Looks like renowned chef and TV host Andrew Zimmern agrees with our pick for USATODAY’s Restaurants of the Year.
The USA TODAY Restaurants of the Year 2025 list, released last week, features 44 restaurants from fine dining establishments to roadside burger shacks, and Matunuck Oyster Bar in South Kingstown made the list.
“It’s a huge honor,” said restaurant owner Perry Raso. “But we have to live up to those expectations every day. I see it as fuel to improve every day.”
USA TODAY Network food journalists from across the country pooled their expertise to select the list, which includes the places they know, love and recommend.
Matunuck Oyster Bar was chosen for its menu that blends traditional chowder and stuffed quahogs with sushi, ceviche and poke bowls, exceptional service, an award-winning wine list and stellar oysters.
When Zimmern saw the post by Matunuck Oyster Bar, touting their inclusion on the list, he posted, “Proud to say I called this about 14 years ago.”
Host of “Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern” on the Travel Channel, he did indeed visit Rhode Island to film an episode of “Bizarre Foods: Delicious Destinations” back in 2016. Producers filmed hot wieners, coffee milk, quahogs, jonnycakes, snail salad, chowder, stuffies and salt cod. Matunuck Oyster Bar’s Perry Raso made stuffies at his Matunuck Oyster Bar in South Kingstown.
Zimmern also visited in 2013 to film an episode of “Bizarre Foods America,” hitting up Johnson & Wales University to explore modern cooking techniques with chef-instructors Branden Lewis and TJ Delle Donne; trekking up Federal Hill with food tour guide Cindy Salvato; and stopping by the Wintertime Farmers’ Market in Pawtucket with Farmstead Inc. chef Matt Jennings.
Matunuck Oyster Bar encouraged Zimmern to make a return trip, calling him a “true lover of food, farming and hospitality.”
Matunuck has a winning pond-to-plate philosophy to bring the freshest seafood to the table. The restaurant sits on picturesque Potter Pond, 35 miles south of Providence, right where the signature dish is harvested daily. Diners often watch the oysters being unloaded while they sip and eat at their tables.
Perhaps if Zimmern comes back, he’ll want to try some of the other great Rhode Island restaurants our food editor, Gail Ciampa, says are worthy of USATODAY’s list.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: USATODAY Restaurants of the Year: Zimmern praises Matunuck Oyster Bar
