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Whether growing, leading tours or shucking oysters, owner Mike Congrove set out to be a driving force in aquaculture by teaching the public how oysters are raised and letting them taste the results. Photo by Corey Miller.
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The blue expanses of Milford Haven and the Chesapeake Bay provide stellar sipping and supping views. Photo by Corey Miller.
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The hardest part of ordering at The Hatchery is choosing from so many delicious options, oyster and otherwise. Photo by Corey Miller.
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The Hatchery’s vibe is casual and convivial. Photo by Corey Miller.
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Freshly shucked Hatchery oysters. Photo by Corey Miller.
A visitor could easily be seduced by nothing more than the expansive view across Milford Haven to the Bay.
But that would be a shame because The Hatchery has so much more to offer. The outdoor vibe of the waterfront eatery on Gwynn’s Island is simple, yet charming: nine wooden picnic tables with cheerful red umbrellas, pots of colorful flowers, music playing from outdoor speakers and Adirondack chairs for lounging. Then there are the breezes that don’t quit and dazzling sunset views. Best of all, a rope strung between poles is the only separation between guests and the water—think Merroir a dozen years ago.
The Hatchery’s centerpiece is its sleek black food truck, a 6’x10’ box featuring an elevated oyster-centric menu complemented by a well-chosen wine and beer list. Open Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings when the weather cooperates, The Hatchery just completed its first season serving oysters— raw, fried and roasted, in po’ boys, tacos and bánh mìs—along with barbecue, pork bánh mìs and tacos for non-bivalve fans. A refreshing salad of watermelon, cucumber, feta and balsamic completes each perfect summer meal.
Because owner Mike Congrove, a restaurant lover and food show fan, wanted somewhat of a catered experience, he used the Chick-fil-A model for The Hatchery. Guests order, pay at the food truck and walk away with their drinks, but the food is brought to their picnic tables, leaving them to enjoy a glass of wine or one of the many beers and soak in the scenery in the meantime.
Raw oysters are paired with rotating mignonettes such as ginger rosé, lemon dill and Hogwash, the latter a nod to California’s Hog Island Oyster Company’s signature mignonette. Roasted oysters are paired with house butters such as garlic herb, chipotle bourbon and Rockefeller. “Our food is well prepared and well served,” he says proudly. “I’d put it up against what’s being done in Savannah, Charleston and Richmond, although of course they’re less oyster-centric.”
It takes a staff of five to execute the menu, with two people handling shucking and roasting duties on the outside portion of the truck, two doing the cooking and managing the register inside and a food runner to ensure everything gets to its destination. “This past season, we carried three white wines, a rosé, a Merlot and a rotating beer list that included some local ones like Virginia Beer Company and Three Notched Brewing,” Congrove says, adding that the ABC and Health Department have been very supportive in getting The Hatchery launched. “Next season we hope to increase our local beer and wine selection, at least as much as we can with only one beer refrigerator.”
The food, view and vibe are so satisfying it would be easy to overlook that the point of The Hatchery is to connect guests to the aquaculture industry, specifically, to teach them how that delicious oyster got to their mouth. “Aquaculture has quite a story to tell,” he explains. “That’s because oyster farming has a net positive affect on its environment, meaning it does more good than harm to our waters.”
Congrove should know. He got his undergraduate degree in marine science from ODU, then worked with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation on oyster reef restoration while working summers at a marina. Many is the time he’s led tours and field trip groups of schoolchildren or kids from Boys and Girls Clubs and the YMCA.
Being accepted into graduate school at VIMS revealed Congrove’s deep interest in shellfish aquaculture. “By the time I finished grad school, I was a bit burnt out on the academic side,” he recalls. “I much preferred working on my feet and found myself spending too much time behind a computer writing and processing and analyzing data. During that time though, I really fell in love with hatchery work, because it’s physical, fast-paced, challenging and one big, applied science experiment. So, for me it was the best of both worlds.”
With managerial experience under his belt, he was hired to run the hatchery in 2009 and did so for several years. In 2016, as the industry focus shifted back to wild capture of oysters, the owners were looking to get out of the hatchery business, providing him an opening to purchase it with partners. His former VIMS advisor came aboard to help with research and development. “Our efforts are to stay progressive and to be a driving force and a leader in the development of hatcheries,” he says, noting that there are relatively few hatcheries. “We want to drive technology and science to make hatcheries more efficient and climate change resistant.”
