The Family Farm: Pocomo Meadow Oysters
The natural beauty of a Pocomo Meadow oyster.
Photo: Dan LeMaitre
Freshly shucked, an ice-cold oyster on the half shell is more than enough to get any seafood fanatic excited. The sweet and briny beauties are a hell of a delicacy. Luckily for us, with more than a few oysters farms currently in operation, aquaculture is alive and well on island. Whether you’ve pulled up to a raw bar to get your hands on a few or ordered them from a server at a restaurant, chances are you’ve had the option to try a Pocomo Meadow Oyster. You’d be wise to do so — they’re a superior product from a family farm with local roots.
Steve Bender, in front of The Sandpiper.
In 1971, Steve Bender was 36 years old. A sharp dude from the Bronx with a masters degree in mathematics from Northeastern University, he was working as a senior research chemist for a laboratory at Kennecott Copper Corporation in Lexington, MA. If you asked him then, he probably wouldn’t have predicted that he would end up going from specializing in X-ray and electron beams to cultivating shellfish, but that’s part of makes his story so interesting.
Steve was always passionate about cooking, so naturally, he struck up a friendship with the cafeteria chef at the lab, Jimmy Johnston. Johnston heard about a restaurant that was for sale on Nantucket, and knowing that Steve had an underlying ambition to start his own joint, he told him about it. The following weekend, they flew to the island to have a look. It was the first time Steve had set foot on island, and although he initially chalked it up to being a “one-trick town,” he decided to seize the opportunity. He purchased The Sandpiper, a restaurant on Main St, and also received a house on Orange Street as part of the deal.
Steve ditched his career in the lab and began to tap into the island lifestyle. He kept the doors to the Sandpiper open for seven years, but ultimately found it to be more trouble than it was worth. He sold it, and narrowed his focus on a different pursuit he had picked up during that time — commercial fishing. After a few years of tuna fishing, cod jigging, clamming, and scalloping, he was hooked. He purchased a Holland 32, built up in Maine, and fell in love with life on the water.
Fresh seafood. A staple in Steve Bender’s kitchen.
Life as a commercial fisherman paired well with dipping his toes into the local food industry. Steve, already busy with his fishing business, started a catering company called Fisher’s Fiddle Catering — always sourcing local island seafood for hired events. Every winter he’d jet out to San Francisco to guest chef at an upscale French restaurant called Marché for a good friend of his, and he always made sure to ship out pounds of the same excellent Nantucket seafood to impress the patrons with. Like any professional chef, Steve always made it a point to walk around and mingle with the various restaurant-goers hailing from all corners of the world, and there was one consistent piece of feedback he received over and over again: the oysters were phenomenal.
The oysters everyone was raving about were sourced from an oyster farm located just outside Polpis Harbor, at the foot of the Pocomo Meadow estuary. Steve always knew they were amazing, but after all the positive reviews, it became that much more apparent to him just how special they really were. He decided to put his name on the town's waiting list to acquire an oyster grant, in hopes to grow them himself. As luck would have it, the Pocomo Meadow location had soon been abandoned by the previous farmer, and after being vacant for four years the town eventually offered it up to him. In 2009, Steve had the green light to cultivate his own oysters on that very same special piece of Nantucket harbor.
Emil and Steve, working on the farm.
Photo: Dan LeMaitre
The oyster farm had a slow and humble start. Steve, along with his wife Ana, originally operated the farm at a level that was closer to a hobby than anything else, selling the oysters only to friends and family. Eventually, though, they outgrew themselves and needed another pair of hands, so they put their 16-year-old son Emil to work. The three of them slowly built the farm from the ground up, scaling the operations and reputation of Pocomo Meadow Oysters every year.
Throughout college, Emil continued to work on the farm in the summers. At the end of every season, he’d invest half of what he made back into the farm, buying seed to grow more oysters for the years to come. Like any Nantucket kid who spends a lot of time outside, Emil wasn’t exactly thrilled at the prospects of an office job after graduating from Brandeis, so when he did in 2015, he went back home with hopes of expanding the family farm.
Emil Bender. Second generation oyster farmer.
Photo: Dan LeMaitre
He immediately noticed how much area they weren’t utilizing on the farm, and saw a lot of room for growth. The prospect was enough to make him go for it full time. “I knew we could do a lot more with our farm,” he explains, “and I knew there was a massive demand for oysters on island.” Today, Emil’s dedication has helped turned Pocomo Meadow Oysters into a thriving second-generation oyster farm that has since quadrupled in size.
As a result, Pocomo Meadows are a staple on island menus. Like the patrons back at Marché, countless islanders and summertime residents alike have experienced how amazing they taste. The location of the farm is largely to thank for their uniqueness — Medouie Creek is a freshwater stream that empties directly out onto the Bender’s farm. The oysters sit and filter feed right there on the salty harbor bottom, amongst the eelgrass, living a happy and healthy life nearly identical to the island’s widely sought-after bay scallops. This environment produces a sweet-tasting muscle, making the oysters rich with beautiful Nantucket harbor flavor. “The location of the farm at the mouth of Polpis Harbor means big tides,” says Emil, who is at the helm of the farm today. “Lots of water moving in and out. Combine that with all the fresh water flowing in from the meadow, and it’s just a really ideal location for growing beautiful oysters.”
Pocomo Meadow Oyster Farm and the Medouie Creek freshwater stream, visible on the left side of this aerial photograph, just outside Polpis Harbor.
Photo: Dan LeMaitre
You can find Pocomo Meadow Oysters at just about any restaurant — Sea Grille, Lobster Trap, Sandbar, Cru, Nautilus, and Oran Mor, just to name a few. You can also buy them at Nantucket Meat and Fish, 167, or at Sayles Seafood at wholesale price. You can also order from Emil directly, via email or Instagram, and pick them up right in town.
Want a farm tour? Give him a shout. He’ll take you out there himself. But, as he says, “you gotta work!” He’ll bring an extra rake.
Emil Bender, winter maintenance on the Pocomo Meadow oyster farm.
Photo: Dan LeMaitre
Follow the Pocomo Meadow Oysters crew on instagram @pocomomeadowoysters / @hangtenrawbar, or visit their website to book a raw bar for your own event.
