In her bible of the raw bar, Consider the Oyster, food guru M.F.K. Fisher compares American oysters to Americans themselves. Atlantic oysters float adventurous and free, she writes, while their Western brothers linger in the shell.

Washington restaurants, fittingly, offer a perfect cross-section of the nation’s great oyster varieties. From jumbo Kumumotos to delicate Bluepoints, if you love the famous mollusk aphrodisiacs, then the capital is your oyster.

Hank’s Oyster Bar recognizes the can’t-have-just-one appeal of its titular shellfish by selling them for $2 each, turning a brief snacking impulse into an oyster free-for-all. Options vary daily, hailing mostly from the Pacific Northwest, New England and Virginia.

Hank’s chef, Jamie Leeds, also dresses her oysters in inventive alternative garb, with $3 oyster “shooters” and a gut-busting oyster po’ boy sandwich. Experimental eaters should go for the shooters, which add a dollop of sake to the mix and can leave you tipsy in 10 minutes flat.

Condiments are key to a winning oyster experience, and Hank’s does not disappoint. Horseradish, fresh sweet-and-sour cocktail sauce and a traditional onions-in-vinegar sauce add flavor to each half-shell’s personality.

At the new Gallery Place outpost of Clyde’s, the crowd-pleasing sports bar with seven other Washington-area locations, the half-price oyster happy hour is the best thing about an otherwise uninspired raw bar. Clyde’s lets you choose from a deep bench of New Point, Wellfleet, Olympia, Kumumoto, Moonstone, Totten Inlet, Westcott Flats and Raspberry Point oysters, but only the luckiest oyster aficionados are likely to find the fresh gems on the list.

One waitress even confessed which oyster was her least favorite, citing its “metallic” aftertaste, but the nights I was there several other types had a far more copper-like flavor. Make use of the pleasantly snappy oyster sauce if you must, and be warned that the metallic flavor found in one or two in every six of Clyde’s oysters might leave you puckering your lips.

Even so, the oyster happy hour is a perfect introduction for inexperienced raw-shellfish eaters. It runs from 3 to 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. Sundays through Thursdays. Clyde’s Gallery Place regularly charges $12.95 for six oysters and $21.95 for a dozen. Mermaid platters are also available, offering adjustable mixes of oysters and other shellfish.

The slogan of Oceanaire — “To eat an oyster is to kiss the sea on its lips” — implies an ambience more romantic than masculine, but this bustling downtown lobbyists’ favorite does not disappoint. Its walls are paneled in dark mahogany and warmly lit, calling to mind a 1940s-era cruise-ship ballroom.

Oceanaire’s 10 daily oyster varieties are priced at $2.35 per, but for those seeking a heartier helping the oysters Rockefeller are a creamy delight worth trying as an entr�e.

BlackSalt, just west of Georgetown’s campus, is a combination fish market and seafood salon that sells about seven daily varieties of top-flight oysters to go, if you prefer a home-cooked plate. Prices vary depending on the region, from 50 cents each for local oysters to $2.50 for more premium choices, and the sit-down menu offers fried and broiled oysters as well.

Bread crumbs are nowhere to be found at the Sea Catch, with an intimate outdoor deck nestled so close to the waterside in Georgetown that you could almost fish for your dinner in the canal below. The seven different kinds of fresh oysters available every day, priced between $2 and $3 each, are more than enough to sate your shellfish cravings. The Sea Catch also crafts a rare oyster ceviche, accented with piquant tomato and cilantro.

A raw-bar mixed bag can be found at Acadiana, the upscale Creole spot from DC Coast and Ceiba whiz Jeff Tunks. Acadiana opened last fall with a fundraising fanfare to benefit those displaced by Hurricane Katrina, which also rendered the restaurant unable to ship the French Quarter’s famed P&J oysters for capital-area consumption.

But Acadiana found a way to procure top-flight oysters from Virginia’s Rappahannock River, and the freshwater habitat gives them a texture so smooth as to be nearly flavorless. If you favor a bite or tang in your pearls of the sea, you may find yourself spooning an excess of horseradish flakes or cocktail sauce onto Acadiana’s iced plate.

The charbroiled oysters, though, are a masterpiece of simplicity. Coated liberally in parmesan cheese, the cooked oysters are pleasantly meaty and filling enough to make a full meal alongside a soup or salad. The French baguette on the side, made with Leidenheimer Bakery’s famous New Orleans recipe, transports you to the banks of the Mississippi.

And if the buttery sauce on Acadiana’s cooked oysters is a turnoff, have no fear. The flesh of six oysters contains fewer than 100 calories.

Acadiana, 901 New York Ave. N.W., (202) 408-8848

BlackSalt, 4883 MacArthur Blvd., (202) 342-9101 (closed Mondays)

Clyde’s Gallery Place, 707 7th St. N.W., (202) 349-3700

Hank’s Oyster Bar, 1624 Q St. N.W., (202) 462-4265

Oceanaire, 1201 F St. N.W., (202) 347-2277

Old Ebbitt Grill, 675 15th St. N.W., (202) 347-4800

The Sea Catch, 1054 31st St. N.W., (202) 337-8855