Inside the Galley of the Wharf’s Daring New Fish Shop

At Fish Shop — perhaps the Wharf’s most ambitious dining endeavor to date — the design is just as important as the food. And it’s no surprise as to why, considering the promising seafood showpiece comes courtesy of a high-profile gallery and hospitality group out of London.

Scottish artisan Araminta Campbell custom-made a tartan exclusively for the D.C. Fish Shop. The checks resemble the hue of fishing net twine.

Born in Ballater, Scotland in 2023, Artfarm’s critically acclaimed Fish Shop made a splashy stateside debut at the end of April just steps from D.C.’s scenic Southwest Waterfront (610 Water Street SW). The next-level nautical aesthetic is evident upon entry, where diners are greeted with a shoal of floating fish made of woven willow and wisteria branches. The two trees native to each side of the pond unite into one fluid art installation by vet basketmakers Angela Eastman (North Carolina) and Helen Jackson (Aberdeenshire, Scotland).

To the left, a massive square of plaid tartan reaches its industrial, white-washed ceiling. “I think they [presented] it in a way that owns this space,” says D.C.’s director of operations Angie Duran. “It gives you those Scottish roots, but in a subtle way.” The further you step back from the scrunched fabric, a wavy ocean comes into a Magic Eye-like focus.

At the striking bar nearby, a mother-of-pearl backsplash becomes illuminated at night by old whiskey bottles-turned-light fixtures from eco-artist and Washington Glass School director Erwin Timmers. The bar top itself is made of reclaimed wine bottles that were shattered, reheated into sediment-like layers, and shellacked with a clear finish.

Fish Shop’s sustainable story continues in the dining room, where table tops are made of recycled plastic and washed-up beach wood transforms into stoic statues wrapped in fishing nets. Next to the lengthy open kitchen, a vintage porthole peeks into a prep station where chefs cure, dry, and age whole fish coming in from the Chesapeake Bay, the largest estuary in North America.

Two dangling orbs composed of countless scarves in every color of the rainbow offer a contemporary contrast fit for a high-end art gallery.

The unlikely mastermind much of the look is also deeply vested in its menu. Spike Meatyard, who runs Double T Oyster Ranch on Southern Maryland’s Herring Creek with his dad, provides buttery bivalves to Fish Shop. He also happens to be a designer by trade, with a master’s in landscape architecture from the Rhode Island School of Design, and assembled lots of Fish Shop’s decor himself.

Fish Shop’s D.C. chef Ria Montes, who worked with Meatyard during her time at seafood-centric Estuary in CityCenter DC, made a point to bring him on board. “He’s really become our ambassador,” she says.

Double T’s mild oysters are prepared grilled, and Maryland’s Baywater Seafood supplies briny varieties best served raw. Other area purveyors include Autumn Olive Farms (pork) and Moon Valley Farm (vegetables). “We’re very close with everyone that we’re getting product from,” says Montes.

Curtains composed of wiry fish nets function as partitions for private dining rooms.

Affixed shells frame the big PDR in the back dubbed “Boat Room.”

Fish Shop’s second act — the first in the U.S. — is vastly larger than the original, with seating for 180 (not including a tony waterfront patio coming online soon) and three private dining rooms.

Retro ads of animated fish are plastered up and down an entire wall that houses a hidden door to the wine cellar stocked with bottles from biodynamic vineyards like Virginia’s Glen Manor.

In the bathroom corridor, hand-drawn stencils of real Scottish fishermen family crescents were meticulously filled in with baby-blue watercolor. The repeated rows resemble jellyfish from afar. Grant Watt, who did a mural for the first Fish Shop, also slathered the walls and giant columns in swirling blue waves with fellow artist Cordin Sands.

Late artist Phyllida Barlow assembled the crowd-pleasing pom-poms hovering above the dining room.

Plastic destined for landfill — ranging from yogurt cups to medical supplies and even fishing nets — get a new life as table tops at Fish Shop.

The two Fish Shops have plenty of menu overlap, with respective local ingredients being the big difference. Spiny lobsters harvested from the Scottish Isles help build Ballater’s popular taglierini with chile, garlic, and chervil. “So they really wanted us to have that dish here. But if we’re going to say we’re local and sustainable, we can’t have lobster from Boston,” says Montes.

Turns out, Maryland does have a small lobster industry that is largely overlooked by its blue crab. “I’m really happy that we did find a real source for it,” she says. As for Maryland’s starring seasonal crustacean, she’s excited to send out crab crumpets (a famed starter at the original), Crab Louie salad, and crab cakes.

Duran is looking forward to witnessing D.C.’s edition evolve over year one. “Something in Scotland that was really eye-opening for me is how much they changed over a small amount of time,” says Duran. From start to finish, it took 18 months to transform the empty Wharf shell into Fish Shop.

Unlike its Scottish counterpart located in a quaint village surrounded by sheep, D.C.’s Fish Shop sits at the bottom of the Atlantic’s glossy waterfront headquarters, where its editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg churned out that huge “Signalgate” headline this spring.