Voyager

An oyster bar in a landlocked state is a statement of intent, and Voyager has been making it on Vester Street since 2017. This is tide-to-table seafood: a raw bar of oysters that rotates constantly — east coast, west coast, Gulf — alongside coastal-American plates that roam wherever the kitchen’s curiosity leads. Owner Eli Boyer and co-executive chefs Justin Tootla and Jennifer Jackson earned the reputation the honest way, traveling out to the shellfish farms themselves to meet the growers; national notice from Food & Wine and Esquire followed.

It’s a small, intimate room, which means it books up and feels more like a discovery than a scene — the kind of place you bring out-of-towners when you want to quietly show off what Ferndale can do. High on our list.