the menu at dozens of restaurants during lunch and dinner hours. This event will promote and support the just completed Super Bowl LIX living shoreline coastal restoration project, and the work being done by area restaurants to protect the coastline. The Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana (CRCL) and Chefs Brigade will collect discarded oyster shells and repurpose them to create reefs to help prevent further coastal erosion.
WHEN: Wednesday, Feb. 5 – lunch and dinner
WHERE: A list of participating restaurants (Chefs Brigade restaurant partners throughout New Orleans and neighboring Parishes) can be found at www.OysterNight.org
SIGNIFICANCE: South Louisiana is experiencing some of the fastest rates of land loss on the planet, a crisis caused by sea level rise, hurricanes and deprivation of sediment to coastal wetlands. Residents of the state measure land loss by the amount of time it takes a football field-sized chunk of wetlands to disappear, currently every 100 minutes.
NFL Green, partnered with Chefs Brigade restaurants, the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, FORCE BLUE retired special ops military veterans, and the Super Bowl LIX Host Committee to create a living shoreline in Leeville, Louisiana, an area heavily impacted by coastal erosion. Fifty-nine tons of oyster shells were used to create a reef to protect the coastline and contribute to storm surge protection for inland communities. The shells collected during OysterNight will be used to replenish the shell stockpile for future coastal restoration projects.
WHO: Living Shoreline coastal restoration partners from NFL Green, Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana (CRCL), FORCE Blue and Chefs Brigade will be available to media at select restaurant locations throughout the day. Two teams of project partners will visit the following restaurants and be available for interviews:
Team One:
- Soule (11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.)
- Salted Pearl – St. Roch (1 p.m. – 2 p.m.)
- Deanie’s – Bucktown (2:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.)
- Cafe Degas (4 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.)
- Blue Crab (6 p.m. – 7 p.m.)
Team Two:
- Next to Eat Wholistic Culinary Market (11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.)
- Marie’s Oyster Bar (1 p.m. – 2 p.m.)
- Care Forgot Beercraft (2:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.)
- Boucherie (4 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.)
- Acme – Metry (6 p.m. – 7 p.m.)
For more information about OysterNight, check out this video.
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