Oh, the Biscuits! at Pearl Dive Oyster Bar

Coincidentally, I have also been spending a lot of time in Washington, D.C. for a new project, so am sharing one of my favorites that the team and I have frequented during the past weeks.

Pearl Dive Oyster Bar.

Cool name, cool place, cool people.

For happy hour (4p-7p daily), all oysters are half price.  That's $1.25 per oyster - for any of the oysters in Pearl Dive's daily selection - a total steal and great reason to eat your weight in oysters!  (You know we are all looking for a reason!)  The oysters are listed in order of sweetness to saltiness.

 

We ordered the wide assortment, unable to hold ourselves back from these freshly shucked beauties.

And when we polished a fat dozen in minutes, we didn't hold our breath in ordering a second round of our favorites.

My personal favorite was from Sewansecott, VA - plump buggers, plenty sweet with a touch of brine.  A squeeze of lemon, and life was great!

We've tried their other appetizers also - parmesan crusted calamari was a special of the day, perfectly battered and crunchy.  

We've also had the mariscos de campechana (not pictured) - a ceviche meets guacamole medley of seafood including oysters, shrimp, and blue crab that is piled high in martini glass that is so fresh and light, and perfect for sharing.

With the entrees come the best part of the meal:

free biscuits and corn muffins !

It's honestly all of our favorites.  Look at the joy it brings my coworker!

The biscuits and muffins are served warm.  The biscuits are so soft and buttery, and when you add even more butter, you realize that you're literally in heaven - don't get any butter on your halo!  Pearl is smart to serve the biscuits later in the meal, because once you start eating them, you only want more.

So we order a second basket of them.

Cause you just haaaave to pair the biscuits with the mussels, which is offered as an appetizer, but I eat as a meal.  This is what a full pound of mussels looks like.

The mussels are amazing, and the broth, wonderfully spiced and tangy.  I dunk everything into the broth.  The biscuits, the toasted bread it's served with, my face.  Everything tastes great in this broth !

Yes, I ate a whole pound of mussels.  Most of the weight is in the shells, right? Muahaha.

My coworkers ordered different varieties of the gumbo (duck, seafood, and shrimp), which all looked virtually the same - thick and rich (and also perfect for cleaning up with the biscuits!). 

And we all couldn't turn down the great dessert list.

Key lime comes with an adorable ice cream cone hat (and is the tartest key lime I've ever had - word of warning!).

The special was a pumpkin pie with a brown sugar crumble and candied ginger.  Exceptionally creamy and spiced just right with warm cinnamon.  Definitely order if it's available.

The brownie mousse cake, with layer of thick brownie, chocolate mousse and and vanilla mousse, topped with glistening roasted cherries was also a beautiful sight for hungry eyes.

The existence of Pearl Dive within walking distance of our hotel makes traveling for work a little less painful.  I think I'll definitely be making another visit this week and checking out their fried oysters for a little quality control ;).

Han's Nonsensical Rating: Buttery biscuits. Fresh oysters. Awesome mussels. Tasty desserts.  Dining perfection.

Pearl Dive Oyster Palace
1612 14th St NW
Washington D.C. 20009