True Chesapeake Oyster Co.

True Chesapeake Oyster Co. opened on 17 September 2019 at 3300 Clipper Mill Road, in the restored sailcloth factory of the Whitehall Mill complex in Woodberry, and it is the rare oyster restaurant that also farms the oysters. Co-founder Patrick Hudson was born and raised in Baltimore and began oyster gardening with his father; shucker Nick Schauman co-founded it with him, and chef Zack Mills — from Davidsonville, a 2007 French Culinary Institute graduate who was sous chef at Bourbon Steak in Washington under Michael Mina — runs the kitchen. Mills was named Chef of the Year for 2025 by the Restaurant Association of Maryland. The dining rooms have wraparound bars made of pressed oyster shell and an elevated copper shucking station, and the house oysters come from the company's own farm — a huckleberry at $2.75, a chunky dunker at $3. Baltimore Magazine gave it Best Happy Hour in its Best of Baltimore 2024 awards, singling out $2 oysters and 25 per cent off bar snacks, Tuesday to Friday from 5pm to 7pm.

The non-alcoholic list is the deepest of any restaurant in this guide's Baltimore section, and it covers all three formats. Six built drinks sit under "Spirit Free Cocktails": the Goose ($9) on a non-alcoholic bitter apéritif with pineapple, lime and molasses; a St Nalder Spritz ($11) pairing that apéritif with non-alcoholic sparkling wine; The N/A-torious F.I.G. ($9) using a house fig jam with lemon and ginger; a Northside ($8) of lemon, lime, mint and soda; a Palmer Thyme ($6) built on iced tea; and St. Agrestis's bottled Phony Negroni at $10. Six non-alcoholic beers follow, from Guinness 0.0 to Athletic's Cerveza Atlética and a Deschutes Super Stoked. Most unusual of all, there are four non-alcoholic wines by the glass and bottle, including a Steinbock Zero sparkling rosé and Le Naturel Zero Zero. For a room built around raw shellfish, having genuine sparkling wine without alcohol is the single most useful thing on the list. Note that a drink previously listed here as a Baltimore Southside does not appear on the current menu.