Oyster Oyster
Restaurant · Shaw
1440 8th St NW, Washington, DC 20001
:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23437837/Oyster_Oyster_credit_Rey_Lopez.jpg "Oyster Oyster by Rey Lopez/Oyster Oyster")
Highlights
Michelin-starred tasting menu with vegetable-forward, sustainable dishes.
Michelin-starred tasting menu with vegetable-forward, sustainable dishes.
"Chef Rob Rubba puts vegetables on a pedestal, so Oyster Oyster’s presence in Shaw is ideal for diners who don’t eat meat but still want to enjoy an avant-garde tasting menu with a Michelin star. Crowned Outstanding Chef at the James Beard Awards in 2023, Rubba first attracted D.C. critics’ attention as the former chef at Hazel and partnered with Estadio owner Max Kuller on this venture — which prioritizes sourcing from hyperlocal farms and mills. Think: a bird’s nest of fried celery root wrapped around a morsel of smoked tofu and shiitake chip cookie for dessert. The 28-seat Shaw dining room offers a vegetarian or vegan tasting menu ($135) and wine pairings ($85). The sustainably-minded restaurant also won a Michelin green star in 2024 for its environmental and ethical practices, like re-using empty wine bottles as pressed plates. Vibe check: Take notice of creative votive candles made of repurposed oyster shells and local beeswax." - Tierney Plumb
"James Beard Award-winning chef Rob Rubba’s boundary-pushing meatless spot is obsessed with oyster mushrooms and the bivalves of the same name. The 28-seat, Michelin-starred dining room in Shaw offers a seasonal, all-vegan tasting menu ($135) that uses vegetables as a canvas. The sustainably-minded restaurant won a green star in 2024 for its environmental and ethical practices, like re-using empty wine bottles as pressed plates. Reserve via Resy." - Tierney Plumb
"The restaurant of chef Rob Rubba, which received Outstanding Chef recognition in 2023." - Missy Frederick
"When Oyster Oyster opened in 2021, it set a new bar for vegetarian dining in DC. The restaurant’s tasting menu is made with foraged and locally sourced vegetables, sauces from kitchen refuse (hello, vegetable scraps), home-grown mushrooms, and regional wines by the glass. The kodachrome interior, booths, and glass wall give the vibe of an elevated diner. Add in the bar with no hard alcohol, an optional juice pairing, and a young, celebrated chef, and it all feels a bit like a Gen Z fever dream. The tasting menu—8 to 10 courses depending on the time of year—is decidedly light, but what it lacks in bulk it makes up for in creativity, changing each season according to what’s growing, thriving, and locally available." - tristiana hinton, madeline weinfield
"A Michelin-starred, sustainability-driven restaurant in the Shaw neighborhood of Washington, D.C., led by Rob Rubba (a 2022 Food & Wine Best New Chef) that treats waste as a design material. Crushed wine bottles are transformed by a Maryland ceramic artist into plates, tiles and building materials; used cooking oil is mixed with Pennsylvania beeswax to make candles that rest on empty oyster shells; and menus are printed on recycled paper embedded with wildflower seeds so diners can plant them. The vegetarian-and-bivalve, seasonally driven menu sources from more than 30 mainly mid-Atlantic farmers and stays intentionally flexible. About 25% of leftover food is composted and 75% is funneled into fermentation projects—sauces, kombucha and vinegar—with examples including whole kumquats used across condiments, kombucha and tea, and surplus bread converted into miso through roughly a year-long fermentation process." - Julekha Dash
