Oyster Week
Best oyster spots, The River Oyster Bar, Garcia’s, Grit & Grace, Sweet Liberty, The Dunlin, MORE
ABOUT FOUND • Oyster Week
Miami isn’t exactly known for its local oyster bounty. That distinction’s reserved for the opposite end of the state, in Apalachicola, where oysters (above) have long been harvested in the warm, brackish waters of the panhandle’s estuaries and Gulf of Mexico.
So, for FOUND’s first-ever Oyster Week, we’re delving deep, not just on bivalves, but also on the many treasures of the sea that give Miami and South Florida its own bragging rights — from stone crab to Key West pinks, spiny lobster, conch, grouper, snapper, tuna, mahi mahi, and more. There’s a long tradition of fish markets in Miami sourcing the absolute freshest catch from local fishermen alongside crustaceans, fish, and, yes, oysters flown in from far-flung provinces. Let’s take stock.
Garcia’s is the original, a rite of passage for any Miamian worth his salt. Situated on a bend of the Miami River downtown, this seafood grille and fish market was founded in 1966 by a family of Cuban exiles. With a commitment to sustainability, Garcia’s owns and operates its own fishing fleet for the most direct sourcing possible (aside from catching the fish yourself, another South Florida tradition). Whether you swing by to peruse the latest catch at the market or grab a table on the deck outside overlooking the river, Garcia’s is a purely Miami experience. Oysters are on the menu, fried or on the half shell, alongside local fresh catch and delicacies like cracked conch and stone crab when in season.
In nearby Little Havana, the Garcia family opened La Camaronera, a no-frills fish fry joint and market where freshly shucked oysters can be enjoyed before moving on to the namesake camaronera fried shrimp sandwich with classic Cuban sides, like tostones, plantains, yellow rice, and black beans.
Meanwhile in Pinecrest, Captain’s Tavern is another old-school fish house and seafood market, dating back to 1971. With an old-timey nautical aesthetic, it serves fresh seafood with a global perspective: a Caesar topped with fried oysters, an extensive sushi menu, and then some. Next door, it operates a market supplied by a network of local fishermen and lobstermen where everything from filets of locally caught fish, to Florida spiny lobster tails, Key West pink shrimp, stone crabs, scallops, oysters, clams, and mussels is on offer.
There are also newfangled fish markets like Blue Runner, a novel concept operating out of a pair of food trucks sourcing a wide variety of fresh local fish from the waters of Miami, Jupiter, Key West, and the Caribbean. They also offer fresh live oysters, Alaskan halibut, sushi-grade bigeye tuna, Scottish salmon, and Hamachi. With a fantastic variety of fish dips, ceviche, peel ‘n eat shrimp, and fish patties, you can enjoy a snack onsite while perusing what you’ll take home to cook later.
There are so many things that make South Florida living such a beautiful thing, the spoils of the sea’s bounty chief among them. –Shayne Benowitz
INTEL • Oyster Week
What’s your go-to spot for oysters and seafood?
→ ABRAM BISSELL, culinary director, Pauline at The Shelborne by Proper (above): Joe’s Stone Crab is an institution for a reason. When you walk in, you feel the weight of a century of hospitality. I always order stone crab claws with mustard sauce, but the combination that really gets me is pairing them with hash browns. It’s indulgent and completely right at the same time. There’s a discipline to how they operate that I respect as a chef. They do one thing better than anyone else and don’t apologize for it.
Sweet Liberty is a different energy. It’s a neighborhood bar that somehow feels like it’s been there forever, even though it hasn’t. I like that it takes its food seriously, without taking itself too seriously. The oysters are always well-sourced and well-kept, and the staff knows what they’re talking about. That combination of unpretentious atmosphere with genuinely high standards is rare, and something I think about a lot in my own kitchens.
→ LATEISHA WILSON, chef de cuisine, Matador Room at The Miami Beach EDITION: The River Oyster Bar is a classic — it’s been around for over 20 years and still feels as relevant as ever. It’s one of those places you can always count on for consistently great seafood and a lively, unpretentious atmosphere. I also really like Mignonette in Edgewater. Danny Serfer does an amazing job with flavor: everything feels considered and satisfying. The chargrilled oysters are a standout.
→ EMILIANO GALINDO, executive chef, RosaNegra: I really enjoy River Oyster Bar in Brickell; great quality, great turnover, and strong respect for the product. I’m drawn to places where the oyster speaks for itself: fresh, clean, and well-sourced.
What’s the coolest oyster experience you’ve ever had?
→ ABRAM BISSELL: Fried oysters piled into a po’ boy will always be hard to beat for me; crisp, briny, and dripping onto good bread. The Big Easy in Raleigh makes an incredible one; pairing it with fried green tomatoes and a bourbon lemonade is my go-to. But some of the most memorable oysters I’ve had were wild ones in the Carolinas, pulled straight from the water with a little splash of spicy vinegar, and eaten right there. No frills, just the oyster and the place it came from.
→ LATEISHA WILSON: While raw oysters aren’t my first choice, having them chargrilled, bubbling with butter, garlic, and seasoning at Drago’s Seafood Restaurant in New Orleans was a game-changer. It felt less like trying oysters, and more like discovering a whole new side of them — warm, indulgent, and full of flavor.
→ EMILIANO GALINDO: Tasting oysters right at the source by the water where they’re harvested. In Florida, I’ve had the chance to do this near the Sebastian Inlet around the Indian River Lagoon. It’s a completely different experience, the salinity, the environment, everything feels more real. It reminds you how much the origin defines the flavor.
WORK • Thursday Routine
Freshly sourced
DAVID BRACHA • owner • The River Oyster Bar Miami
Neighborhood you work in: Brickell
Neighborhood you live in: Bay Harbor Islands
It’s Thursday morning. What’s the scene at your workplace?
