Another recommendation from a Richmond native while in RVA for a recent weekend, it was another hot new restaurant in town that had only been open for 2 months. A more casual oyster bar has also opened in DC at the new Union Market, but this is their full service restaurant.
It was hopping on a Sunday night, so do make reservations. Also, until they find a way to streamline the system or finish working out the kinks, go to enjoy your company and don't have any plans within 2-2.5 hours of your reservation. Otherwise, you'll have a high chance of missing a 9:30pm movie at the Byrd Theatre even if your table is ready at 7:45pm. Or go early, before the kitchen has been backed up with orders.
That being said, our waiter and the hostess were extremely friendly and the former was very apologetic - though we never brought it up nor complained how long things were taking. He was obviously also rather swamped. We just scrapped our plans and relaxed so that we could still enjoy our dinner.
We put in for raw bar items right away, but ended up receiving the tuna crudo first - an hour later. Though I've gotten pretty bored with raw tuna preparations, the ingredients still lured us to order it (Castelvetrano olives, preserved lemon, radish, Calabrian chiles). While fresh, it lacked any oomph of something special. At the same time, the ingredients didn't overwhelm the subtle flavor of the fish, either, so perhaps it's my fault for ordering it. For the 4 thin slices and the price, I prefer Japanese preparations and wouldn't order it again.
We ordered a sampler of each oyster available that day (Rappahannock River, Witch Duck, and Olde Salt) as well as the Olde Salt clams from the raw bar. While I've seen and had Rappahannock Rivers at other restaurants in DC, they certainly didn't taste as fresh as these did. They were pleasingly mild and balanced. Better yet, the Witch Ducks were both briny and sweet, and the Olde Salts were bright and the most briny of all. I really liked the latter two, and definitely will make the trip to the oyster bar in DC just for them. The Olde Salt clams were tender yet with a firm bite, and super briny as well. They almost were on the iodine side of briny, though, because they were so pungent...and I'm not sure if I liked them despite it or not.
The Olde Salt clams were also available as a larger entree dish - steamed, with housemade pancetta, fino sherry, lacinato kale, toasted barley, marcona almonds, and grilled bread. The Olde Salts were better steamed (I usually slightly prefer raw), but the alcohol flavor was a touch too strong, overpowering the other elements of the dish. Admittedly, this happens often when I steam and cook clams as well, so I've proven I can easily re-create the execution of this dish at home.
Other than the oysters, my favorite dish had to be the grilled Outer Banks (NC) shrimp with green olive aioli, pickled kohlrabi, and arugula. OBX shrimp, along with sweet shrimp/botan ebi/spot prawn, are my favorite shrimp in the world. These were a touch past perfectly cooked, but man, they were still delicious. Lovely grilled flavor, beautiful char. I even ate parts of the crispy flavorful shell and legs (and dug out the sweet, delicate contents of the head). The green olive in the aioli was likely Castelveltrano again, which is very mild - almost like a ripe black olive. And the acidity of the kolhrabi and arugula was spot on.
Still a bit hungry, we split a dessert - the buttermilk panna cotta with a berry sauce (raspberry? if I recall correctly) and citrus segments/zest. It was tangy, yet sweet, and delicate, with only a scattering of vanilla bean throughout. Also awesome.
Despite some of the misses and the long wait for food to arrive, I still would come back - but probably for a light meal with drinks during happy hour or something. Those oysters and that shrimp really are that good. Though...I would also be tempted to try the whole grilled fish that I saw arrive at the table next to us. It looked amazing. read more