Famed Oyster Bar helps support LI Shellfish Preserve

The Shellfish Preserve in Southhold, a sustainable aquaculture facility funded by National Grid a few years ago, has received a $2,447 check, more than half of it from a popular Manhattan eatery -- the Grand Central Oyster Bar and Restaurant.

The Noank Aquaculture Cooperative, composed of independent baymen who operate small oyster companies, collected the proceeds that included $1,527 from the Oyster Bar.

The oysters harvested at the preserve, called Peconic Pearls, debuted last year at the Oyster Bar. A portion of the proceeds from their sale goes to preservation of the Peconic Estuary, through donations to the Peconic Land Trust, a nonprofit conservation organization.

The National Grid Foundation in 2005 gave a $150,000 grant to fund the preserve. The facility also received $150,000 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Oyster Bar owner Sandy Ingber of Plainview said his restaurant has sold about 500 of the Peconic Pearl oysters a week for the last six months, about average for oyster sales. "It's a wonderful oyster," Ingber said Tuesday. He said he will continue to sell Peconic Pearls. "The only good oyster is an oyster that sells," he said.