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By Christine Fillat
Photography by Caroline J. Phillips
Sassafras is a restaurant unlike any other in the region. Imagine a venue that explores all that the Chesapeake Bay has to offer: the abundance of the creatures that swim in the waters and the plants that grow, unfettered, on the land. This is a spot where all that can be gathered locally is brought together in one place.
The menu tells the story of the food of the Mid-Atlantic, presented in 12 courses. Situated in Betterton on the Eastern Shore, the restaurant, designed with expert help from local architect Charles Goebel, serves only eight guests a night. Chef and owner Paul Edward prepares the dishes right in front of you, using a wood-burning oven and a custom-made grill.
Edward is a master alchemist. One imagines the man in his environment, rambling through fields and woods, ever vigilant, looking for the components that make his culinary creations, putting it all together in the exploratory kitchen. “Where we get the ingredients from is part of the story,” explains Edward.
That is not to say that all Edward serves is gathered every morning. He has a wide network of independent farmers, dairies, and seafood and meat providers who supply the ingredients he works with. “The people that I get my food from, I have known for a long while. I had to get to know them, visit them multiple times. They are slow to trust. You have to prove yourself.”
Suffice it to say, the menu varies every day depending on what is at hand and ripe. The foraging for the day we visited yielded lamb quarters, mulberries, and a magnificent floral arrangement.
At Edward’s side is his right-hand man, sommelier Scott Kollig, who offers up cocktails, mocktails, and wines with a Willy Wonka kind of glee.
With twelve courses, some dishes are bound to resound with you better than others. This is part of the adventure of the known and unknown components of a foraged menu. At Sassafras, you are in the hands of an inspired chef, taking you on a culinary journey.
Wedges of cornbread nestle with slices of focaccia in round baskets. On the counter is a cured ham leg. Thin slices of cured ham share the plate with tuna, whose tail and loin have been cured in-house for three months, acquiring an extraordinarily delicate smoky flavor.
Raw, salty Virginia clam is garnished with rhubarb and cucumber chow chow. A plump Eastern Bay oyster is topped with whipped cream and vinegar.
House music changes throughout the evening, tailored to each course. Kate Bush sings with the shellfish.
As Edward arranges the plates, easy conversation bubbles up. While Kollig was trained at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York (as well as on the job at multiple restaurants coast to coast with a notable stint at José Andrés’ Minibar), Edward learned his craft on the job. “I’m not a school guy on the job,” he says. “I worked for Spike Gjerde (of Baltimore’s Woodberry Kitchen); that’s my claim to fame. Spike dined here a few weeks ago. He enjoyed everything, which is a first for that gentleman. We’re good friends. It was nice to see him happy. I’m not a great student. I argue too much.”
There seems to be a friendly network of watermen who supply Sassafras with choice seafood. “Almost everything that comes into this building is just a day out,” says Edward. “It’s as fresh as it gets.”
Chesapeake blue crab is served two ways: a soft-shell whale, coated in rice flour and fried, and a squash blossom topped with crab salad. Mellow Miles Davis accompanies the crab course.
“We’re just warming up,” quips Edward after the fifth course. The music changes imperceptibly.
A bone broth made with essence of chicken, various fish, bluefish katsuo, and scallops serves as a palate cleanser, signaling a shift from finger foods to the second half of the menu.
The raw course is rockfish with a rhubarb and apple sorbet, and award-winning Frederick County black walnuts scattered on top, prompting a discussion about black walnuts. “They almost have a gorgonzola cheese-like flavor,” Edward muses. “They are toasted. They have fallen out of favor as far as commercial walnuts, because these walnuts are hard to crack. We actually have a specific device for cracking black walnuts. I got one from down in the Ozarks. It’s called Grandpa’s Goody Getter.”
Kollig produces the contraption on the counter. It’s a chrome yellow metal device with a lever and various springs. Let’s say it looks like something one must operate with care. Watch those fingers!
“The black walnut has so much more depth than a regular walnut,” says Edward.
“I’m excited to make some nocino in the fall when the black walnuts are ripe,” says Kollig.
Most lovely is a raviolo filled with smoked catfish and fermented ricotta, encased with an egg yolk from Edward’s very own hens. The pasta is topped with a Mississippi River sturgeon caviar. With this treatment, the lowly catfish becomes decadent.
It wouldn’t be a proper Chesapeake Bay meal without the invasive snakehead fish, served with a Hmong sticky rice dish of lamb quarters, blue crab, crab mustard sauce, sunflower seeds, and ramps. Some of us love the snakehead; some don’t. Perhaps it is an acquired taste?
Mid-Atlantic yellowfin tuna is served alongside Baltimore Canyon lobster with a salad of marinated cucumbers and fava beans. The lobster is unusual because it is not from New England. It is harvested in the Baltimore Canyon, about 30 miles offshore of Ocean City. Is Mid-Atlantic lobster different from New England lobster? One of our dining companions discerned a subtle flavor difference, finding it less tender than the New England lobster they were used to.
A cheese course features Maryland brie, black apple with black apple caramel, a buttermilk sorbet, and Virginia peanuts.
Kollig offers us a Chesapeake amaro: a house-made digestive blend of ingredients foraged nearby (including honeysuckle) and infused in alcohol for about 2 ½ weeks.
The meal rounds out with a lemon verbena Kombucha pie, inspired by West Virginia vinegar pie. Garnished with freshly picked mulberries, this pie is humble and satisfying.
Tom Waits sings to us as the evening wanes.
Sassafras is something special. There is really no place like it anywhere around here. It’s expensive, but not prohibitively so. In fact, considering all the time and labor that Edward puts into his meals, it seems to be a bargain. It is a true labor of love. Dinner at Sassafras is an authentic experience you absolutely must try if you love the Chesapeake and the Mid-Atlantic. It is a wonderful food ramble.
SASSAFRAS
12 Ericsson Avenue, Betterton, MD 21601 | restaurantsassafras.com
Reservations Required
© Annapolis Home Magazine
Vol. 16, No. 4 2025