There are certain types of restaurants that strike me as quintessentially American: the burger joint, the roadside diner, the place on the corner where you grab a slice of pizza and eat it as you dash down the sidewalk. Among those archetypes, I would include the raw bar. Granted, the notion of consuming icy platters of fresh oysters, clams, prawns and crab legs — sometimes presented via the luxurious verticality of a seafood tower — has deep roots in countries like France. But the seafood shacks of New England and the Carolinas, as well as the oyster carts that once populated countless street corners in New York, coalesced over the decades into a specifically American mode of slurping down oceanic delights — a mode that reached its pinnacle in regional favorites such as Neptune Oyster in Boston, Swan Oyster Depot in San Francisco and the Grand Central Oyster Bar in New York City.
In recent years, American chefs have found novel ways to reinvent the burger joint, the roadside diner and the slice shop, so it was probably only a matter of time before they pounced upon the raw bar. And while a traditionalist might be inclined to grouse that raw bars have no need to be fussed with and fancied up — that the briny glory of Neptune Oyster cannot be topped — a few minutes at Holbox in Los Angeles or Penny in New York City’s East Village might get that staunch traditionalist to think twice. Borrowing innovations from cities like Barcelona and Copenhagen, amplifying their focus on sourcing the very best ingredients and rethinking everything from mignonettes to marinades, this generation of chefs has turned a formerly sleepy format into one of the most exciting categories on the American restaurant scene. Here are some of our favorites from coast to coast.
Photography by Catherine Dzilenski
Gift Horse
You can’t think of New England without thinking of seafood, but Gift Horse nudges you to think about it in a new way. There’s kimchi in the mayonnaise and the mignonette, Asian pear and black garlic in the house salad and one of the menu stars is a fried pajeon — a Korean pancake — studded with tender mussels and squid. You’re tasting the influence of chef Sky Kim, who grew up in Korea and who has joined forces with local star Ben Sukle to explore what might happen if the cuisine of the Ocean State spent a gap year in Seoul.
Photography by Liam Brown
Holbox
Before the Mercado la Paloma officially opens each day, a line of customers starts winding from the food court out to the edge of the parking lot. These people are waiting to grab seats at Holbox, chef Gilberto Cetina’s boisterous shrine to Mexican seafood. They’re hungry for the tostada piled with freshly glistening kanpachi from Baja California and uni from Santa Barbara; they’re dreaming of ceviche with wild shrimp and striped bass and Yucatán octopus. A few of them know that this modest-looking counter in South Central has managed to earn a Michelin star. Others know only that the seafood stew is delicious enough to leave you delirious.
Photography by Andrew Thomas Lee
Chubby Fish
Walking by Chubby Fish is like walking by a jazz club in the midst of a jam session. You sense sparks flying inside — the room radiates that sort of energy. In fact, jazz is what chef James London and his team are up to. “Items change daily and are subject to seasonal availability” aren’t mere words on a website when it comes to Chubby Fish. Pray that they’re serving their signature “caviar sammich,” a squishy potato roll smeared with crème fraîche and piled with luxurious fish eggs. Secure at least two orders of the grilled oysters with crab-fat curry. Beyond that, well, anything might happen. London’s crew can create virtuosic crudo-and-ceviche riffs out of whatever local fishermen are inclined to deliver.
Photography by Teddy Wolff
Penny
The word “cool” comes to mind at Penny. There’s the “wow, this is a cool place to hang out” meaning of the word: Penny, which consists of a single white marble counter that stretches like a runway from the front window to the very back of the room, occupies a sliver of space in New York City’s hippest neighborhood, the East Village. But place your fingertips on that marble and you’ll summon the other definition of “cool.” The owners of Penny understand that with a raw bar, as with a martini, temperature matters. The chill must be taken seriously. Start things off with an oceanic centerpiece, the Ice Box, in which oysters, razor clams and mussels perch upon frozen pellets and shine with splashes of inscrutably delicious sauces.
Photography provided by Found Oyster
Found Oyster
Found Oyster brings a dash of Southern California sunshine and Hollywood levity to the raw bar genre. Its seafood smorgasbords are called the Baywatch Platter and the Overboard Platter; its chowder is identified on the menu as “chowdaaa.” There’s caviar, sure, but there’s also fun bites like the peel-and-eat prawns and party dips involving Jonah crab or smoked trout. Chef Ari Kolender and his crew take cooking seriously so you don’t have to. Grab a stool at the bar or a seat on the sidewalk, exhale and relax.
Photography provided by The Anchovy Bar
The Anchovy Bar
The Anchovy Bar is a celebration of a local delight. That’s correct — anchovies don’t just swim off the shores of faraway places like Portugal and Spain, and they needn’t always emerge from tins. There are fresh local anchovies in San Francisco, and this spot (from the team behind San Francisco’s beloved State Bird Provisions and the Progress) honors them by bedding them on toast with an heirloom tomato vinaigrette and searing them in a skillet that roars with the fiery flavor commotion of chile oil, yuzu kosho, sansho togarashi and fermented chile turnips. Beyond those tiny fish, everything on the menu expresses a radical approach to raw bar staples. Where else will you find a Pacific Rim-style crudo that involves halibut, Thai basil, fish sauce and nectarines?