Oyster Seed Holdings, Inc., are wholesalers of oyster seed, with a customer base of more than 100 businesses along the East Coast from Rhode Island to Florida. Despite flying under most people’s radar, the company grows and sells more than 115 million seed oysters every year. “Our focus here with The Hatchery is on doing outreach,” Congrove says. “We want to get people to places like this to teach them why growing oysters is good for the environment and be honest with them about what the conflicts are and how we can find mutually satisfactory solutions. The industry is expanding, floating gear is becoming more common, and that creates some hesitancy about oyster culture from those living or playing near it.”
To that end, Oyster Seed Holdings began doing tours of their facility every other Friday during summer 2022. A grant from the Chesapeake Oyster Alliance—part of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation—helped them educate the public about the benefits of what they were doing. Not surprisingly, it didn’t take long before tour guests began asking about eating the oysters they were being shown growing. “We started with a tent we had to set up and take down every Friday,” he says. “We got the food truck this year to address the demand to taste our oysters full grown.”
The Hatchery features only oysters grown from their seeds, and to keep things interesting, the supplier changes weekly. During the season, tours led by staff members are offered every other Friday evening, but additionally, The Hatchery is open Saturday and Sunday evenings. The public is also welcome on Fridays, but on tour days, space can be tight, although the view is so good most people don’t mind waiting for an open table. There’s even a merchandise wall to browse, offering t-shirts and koozies sporting The Hatchery logo.
Those who book a tour can count on a tasting afterward consisting of three wines paired with the featured oysters accented by three different mignonettes. Tour groups are kept to six to eight people to ensure everyone can hear and ask questions and six tours are given every other Friday through late August. “We cater the tours based to how interested each group is,” Congrove explains. “We go as deep or keep it as basic as people want.”
On a late summer tour, a man asks about why people used to insist that oysters should only be eaten in “R” months and Congrove explains that it was the lack of widespread refrigeration that necessitated those caveats. When a woman asks why little crabs end up inside oyster shells, he responds with humor, “You’d have to ask the crab about that.”
There are four stops on the tour, some air-conditioned and some not. In the brood stock room are the oysters that will make the babies. Eggs are scraped from females and combined with sperm, then suspended in seawater. The algae production room, filled with bubbling beakers and sporting a “Got Algae?” sticker or two, is where 7,000 liters of algae are grown daily to feed the oysters.
Oyster seed and larvae live in containers on the main floor, attaching themselves to something to grow before the spat are moved to outdoor tanks where Mother Nature, not house-produced algae, provides the nutrition. “They stay there until they get to the size the customer wants,” he says. “It then takes 12 to 18 months for our customers to grow the spat to a size they can market.”
Making for a perfect circle, The Hatchery then buys back oysters that Oyster Seed Holdings raised and puts them on their menu. Between the Mathews Visitors’ Center, advertising in the local paper, Facebook, Instagram and word of mouth, there’s been a steady stream of oyster lovers coming to be educated and fed. “We’ve attracted locals, folks with river houses, weekenders and Airbnb travelers,” Congrove notes. “It’s really cool to help people make the connection between what we do and what they love to eat.”
The Hatchery’s location on Callis Wharf is best described as mixed-use, working waterfront rustic. On arrival, guests first see a natural shoreline restoration operation by the grassy parking area. Signs direct guests around the building, where the water and sky greet them, along with the delicious aromas coming from the black food truck.
Having concluded their first food truck season, Congrove is already considering what improvements besides more local drinking options he’ll put in place ahead of summer 2024. One thing’s for sure: The Hatchery will never be a brick-and-mortar restaurant, though he’s working on becoming less weather-dependent. That means fashioning a more covered and protected space to avoid closures, given that they’re only open three evenings a week. Check The Hatchery’s website for fall hours.
Another aim is to have a dedicated parking area, as well as a child- and pet-friendly zone that will allow both to have room to run around while their adults savor and sip. “We’re hoping to add a deadrise boat tour option next year,” he says. “I’m thinking we’ll leave from here. We’ll do it every Friday and maybe the other nights, too. The goal is to get guests on the water and teach them what the wild capture and farm-raised processes look like.”
Agritourism helps consumers understand where their farm-raised food comes from, and the reality is that aquaculture isn’t on most people’s radar. At the end of the day, Congrove takes his satisfaction from showing guests how oysters are born and grown. “Then they get to eat them, so when they leave, they’ve made the connection,” he explains. “We’ve connected the hatchery to the food truck by the time they get in their cars.”
Walking toward a shady picnic table to enjoy a pairing of three wines and oysters from Three Hands Oyster Co. after her tour concludes, a smiling guest shakes her head. “You eat oysters your whole life, but I had no idea where they came from!” she observes to her tour mates.
Oyster Seed Holdings and The Hatchery are changing that, one tour and tasting at a time.
The Hatchery I 425 Callis Wharf Road, Grimstead I thehatcheryculture.com
