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The Feast of the Seven Fishes kicks off March 20 with a sold-out dinner at Alewife. Six other dinners will follow, with tickets released in the weeks leading up to each event.
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Illustrator and former Richmond magazine contributing writer Laura Sant designed the flyer for the dinner series.
Devin Rose is a descendant of commercial and recreational watermen, born and raised in a tiny town where the Rappahannock River meets the Chesapeake Bay. The co-owner of Adrift, an unassuming and highly praised restaurant in White Stone, says of oysters, “They’re one of my favorite things to eat, consume and shuck.”
With a deep-rooted respect for the tides, one shared with friend and Alewife Chef de Cuisine Bobo Catoe Jr. — who coincidentally stays at a vacation rental near Rose's father's house during trips to the Northern Neck — Rose is one of six guest chefs who will participate in a forthcoming culinary event at the Church Hill restaurant focused on oyster sustainability.
On March 20, Alewife will kick off Feast of the Seven Fishes, an ongoing dinner series that will feature visiting chefs from across Virginia and Washington, D.C., with proceeds benefiting the VCU Rice Rivers Center. Each four-course event will have 50 tickets (at $75 each) available for seatings between 5:30 and 8 p.m.
“If we’re going to be taking more [oysters] out, we gotta figure out how to put some back in,” says Catoe, who, along with Alewife chef and owner Lee Gregory, will debut the eatery Odyssey Fish inside Hatch Local Food Hall on March 23.
Since opening its doors in 2018, Alewife has been dedicated to sustainability and established working partnerships and alliances with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and the Rice Rivers Center. With menu offerings that include the abundant “second-tier” fish such as snakehead and mackerel that diners may not typically find or that fishmongers may struggle to sell, they have also helped to shed light on the bounty of the river and the bay.
Led by Director Todd Janeski, for over a decade the recycling program through Rice Rivers Center has been collecting oyster shells that would otherwise be thrown away from restaurants and public drop-off locations and helping to restore wild oyster populations.
“The oyster recycling program is something Lee and his daughter will go out there and help with,” says Catoe, who was recently included in StarChefs' 2022 class of D.C.-Chesapeake Rising Stars. “It’s tangible — we know what’s going on with it, and we know the people involved with it.”
In the beginning of 2020, Catoe, Gregory and a handful of other chefs met with Janeski to discuss potential joint fundraising efforts, but those plans were put on pause when the pandemic halted indoor dining. Marking a return to what once was normal, the dinner series offers the participating chefs a chance to experience again the childlike excitement of cooking with their peers, thoughtfully planning menus and romanticizing about seasonal ingredients such as ramps and cobia.
“I just want to hang out with my friends again,” Catoe says with a laugh, “but really, the point of this is for us to donate a [substantial] amount of money to the Rice Rivers Center."
With a culinary cast of players whose resumes include stints at The Inn at Little Washington and Sean Brock’s Husk; James Beard Award nominations; tasting menus that transport the diner; spots on best-of lists in Bon Appetit and Esquire; and time at one of the “World’s 50 Best Restaurants,” Mugaritz, the series also promises a memorable experience for guests as well.
Hailing from Washington, D.C., Boby Pradachith of Laotian eatery Thip Khao will cook for the first event, which sold out a mere eight hours after tickets were released.
As for the flow of the evening, Catoe says, things will be casual, with the first course dedicated to oysters and light snacks that the entire kitchen crew will plan together, followed by two courses prepared by the guest chef and two from the Alewife team.
The second dinner on May 22 will feature Rose, followed by Opie Crooks of No Goodbyes in D.C. on July 24, Andrew Manning of Richmond's Longoven on Sept. 18, Adam Hall of The Feed Store in Maidens on Oct. 16, and Johnny Spero of Reverie in D.C.'s Georgetown on Nov. 13. In December, the gang plans to reunite for a culminating dinner, raffle and celebration at Alewife on a to-be-determined date.
And while the guest chefs' restaurants run the gamut from barbecue to breakfast and Laotian cuisine, all share one thing in common: a respect for and desire to preserve the ingredients that are indigenous to this part of the world.
“Just showcasing [oysters] and the connection to them, that’s kind of the goal, and to have fun, really, and give some life back to the restaurant business," Rose says. "We all had been itching to do this since the beginning of the pandemic. It’s great for programs and just fun for us to get together and do these [events].”
