As a young chef, Rob Rubba rose through the ranks working under a string of legends–Gordon Ramsay, Guy Savoy, and Charlie Trotter. At their restaurants, meat was a must, butter was a building block, and both were often used in excess. In 2013, Rubba moved to the D.C. area, making a name for himself with Hazel, a craft-centric multi-culti marvel that won the Restaurant of the Year award from the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan DC.
Heading up his own concept where he controlled the menu inspired deeper contemplation. “Once I had that carte blanche, I wondered, ‘Wow, where are some of these ingredients coming from?’,” Rubba says.
An epiphany emerged from his research and inner dialogue. “I realized that as much as I wanted to use a local producer for pork, chicken, and beef, it wasn't sustainable given our volume and need for set cuts of meat,” he says. “The deeper I looked, the more I realized that this wasn't the future of food. We've had this fabric pulled over our eyes that this is how we should operate as a restaurant, but that was all built out of convenience for the business.”
He embraced vegetarianism and began envisioning a restaurant rooted in sustainability, a term he defines as, “Finding ways to exist in the world with as minimal impact as possible, while looking at everything as a complete cycle with no waste. It’s about being in touch again with nature and the cycles of life, and letting that guide us more than the material world.”
The concept that came out of this soul searching was Oyster Oyster: a 28-seat tasting menu restaurant tucked away in D.C.’s buzzy Shaw neighborhood specializing in of-the-moment plant-forward cuisine (prepared vegan or vegetarian) crafted from ingredients sourced from local farmers, foragers, and specialty producers, and fortified by house-made ferments and larder projects.
“There were a lot of people who didn't think we'd be successful and told us we would close within the first six months,” says Rubba.
His detractors couldn’t have been more wrong. His vision paid off: Oyster Oyster holds a Michelin star, and in 2023, he won the James Beard Award for Outstanding Chef.
