London Chop House Owners and Chef Debut Ostrea Seafood in Downtown Detroit

The Gatzaros family, along with Executive Chef R.J. Scherer, have opened the fine-dining restaurant, Ostrea Seafood, next to the London Chop House in the Murphy Telegraph Building at the southeast corner of W. Congress and Shelby streets in downtown Detroit.
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Ostrea Seafood has opened next to the London Chop House in the Murphy Telegraph Building in downtown Detroit. // Photo by R.J. King

The Gatzaros family, along with Executive Chef R.J. Scherer, have opened the fine-dining restaurant, Ostrea Seafood, next to the London Chop House in the Murphy Telegraph Building at the southeast corner of W. Congress and Shelby streets in downtown Detroit.

The contemporary restaurant, which offers a full range of seafood with an emphasis on oysters (Ostrea is Latin for oysters), opened on Monday.

While the London Chop House provides select cuts of prime steaks, along with veal, pork, and lamb chops, Ostrea offers lobster, King Salmon, seared scallops, grilled swordfish, grilled and chilled Spanish octopus, chilled seafood platters, and more.

The oysters include Island Creek, Beausoleil, and Shogoku varieties, along with littleneck clams. Sides include charred broccoli rabe, roasted fingerling potatoes, and blistered shishito peppers.

“We’ve been working on Ostrea for about a year, and with the London Chop House coming off its best year ever, we wanted to complement our fine dining experience with an oyster and seafood bar,” says Nico Gatzaros, a partner in 400 Monroe Associates with his mother, Maria, and his sister, Ellena.

The family also owns and operates Fishbone’s restaurants in Detroit, Southfield, and St. Clair Shores, as well as the Atheneum Hotel in Greektown, among other properties.

The décor inside Ostrea includes white leather chairs, hardwood tables, decorative tile work with maritime themes like fish scales and waves, faux stone columns, a mezzanine, pearl-like hanging lamps, and wood floors. Painter Val Kovalchuk spent six months creating the decorative touches throughout the space.

“Ostrea is fine dining, but it’s not formal,” says Scherer. “We selected the wines to pair well with seafood offerings, and the service will be as impeccable as it is at the London Chop House.”

Ostrea restaurant includes a new kitchen — Gatzaros says all equipment was sourced in America — while La Rosa Refrigeration in Detroit crafted the custom coolers. A new HVAC system was added, as well.

Ostrea offers 62 seats on the main floor, 14 seats at the full bar, and in the coming weeks when mezzanine seating is added, the total space will offer around 100 seats.

Located at 536 Shelby St., 20 people were hired to run the restaurant Monday through Saturday (bar hours are 3- 11 p.m. and kitchen hours are 4-10 p.m.) Valet is available at the London Chop House.

In the coming weeks, a sign created by Display Group in Detroit, will be placed above the Shelby entrance to the restaurant. It will include a nine-foot mermaid perched above a sign that reads: “The World is Your Oyster.”

For more information, visit ostreadetroit.com/.