Deliveries are arriving with fresh products, including seafood, oysters, meats, and produce, to The River Oyster Bar in Brickell. Both the back of house and front of house are setting up for lunch service. I usually arrive around 11a for a meeting with my sous chefs and general manager to discuss oysters, specials, new products, and any issues.
What’s on the agenda for today?
Planning a reprint of the menus shortly and working on some new items: octopus, stone crab pasta with uni, and sourcing a new rib-eye steak from Brasstown Beef for the menu.
Any bar or restaurant plans today, tonight, this weekend?
I’ve been enjoying Ghee in Wynwood for great Indian food, and Bar Bucce in the Upper East Side for a bar-pizza and cocktail experience.
How about a little leisure or culture?
Whenever the weather cooperates, I love to get out on the boat and do some stone crabbing or fishing.
Any weekend getaways?
Just got back from a road trip to the charming Florida coastal town of St. Augustine. It’s the oldest city in America. We ate at Lotus Noodle Bar: very cool Asian-inspired menu, great cocktails and food. The chef is Barry Honan, a Le Bernardin alum.
What was your last great vacation?
My last great vacation was a trip to Tuscany hosted by one of my investors with 14 people. We stayed at a winery estate, Villa Il Cellese, and took daytrips to the surrounding villages, ate amazing food, and drank amazing wine. The highlight was a steak dinner at the famous butcher’s restaurant Dario Cecchini. Highly recommend. Not just for the food, but also the atmosphere and the butcher himself.
Where are you donating your time or money?
We participate in Rethink Food, Castaways Against Cancer, and more recently, we participated in the Oyster Bash, part of SOBEWFF 2026.
MIAMI RESTAURANT LINKS: Ninth time’s the charm: Motek opens in Midtown • Flanigan’s one step closer to opening in Cutler Bay • Checking in on the good-deal omakase at AOKO in Edgewater • In the Lowcountry, soft shell pandemonium is upon us.
GOODS & SERVICES • FOUND Object
Ocean canvas
Next time you slurp an oyster, consider what happens to the shell. Grit & Grace in Charleston turns what’s often trash into tiny treasures, objets d’art with decoupage, and one-of-a-kind hand-painted oyster ornaments, jewelry, and dishes made by 24 artists.
“I didn’t know anything about oysters before starting this business,” says founder Rachel Gordon, who was a fashion designer making custom wedding dresses before starting Grit & Grace in 2018. Each week, her team picks up hundreds of pounds of oyster shells from Charleston restaurants like 167 Raw Oyster Bar and Oyster House to participate in a statewide oyster shell recycling program, returning the shells to their natural habitat to replenish existing reefs.
They keep the prettiest oyster shells as canvases for art. After quarantining the shells in the sun for months, they’re painted and crafted into tiny works of art with custom calligraphy inscriptions available at their Charleston studio. There are also limited edition collections collaborating with local artists like Jonathan Green and Rebecca Illustrated. Explains Gordon, “We want these to be heirlooms, passed down as gifts through generations.” –Amber Gibson
→ Shop: Grit & Grace oyster ornaments and dishes.
GETAWAYS • South Carolina
Out islands
Named for a cute little shorebird, The Dunlin is a serene South Carolina coastal escape just 45 minutes from Charleston International Airport.
As soon as I checked in, I wanted to get out on the water, so I headed to the boat livery for a river safari with Captain Al Kemp of Coastal Expeditions. My mission: spot bottlenose dolphins. We navigated past wild oyster beds, which Kemp told me were good for eating, but we needed a saltwater recreational fishing license if we wanted to harvest any. (He advised that oysters closer to the strong current are smaller and more meager, so for bigger, plumper oysters, head further back where the water flow is more moderate, and oyster beds more robust.)
We spotted snowy egrets, cormorants, great white egrets, and a bunch of mischievous American oystercatchers, an aptly named bird with a sharp bright orange beak designed for shucking and prying open oysters. Finally, just before we were about to turn back, we saw a couple of pods of playful dolphins, though they didn’t surface long enough for me to snap a photo. Coastal safaris are offered several times a week for hotel guests, along with guided sea kayaking and moonrise paddleboarding.
Back at the resort, the 72 cottage-style guest rooms and suites are designed with a cheerful, calm palette of neutrals and greens, with cute accents like a wicker puppy and colorful bird portraits. My riverfront suite had plenty of comfortable nooks for lounging, a spacious terrace, fireplace, and a deep soaking tub in the bedroom overlooking the Kiawah River.
When it’s time for dinner, stay on the property for Linnette’s, where Chef Michael DeCicco serves Steamboat Creek oysters from nearby Edisto Island raw on the half shell, dressed with green apple mignonette and horseradish, roasted with yuzu-chili butter, and buttermilk fried and topped with caviar.
Depending on the time of year, DeCicco says they go through 600 to 1500 oysters a week. Classic oysters on the half shell remain the resounding guest favorite. “Second place are roasted oysters,” he says. “We change the garnish on it seasonally and we’re currently growing sungold tomatoes in our garden to make a sungold tomato butter for late spring and early summer.”
This is the cottage life of dreams, surrounded by 2000 acres of ponds, riverside, and forest trails, and, oh yes, oysters. –Amber Gibson
→ The Dunlin, Auberge Collection (Johns Island, SC) • 6000 Kiawah River Dr • Rates from $1151/night/May wknd.
RESTAURANTS • The Nines
Oysters
Miami’s 9 top spots for oysters. Paid subscribers access the Nines archive.
Monty’s (Coconut Grove), OG tiki bar since 1969 for raw bar, painkillers, live music w/ a local crowd