Oyster Oyster maintains its Michelin-starred vegetarian tasting menu at Shaw
Despite the current obsession with meat, chef Rob Rubba maintains sustainable, flavorful, and carefully prepared dishes at Oyster Oyster.
The Michelin-starred Oyster Oyster continues to offer an innovative vegetarian tasting menu in Washington, D.C.'s Shaw neighborhood, for $135 per person. Chef Rob Rubba's commitment to vegetables remains strong, even though the oyster dish is optional, despite the market being flooded with grills and the Michelin Guide moving away from sustainability awards.
Over the years, the dishes have become more elaborate and require more preparation time. Among them, beetroots with berbere spices, topped with shredded red cabbage on a caraway biscuit, have an earthy flavor with a hint of dill that counteracts the spiciness.
Another dish is the old and new bread, dark brown and nutty, made with leftover breadcrumbs that have been slowly fermented in miso for the past four years, along with a calendula butter and a tahini-like sunflower seed cream. As a final course, the lion's mane mushroom has the spongy texture of this porous fungus, charred on the outside and seasoned with spices.
The fruit dessert usually includes a sorbet made with nuts or seeds, and is served with Rubba's specialty, a spiced butter cookie, in homage to this native shrub of the Mid-Atlantic region.
With just eight tables and a bar for four in the sunken dining room, the service has a VIP feel. A different chef from the bustling open kitchen is in charge of each dish and offers a brief description, and if questions arise, the cooks often stay a while to share their favorite parts of the cooking process.
From the open kitchen, you can see clues to the preparation, such as a container of bread miso on the top shelf or a waiter picking marigold petals on a quiet day, which will become golden butter.
