What a cool atmosphere to sit and eat a plate of mussels. Alex, one of three owners of Flex Mussels, sat at the front bar gluing glitter to mussels from a bucket. She was decorating for Christmas here at Manhattan's ironically named, premier mussel bar. Hailing from Prince Edward Island, Canada, Alex, Bobby, and Laura Shapiro started with a couple of seasonal restaurants in their home province and then decided to move to Manhattan bringing their mussels with them. There are twenty-three different mussel pots to choose from – they suggested the bisque or the Thai broths to us. Those of us who enjoy mussels dug in while I took in the summery illusion of their dining room, complete with pastel walls and a large mural of their home island.
