King of Southern Seafood Shacks

Taste the full spectrum of Eastern oysters at Leon's.

After just a few hours of walking around Charleston, you will quickly know this is an oyster town. Swathes of eager patrons line up early outside during the pre-service hours each evening for a chance at coveted raw bar seats. Here’s what to expect.

Leon’s History

Leon’s Fine Poultry and Oyster Shop, 698 King Street, is a comfortable Southern joint serving fried chicken, oysters, plenty of salads, and cheap beer. The kitchen never closes, open seven days a week for lunch and dinner - and throughout the day.

The Oyster Shed is situated in the back of Leon’s, a gorgeous little hideaway housed in an old body shop belonging to Leon Ravenel, a businessman who has served Charleston residents for many years. The space preserves much of that industrial history, complete with functioning garage doors, concrete floors, and soaring cathedral ceilings with exposed brick. There’s even some remaining memorabilia from Leon himself.

I stumbled on Leon’s one gorgeous autumn afternoon. It was the kind of afternoon that needed a beer and a dozen chilled briny oysters served right away. The vibe here felt like New Orleans-inspired chic, fancy Upper King Street neighborhood oyster dive. The space is intimate with reclaimed wood, high ceilings, exposed beams, original brick, and a private patio.

The Food

I ordered the fried oyster roll - a perfect choice. I don’t often order this because many places use too much breading and deep-fry the heck out of things, leaving them tasting like fried dough. Leon’s treated their oysters with tender loving care, frying them lightly so the oysters retained their juiciness and even a hint of their briny essence.

Much of the menu is a perfect blend of East Coast-style fried fish and New Orleans-inspired spicy poultry. Add a little Asian in some of the appetizer and salad selections such as the Marinated Cucumber Salad and you have the perfect complement to the spicy chicken.

Lighter dishes include crispy clam wraps served lettuce-wrap style with some pickled veggies and spicy mayo. Their Siam Salad is a delectable Thai-style delight with a light soy-ginger sesame seed dressing that will promise to get almost anyone back in the door.

The Oysters

The oyster selection here is a fascinating rotating array of East Coast beauties. Many folks will prefer to only eat the local oysters when traveling, but I like to do some side-by-side tasting comparisons of local oysters versus North Carolina, Virginia, and New England counterparts to truly taste the distinctions.

The differences in taste have to do with their location and how they are raised. In the Lowcountry, a number of new oyster farms have sprung up. Instead of growing oysters in brackish bays, as had once been popular, more and more southern Oyster farmers are marinating their oysters in cages with the brine of the great Atlantic.

After about 6 weeks, oysters are large enough to be placed in mesh bags and introduced to the floating farm. At the Lowcountry Oyster farm, they are frequently tumbled, sorted by size, and rebagged several times during their 1-year lifetime.

Because oyster temperatures in the South are warmer than the North, Southern oysters grow intensely salty in a much shorter time than their Northern counterparts. Oysters in the South are described as briny with an ocean finish compared with New England and Maine oysters that have an earthy finish.

Most Southern oysters are grown high in the water column, whereas Northern oysters need to be bottom-planted for over-wintering, which often gives them some minerality and sweetness.

Their oyster menu describes each oyster, how it will taste, and where it is from. I can’t think of a better way to spend an afternoon than in the luxury of a genuine oyster tasting.