March 11, 2025—It’s beautiful. It’s delicious. It’s nutritious.
It’s also compact, but complete, everything you need and nothing you don’t.
Not unlike a fresh oyster.
Those are all good points to start with the debut of Oystertown, an arrival welcomed with hunger after months of growing anticipation.
But the most important starting point is that it has started, ever so quietly, on the edge of Old and New Monterey at 281 Lighthouse Avenue.
Another suitable launching-off point: the “dressed oyster #1,” just below the half dozen oysters at the top of the 15-item opening menu.
Just a look at the menu merits reading this piece.
Crowned with crème fraîche, chives and smoked trout roe, it’s the most affordable of the four raw bar offerings, and a rival for most luxe, with the hamachi-serrano pepper crudo and shrimp cocktail presenting strong options.
Chef and co-creator Phil Wojtowicz believes the composition for the so-called “Trout Fishing in America” happened organically, much like the inspiration for this spot.
“The ingredients were there and next thing you know something came together,” he says, “then it got a little more refined.”
The #1, raw and alive (literally and figuratively) in the world and on the tastebuds, also represents a highlight amid several across a visit March 7.
Other thrills: buttery baked oysters with crispy bread crumbs and smart herb medley, a simple-satisfaction-style Old Bay hot cross bun slathered with melting herb cream cheese, a “hippie hand grenade” of a loaded avocado, and both desserts.
Also appearing with those three on the “Plates” compartment of the menu ($6-$17): items like an Ad Astra bread plate with “fun” butter, steamed mussels in herbs and white wine, and “super meaty” meatballs in red sauce its namesake New Jersey grandma would be proud of.
A big part of the buildup to the debut derives from the established cred of the protagonists.
Phillip Wojtowicz has been a local foodie favorite since he was debuting his Big Sur Bakery Cookbook back in 2009, an enthusiasm that for me deepened as breakout hit Poppy Hall burst onto the scene—seeding some of Oystertown’s menu—and was a take-out box of comfort amid COVID chaos.
He helps put Oystertown into his career arc.
“I’m going from wood-fired live flame to ice,” he says. “I achieved more then I could have ever hoped for as a traditional chef, and [now] I’m moving over to counter service, the anti-restaurant. Strictly fun dining. Direct service, in a completely open space.”
Chef-partner and hospitality director Monica Schweiger, meanwhile, helped develop a following across pop-ups at Vin Wine Bar, Other Brother Beer Co. and recently-upgraded Pearl Hour across Lighthouse.
“Popping up in various places around town gave us the opportunity to freestyle and and have fun, try out different things,” says Schweiger, citing items like lobster French toast and out the now-signature dressed oyster #1.
“Our first pop-up at Other Brother back in Sept. 2022 was a mad house. Line out the door. Everyone missed Philip’s food. In the past two years of popping up, we’ve learned to simplify, [with] our motto ‘simply good food,’ and when you have good ingredients, let them shine.
“I think people are craving that, and great oysters, of course!”
Back to said food: The Buena Vista dessert inspired by the storied San Francisco cafe layers a whiskey-caramel sauce over handmade tiramisu ice cream sandwich and is as tasty as it is conceived and constructed. (My photo doesn’t do it justice.)
Then the banana pudding makes its case for best in show with smooth and not-too-sweet fruit spiked by oyster cracker “jacks.”
When Edible broke word of Oystertown’s new outpost, it ranked as one of the most viewed stories of 2024 and most shared on social media.
Now—acknowledging it’s early days—it already has me imagining a slot on our annual Best New Restaurants of the Year, tri-county wide.
I should make some disclosures on any endorsement: I’ve been a fan boy of Wojtowicz since Big Sur, and I’m also glued on oysters, one of those home shuckers listening with baited breath as celebrated raw chef/restauranteur Ari Kolender reports on the David Chang Podcast that not only do oysters filter dozens gallons of water a day but up human health with helpful minerals (on top of great sea-fresh flavor).
I was also the dude stopping every time I drove past to peer into the striking former Lilify space—and its local-flavor tendencies—to assess progress, so my demand is pent up.
Still, this outfit reps something of the fire triangle: It’s got fuel in the form of great product, oxygen from its audience, and a spark from the co-creators’ desire to give the area something it deserves.
“Finding the right space took awhile,” Wojtowicz says, “but Lighthouse Ave. is just perfect, a small, free-standing opportunity…when you know you know.”
Opening hours are 4:30pm-close Friday and Saturday, and 11:30am-early evening Sundays, with added hours Thursday and Monday in 1-2 months. More at Oystertown’s Instagram page and oystertownusa.com.
About the author
Mark C. Anderson, Edible Monterey Bay's managing editor, appears on "Friday Found Treasures" via KRML 94.7 every week, a little after 12pm noon. Reach him via mark@ediblemontereybay.com.
