Baltimore’s Best Bivalves: An Interview With Urban Oyster Founder Chef Jasmine Norton

28.03.2024 - 20:23 / forbes.com

While Baltimore is home to its fair share of world-class museums and historic landmarks, this storied Maryland city is also home to one of the east coast’s most stellar seafood scenes—a fact that local restaurateur Chef Jasmine Norton knows all too well. A Charm City native, Chef Norton’s deep affinity for the world of gastronomy has led to appearances on the Food Network’s Guy’s Grocery Games and Chopped, while 2024 saw a particularly exciting development with the grand debut of her first brick-and-mortar restaurant The Urban Oyster. Officially opened in February, this polished venue serves as the first Black woman-owned oyster bar in the nation, with a wide array of savory seafood dishes all gracing the menu.

For Forbes, Chef Norton highlights her personal journey within the culinary arts while showcasing some of Baltimore’s finest dining destinations for visiting seafood aficionados.

When did you first know that you wanted to become a chef?

I became passionate about cooking when I moved away for college, and I’d keep my mom on the phone for hours while she talked me through her recipes. As I began perfecting her recipes and started to add my own flair, more and more people started requesting me to cook for their parties. Namely, my best friend Arnold, who used to have a ton of parties. He’d ask all his friends to pitch in with making the food and it got to a point where people would only eat the food that I’d made, and I eventually became the go-to person for cooking.

I never minded when he would ask because I started to have a passion for people’s reactions to tasting my food and their excitement motivated me to want to do it more and more. I didn’t immediately go into the food industry when I graduated college, but I ended up in positions where my roles were always food-adjacent. I ended up working for a well-known audio-visual company and I was stationed at hotels in the hospitality industry.

Whenever events came across my desk, I’d be in the meetings with the top chefs and just watching their creativity inspired me even further. I slowly but surely inched my way closer and closer to the industry until I came up with my concept, marrying my love for cooking and my love for oysters and restaurant dining experiences. It was a natural progression, and it was inevitable, and I wouldn’t change anything about my journey.

What have been some of the challenges that you’ve faced during the journey from pop-up to brick-and-mortar restaurant?

I would say my biggest challenge has been gaining access to capital. When you start a business very grassroots, being able to have funding to support its growth is such an important piece. When I hit the food scene, we were popping up at markets and festivals. It