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Rodney’s Oyster House in Toronto put Galveston Bay oysters on sale last weekend at a whopping $3.85 Canadian EACH! Texans think ten bucks a dozen is outrageous – how about $46.20 for twelve?

Oysterman Rodney Clark is originally from Prince Edward Island, home of Malpeque Bay and some of Canada’s best oysters. But Malpeque Bay and many other Canadian oyster locales are frozen over at this time of year, and other cold Northern waters are yielding skinny oysters due to the lack of plankton.

Meanwhile, it’s peak oyster season in Texas, so Clark and Houston seafood dealer Jim Gossen of Louisiana Foods decided to try an experiment. Gossen put 300 extra large select oysters harvested from East Galveston Bay by Jeri’s Seafood Company on a Continental flight to Toronto.

A friend of mine brought me back some huge oysters from Camanada Pass off of Grand Isle, Louisiana, last weekend. These five-and-a-half-inch monsters made quite a mouthful, but they were some of the sweetest oysters I ever put in my mouth. Of course, the winter oyster season is just about at its absolute peak right now – the oysters are so fat they are bulging out of their shells.

Seafood experts like Jon Rowley in Seattle, the guy who put Copper River salmon on the map, contend that when it comes to oysters, bigger is generally better. Rowley says that C. virginicas (the species we grow in the Gulf) taste best fully mature and at least three-and-a-quarter inches in size.

I use the largest size oyster knife, which is known as a “Galveston knife.” It has a very sturdy four-inch blade. Dexter/Russell makes a version with a white plastic handle which is available in any Houston restaurant supply store for ten bucks or so. Or you can order one online.

The Galveston Knife is one of many styles of oyster knife that became popular in the heyday of the oyster. Here’s a great online guide to oyster knives for aficionados.

The cheapest place to eat oysters is in your backyard. Don't forget the Meyer lemons!

Thanks to the cold weather, the local oysters are putting on an extra coat of fat and they are sweeter than ever. So where’s the best place to eat them?

Unfortunately, the oyster happy hour at Danton’s on Montrose has come to an end. A reader named Mike Copenhaver told me in an e-mail that he found out about the change in price when got the bill for four dozen at $9.50 per dozen.

That’s kind of high. A couple of calls around town reveals that the new Jimmy Wilson’s Seafood and Chop House at 5161 San Felipe is charging $7 a dozen. Valentino’s at 20801 Gulf Freeway in Webster is getting $6 a dozen. Pappa’s Brothers Seafood House on the Gulf Freeway at Woodbridge has some really cheap oyster specials on the weekends. (Call 713-641-0318 for details.)

Personally, I buy a hundred count sack and shuck them myself. If you call Steve Berreth at Airline Seafood on Richmond at 713-526-2351 one day in advance, he’ll order a sack for you. It’s $30, which comes out to 30 cents each or $3.60 a dozen. You have to scrub them first, since they’re usually quite muddy, but it’s worth the effort.

Oyster season doesn’t open until November, and the half shell oysters don’t get really sweet until Christmas. But grilled oysters are good to eat all year long. Especially when they are made with oysters that were frozen on the half shell back in the middle of the winter when the oysters were plenty plump.

Fork over your $12.95 at Jimmy G’s Cajun Seafood Restaurant (307 Sam Houston Parkway, 281-931-7654) and watch the counter man line up your dozen on the gas grill and turn the fire up high. Jimmy G’s flame-grilled oysters are topped with parmesan cheese and basted with garlic butter. Okay, they stole the recipe from Drago’s in New Orleans, but those are some damn fine oysters. -- Robb Walsh

Yo, Sharon! You wanted to know where to go for fresh fish, cheap shrimp and shucked oysters.

Thing to do is take a drive down to Kemah. But before you go over the bridge, turn off into Seabrook and find Waterfront Drive, where the shrimp boats dock. There are at least half a dozen fish markets there. The prices down there are great--but be careful! This isn't Central Market.

You have to look over the shrimp carefully to make sure there aren't giving you any that are turning black. And I heard the bags of live crawfish aren't very good--they contain a lot of crushed ones. -- Robb Walsh

Check out the size of this oyster. You don't see a seven-inch oyster very often. Counting the rings, I figure it's five years old. I found it in a "boat sack" I bought for $36 a couple of weeks ago. You get somewhere between 220 and 250 oysters in a boat sack, so it's quite a bargain, but they aren't sorted.

Oyster bars usually buy hundred-count sacks, which cost around $20. The oystermen put the little ones into the half shell sacks and save the big ones for shucking. You never know what you are going to get in a boat sack. -- Robb Walsh

We took advantage of the recent sunny weather to drive down to Gilhooley's in San Leon and sit outside on the patio beneath the salvaged marine artifacts which hang from the trees there. The patio bartender, a feisty young woman named Nicky, told us her life story and brought us Lone Star beers to go with our buttery, cheesy, pecan wood-grilled "Oysters Gilhooley." We stopped at a seafood store and bought a sack of oysters to shuck in the backyard on our way home. I highly recommended this oyster-centric excursion if you are looking for a way to waste a sunny winter afternoon. -- Robb Walsh

UPDATE: Sorry, but you've got to keep the kids at home.

In my first two years as a home oyster shucker, I have noticed my oyster-eating guests prefer Loire Valley wines with high acidity levels. I wondered: Why the Loire Valley? What about high acidity wines from other places? And which of the Loire Valley wines is the best deal?

So I held a wine and oyster tasting recently, which, I admit, was mainly an excuse to party with wine and oysters in the back yard. But I actually did hand out ballot sheets and get five tasters to score five wines on how well they went with oysters on a scale of one to ten. -- Robb Walsh

Here's the results:

1. Domaine Crotereau, Quincy (Loire Valley), 2005, $18
Quincy wines are made with Sauvignon blanc. This one was recommended with oysters by a waiter at Le Dome, an awesome seafood restaurant in Paris. The flavor is tart, but more like raspberries than lemons.
Average score: 8.2

2. (tie) Domaine Cherrier et Fils, Sancerre (Loire Valley), 2005, $17
Sancerre is another Loire Valley Sauvignon blanc, and probably the most famous choice with any kind of seafood due to its lemony tartness.
Average score 6.8

2. (tie) Domaine de la Quilla, Sevre & Maine, Muscadet (Loire Valley) 2004, $8 to $9
Muscadet is the name of both the white wine and the grape varietal of the coastal region of the Loire Valley. The flavor is extremely tart, coarsely mineral, and spectacular with oysters. Muscadet is by far the best value in oyster wines.
Average score 6.8

3. Mommessin, Chablis (Burgundy), 2002, $18
Granted, this is an inexpensive Chablis (great ones run $50 to $70), but the flavor was sour instead of tart--more like dill pickles than lemons.
Average score: 5

4. Groth, Sauvignon Blanc, Napa, 2005, $16 at Spec's
I wanted to include a California Sauvignon blanc for contrast. The winemaker recommends this wine with oysters, but they age it in oak and vinify it in the fruity New Zealand style. It might taste good by itself, but it didn't have enough acid to stand up to the oysters.
Average score 4.2