Before he opened his restaurant, Thomas Downing was well-known for being a canny curator of oysters. He would set out beneath crisp midnight air, following the glow of his lantern to the vessels of local oystermen, where he’d meticulously dig to the bottom of oyster piles to pick the best of the beds. Downing would always shell out top dollar to his comrades to ensure they continuously gave him the highest quality product.
Downing’s rich taste didn’t stop at the door. Everything was designed to delight and satisfy his clientele. “Ladies and gentlemen with towel in hand, and an English oyster knife made for the purpose, would open their own oysters, drop the burning hot concaved shell a lump of sweet butter and other seasonings, and partake of a treat,” his son, George, wrote in an essay about his father in 1887.
Whether deliberate or not, the restaurant’s premier location, next door to the Merchant’s Exchange and the Customs House, was a wise choice and likely integral to Downing’s place becoming the city’s best-known oyster spot. His clientele was the upper crust: primarily white men with means. Some were bankers, others merchants, and many were dignitaries from all over the world visiting the US.
Before Downing entered the scene, women didn’t dine in restaurants. It would have been considered uncouth. Downing changed that. His Oyster House was a respectable place where well-to-do husbands wanted to bring their families for dinner. The aristocrats and whose-who of New York wouldn’t dare slurp oysters from anywhere else.
By the 1840s, business was booming, so much so that Downing began catering. He offered international mail-order shipping, sending raw, pickled, and fresh shells to Europe and fried oysters to the Caribbean. One of his most famous customers across the pond was Queen Victoria, who was a big fan of Downing’s discerning taste. She loved his oysters so much that she sent him a gold chronometer watch as a thank you.
Downing was indeed becoming New York City’s best. The city called on him to cater its legendary multimillion-dollar feast, the Boz Ball, held in 1842 to celebrate English writer Charles Dickens.
Perhaps the most delicious part of Thomas Downing’s food story is the secret he hid beneath the feet of his elite clientele. Underneath the fancy floorboards of the Oyster House, Downing was not only storing shells and wine. Instead, he and young George also hid enslaved people fleeing the South to Canada, where they would be free.
Downing’s place became one of the essential stops along the Underground Railroad, especially during a time when bounty hunters roamed New York’s streets, seeking out those escaping from slavery in the South.