MUCH MORE THAN DINNER
AN ADVENTURE!
Based on the True Story of Kevin Joseph’s
Raw Lab – 2021–2026 @Raw.Lab.OdysseaDive DeeperLess
— Town & Country Magazine“Dinner as performance art, and you’ll never look at an oyster (or caviar) the same way again.” MoreLess
“Raw Lab, a hole-in-the-wall near Charleston's City Market, is billed as the world's only omakase raw bar and in the most innovative eating experience I have ever had, presided over by chef and “mermmelier”, Kevin Joseph, (“I am to oysters what a sommelier is to wine”.) There is one three – four hour nightly seating, for 12 people max: nine courses, endless [wine] pours, and shifting music soundtracks. Dinner as performance art, and you'll never look at an oyster (or caviar) the same way again.”
— Paste Magazine“It’s a Bourdain-esque experience, and you will leave with new friends.” MoreLess
“If you really want an unforgettable experience, though, you need to visit Raw Lab. The world’s only omakase (Japanese for “I’ll leave it up to you”) raw bar experience, Raw Lab is hosted by chef, owner, and Master Mermmelier Kevin Joseph, a charismatic expert with decades of study of seafood, and who is working on opening an actual academy for future Mermmeliers. (A term he coined, it is to oysters what “sommelier” is to wine.) Each dish is an original work of art for the senses. It was opened less than a year ago and has won Open Table’s 2022 Diner’s Choice award, and many five star reviews from locals and travelers who pay $225 per seat plus tax and gratuity for his highly instagrammable edu-tainment experience. You’ll be seated around the “U-Shaped” bar with built in ice moat in a salon-like atmosphere and be able to ask questions and learn about the seafood you eat—including if caviar is always made from sturgeon and if the “R” month saying about oysters is true. Joseph is full of superlatives and puns, like calling cocktail sauce the “C word” and explaining that his is the best raw bar in the world because there is no cooked seafood distraction. “It is like Michael Jordan…who also played baseball for a hot minute,” he quipped during a recent visit. Joseph’s world-beat uber-hip soundtrack and sound effects create quite an engaging experience, but his knowledge is key to making each oyster a true amuse bouche with various unprecedented mignonettes and hyper-creative seasoned and paired dishes. Those include gazpacho with dry white wine, caviar “bumps” off your hand which we learned is the proper way to taste (and then pop them against your teeth), lobster Caesar, salmon tower, shrimp ceviche, and his piece de la resistance: raw oysters cold-smoked like a cocktail in a disco lit case. The wine was fine and plentiful and perfectly paired. You will learn and have to give yourself a Porron pour, serving yourself straight to the mouth. It’s a Bourdain-esque experience, and you will leave with new friends.”
— The Local Palate“Kevin Joseph’s penchant for originality is on full display.” MoreLess
“But Raw Lab, open since February 2022 on Charleston's historic Market Street, is a master class in much more. They teach how to eat and appreciate sustainable, bioavailable, nutrient-dense seafood. Joseph’s professorial style is delicious “edutainment.” He calls himself “the anti-chef,” saying, “I don’t belong in a kitchen. I’m at my best and happiest when I’m interacting with guests, making them laugh, letting them say fun things that make me laugh. I even enjoy the same jokes I tell every night.””
“When it comes to “the world’s only omakase raw bar experience,” however, Joseph’s penchant for originality is on full display. He lists Jacques Cousteau, Julia Child, and Jack LaLanne among his sources of inspiration, or, as he says, “people I refer to as originals, people who created a new way of promoting a passion.””
“Bourdain-Esque” “Performance Art” “Originality on Full Display”
SEEfood, DIFFERENTLY!
EMBARK on an EPICUREAN Expedition
Your story begins and ends in the WATER. This is the STAGE. Your journey follows water’s path from the upland rivers of the Appalachian Mountains out into the depths of the Atlantic Ocean. MoreLess
This is travel through time and space as you examine 4 billion years of ecological evolution and evaluate the development of a web of interdependence these ecosystems have spun over eons.
The water’s flow, tides and currents push you lower and deeper as you survey the People, Provenance & Process for each species featured…each dish served. You are more than a diner now. You are an explorer. MoreLess
For this meal you’ve exchanged a chef and a waiter in a restaurant for a guide and an expedition. You’ve left civilization behind for now. You’re under your own power and underwater. It’s less comfortable and familiar here. You’re “in over your head” and right where you need to be to discover something new.
You are a participant in a voyage as this is “dinner in the round.” Questions and answers guide the journey as we discuss and discover the history, culture, cuisine, economy & ecology of the forces that affect species, flavors, textures and nutrients. Myths are busted. Facts are found. MoreLess
You’ll hear questions asked and answers given. A “Salon” is experienced as a host delivers a presentation to guide discussion and debate. New conclusions and opinions emerge. Bonds are formed between those in the room.
