Bowen's Island Restaurant

To the uninitiated, the oyster joint on Bowen’s Island was a curiosity of sorts—an aging pile of cinderblocks and boards held up by layers of graffiti, with bivalves being cooked inside on some sacrificial altar. To legions of loyal customers, the place could hardly be called a restaurant. The island became a state of mind.

In 2006, the year that Bowen’s Island Restaurant celebrated its sixtieth anniversary, Robert Barber accepted a James Beard Award, honoring the place as an American Classic.