Annapolis restaurant returns from the ashes in better form
Sailor Oyster Bar ready to reopen nearly 2 years after devastating fire
More than a year-and-a-half after a fire gutted Sailor Oyster Bar, the beloved restaurant and bar is ready to open its doors again.
The reopening, which kicks off at 4 p.m. today, comes after months of restoration following a two-alarm fire on June 8, 2022. The rebuild totaled roughly $1.5 million, which was “worth it,” according to Scott Herbst, who co-owns the restaurant with his wife, Gabrielle.
“It’s been a journey, to say the least, but we’re very grateful,” he said. “We’ve had incredible support from the community that helped me keep my staff going in the interim, and all of them wanting to return.”
Support came in the form of GoFundMe fundraisers to help staff, which raised over $110,000, Herbst said, along with benefit parties hosted by local businesses. Over 99% of that funding went to staff, he added.
The restaurant was in full service when the blaze began around 8 p.m. and customers were ushered out by restaurant staff as the fire grew. No injuries were reported from the fire.
Investigators with the Annapolis Fire Department determined the blaze was caused by improperly discarded smoking materials. It is unclear what the smoking materials ignited, but the fire started in between the restaurant and a neighboring building, investigators said.
Though the blaze devastated the oyster bar at 196 West St., the repairs offered a chance to revamp portions of the structure, which was previously a rowhouse that later became a storefront. The Herbsts, and their partners Mayor Gavin Buckley and restaurateur Jody Danek, first opened the restaurant in 2016.
“It’s been a journey, to say the least, but we’re very grateful. We’ve had incredible support from the community that helped me keep my staff going in the interim, and all of them wanting to return.”
— Scott Herbst, co-owner of Sailor Oyster Bar
To Herbst, ensuring Sailor’s first floor felt the same as before the fire was important, though its new setup boasts a bit more space and efficiency.
Heading upstairs, bar patrons will see an expanded second-floor area, with more dining tables and a bigger prep kitchen than what the “compartmentalized” space held before, he said.
Similar to the structure, Sailor’s menu will be “a little more streamlined,” but the concept will remain the same, Herbst said.
Local and international oysters will remain on the menu, and so will fun seafood dishes, like sous vide cashew octopus and number one yellowfin tuna crudo. Classics like a bologna sandwich with mortadella, aged Gouda cheese and arugula on fresh brioche from InGrano Bakery, will also be featured, he said.
Those can be paired with any of the bar’s curated spirits selection, including a special Bohique rum from La Distilleria, a Puerto Rican distiller.
Herbst is filled with gratitude for those who help with Sailor’s daily operation — a “family business.”
That includes Eleanore Aherne, Herbst’s “golden goose,” general manager and chief operations officer, and three chefs and two beverage directors.
“This group that I’m with [is] the most important thing to me here,” he said.” We literally spend every day together.”
And now, Herbst is ready to be back onboard.
“End of the day, I’m just really grateful to be back and doing this in the city that I live in,” he said.