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Baked oysters with cherrywood bacon and arugula
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Executive Chef Brandon Bundy (left) with Saltbox Oyster Co. Chef-owner Matthew J. Tlusty
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Whole branzino stuffed with garlic, lemon and thyme
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The dining room at Saltbox Oyster Co.
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The rotating menu of oysters
Matthew J. Tlusty has had an epically varied culinary career, working in hotel restaurants, a family-owned steakhouse and multiple seafood spots. Limani Fish Grill — Tlusty’s most renowned restaurant — fell to his passing pasta joint, Duro. Seminal for Richmond, Limani netted fish from exotic waters, serving it head-on in the early aughts, when barramundi was often returned by diners for decapitation. Here’s the one that matters now: Saltbox Oyster Co., a hulking space in Willow Lawn, is a pearl cultivated by the chef’s lifelong love of the sea.
A visit to the West Coast during a recent stint with HRI Properties made Tlusty adore cookery anew. “You cannot describe diversity in food until you’ve eaten in San Francisco,” he says. “I had interest from investors [in opening another Richmond restaurant], but I didn’t want to redo Limani. I wanted an oyster bar, where nothing was fancy but everything was good.” He’s succeeded at Saltbox.
What separates Saltbox from other local shellfish spots, such as Rappahannock, which spotlights East Coast bivalves, or West Coast Provisions, which has an extensive raw bar plus sushi, is Tlusty’s singular devotion to oysters, widely sourced and variously served: On the half shell, fried, broiled or set in knock-’em-back shooters, he loves and affordably offers them all.
The restaurant’s proletariat location in the middle of a shopping center, its large patio facing the playground, is a game changer. As malls struggle to reel in shoppers, they’ve turned to recreation and indie dining to draw clams to their anchor stores. Saltbox is reason enough to go to Willow Lawn.
One Saturday night, I neglect to make a reservation and am ushered to a community table reminiscent of the wooden six-tops visible on the landing page for San Francisco’s Hog Island Oyster Co. Usually I’m not a fan of communal dining. Large tables are difficult to maneuver around, with deafening volume and a potluck of companions. Here it was a welcome change. The room’s acoustics and smaller table size help, but it’s the diversity of the restaurant’s clientele that make our meal. If you don’t want to dine communally, make a reservation. This is a deservedly busy restaurant.
I order single oysters broiled several ways at $3 each, surely a pain for the kitchen to shuck to order, but they do. The oysters include a delicate Parmesan and rosemary; a hearty cherrywood bacon with arugula; and a creamy spinach, fennel and Pernod. Unfortunately, two of the three arrive cold on this visit, but that’s not the case on my next two trips.
From the raw bar, I slurp a Kusshi, Japanese for precious, from Deep Bay, British Columbia. Its purple-streaked cups and long body resemble a cornucopia. I also try a Katama Bay, cultivated on Martha’s Vineyard, a creamy, melon-sweet bite. Katamas are mostly consumed by tourists and rarely leave the island. Virginia, Maine and California oysters are additionally listed.
West African gumbo also arrives cold, and without a spoon, but it’s so luscious that those slips don’t stick in my craw. The backbone of the thickly spiced soup is fresh-daily fish stock, along with the holy trinity of pepper, onion and celery, scented with lemony sumac. The recipe is from Executive Chef Brandon Bundy, who does the heavy lifting in the kitchen. Many of the preparations, from the Angus rib-eye with Appaloosa baked beans to the eclair cake, a honey of a dessert that’s essentially a cross between a Boston cream pie and tiramisu, are his.
From Tlusty’s culinary treasure chest arises whole branzino, stuffed with garlic and thyme and seared until it’s crispy outside. An enormous lump crab cake, its flesh made sweeter with tidbits of rosy claw meat pressed throughout the patty, tops a decadent remoulade with pickled eggs, a sauce so rich I sneak it into my mouth, as if relishing it bit by bit magically reduces its caloric wallop.
Tlusty’s signature carrot-dill soup has made its way home again. I never tire of its ginger undertones and creme fraiche.
Because Tlusty has been cooking for decades, he’s cultivated relationships with purveyors who enable him to find uber-fresh fish and to stay one step ahead when it comes to sourcing. Saltbox’s wine list, which veers more to white than red, with interesting choices by the glass such as the green almond-nuanced vermentino, thoughtfully complements oysters, as do his beer and cocktail offerings.
In February, when I visited, the restaurant was still getting its service legs, but I have no doubt it’s steadier now. I’ve dined well over the years with this chef. Saltbox, though not his most formal or fancy place, is his most accessible. It’s also my favorite.
4 out of 5 stars
1601 Willow Lawn Drive
804-528-5554
$2 to $28