FOREVER CHANGED. You’ve now lived the story. Your new perspective allows you to better find and define your truth in value propositions and taste preferences, forever. Now you can SEEfood, DIFFERENTLY! MoreLess
Why? You got out of the comfortable seat in a restaurant for once. You got off the tour bus and walked through alleys in the ancient part of the city. You stuck your head into a few nooks and crannies. Just as importantly, your chef was not constrained by ‘food costs.’ He was not communicating through waiters. He was in the water with you the entire way. The others on the journey were there in real time too. And you got their take on everything, instantaneously. Nothing was hidden.
AN EPIC in FOUR ACTS
+ Wine Travel — one pairing thread, carried through all four acts
IOyster Flight7 oysters × 7 treatments
7 Oysters × 7 Treatments — featuring Salt Bombs, Tybee Island, GA
- 1 Naked
- 2 Fresh Grated Horseradish Root & Lemon
- 3 Fresh Grated Wasabi Rhizome & Lime
- 4 Japanese Mignonette — citrus champagne vinegar, wasabi rhizome, cucumber, cilantro
- 5 American Mignonette — apple cider vinegar, shallot, green apple peel, white pepper
- 6 French Mignonette — red wine vinegar, shallot, black pepper
- 7 Cold Hickory Smoked
IICaviar Trip2 bumps, 2 trips
2 Caviar Bumps | 2 Caviar Trips — featuring Black River Caviar, Uruguay
Experience & explore caviar like never before.
IIIMarine Cuisine CruiseHow we SEE food, differently
How We SEE food, DIFFERENTLY! — a culinary philosophy that informs what we source, prepare, consume & serve.
IVSea Salt SojournSalts up to 500 million years old
Ancient & modern sea salts from every continent — some as old as 500,000,000 years.
Ancient Salt / Extinct Ocean
Modern ProductionMakgadikgadi Sea, Botswana · Sundance Sea, Utah · Murray River, Australia · Blue Sea Salt, Ontario
Ancient Spring
Modern ProductionSacred Valley Sea Salt, Peru · Kaya Tuzu Sea, Turkey
Ancient Salt / Living Ocean
Modern ProductionSal Rosa, Dominican Republic
Ancient Process
Modern–Living OceanBaja Gold, Mexico
Modern Ocean
Modern ProductionIcelandic Black Lava Salt · Alaea Red Clay Sea Salt, Hawaii
Designed and delivered to take you “around the world.”
- White
- Champagne (France)
Muscadet (France)
Grüner Veltliner (Austria)
Vinho Verde (Portugal)
Albariño (Spain)
Verdeca (Italy)
Sauvignon Blanc (South Africa)
Diego Seco (Canary Islands) - Red
- Pinot Noir (USA)
Shiraz (Australia)
Malbec (Argentina) - Rosé
- Wolffer Estate Summer in a Bottle (USA)
Txakolina (Spain / Basque)
Sea Salt (New Zealand)
Carboniste (USA) - Amber / Orange
- Rkatsiteli (Georgia)
Kisi (Slovakia)
Mtsvane (Croatia) - Sake
- Perfect Snow (Japan)
Drunken Whale (Japan)
A deliberate departure from typical wine offerings & service intended to challenge assumptions and create new preferences.
Specifics on the Service Style Learn MoreLess
Wines from all wine producing continents will be featured and poured at the Chef's discretion. Pours are small and seemingly endless. Relatively affordable and approachable is the core theme, as is variety and unconventional grapes. This is ideal for the purposes of exploring obscure grapes, artisanal / experimental processes and regions less known and less traveled. These are wines you will not find everywhere. You will likely discover several that you like and that you never knew existed.
* This list is not set in stone. There will likely be variations.
September 30 Our Next Voyage Atlanta, GA
Nowak's, Atlanta. One seating, the full voyage, all four acts. Online reservations are available now on Resy.
The Sept 30 voyage at Nowak's Steakhouse is booking now — the full voyage, all four acts, one seating of twenty berths.
Reserve on ResyLooking ahead to future voyages, or a different ticketing option? Send an inquiry and we'll follow up directly.
Bring Us to Your City HowLess
We’ve got a framework for where we want to go and when. If enough patrons purchase seats for “posted” presentations, we’ll go. Soon we’ll have a way for patrons to pay a deposit for a presentation on a given date, or a series of presentations over a week in a region. So here are some target cities and dates:
- Mexico City, MX
- San Diego, CA
- Los Angeles, CA
- Palm Beach, FL
- Miami, FL
- Naples, FL
- St. Petersburg, FL
- The Keys
- St. Bart’s
- Turks & Caicos
- Caymans
- St. Lucia
- Martinique
- Aspen
- Whistler
- Sun Valley
- Tahoe
- Vail
- Big Sky
- Telluride
- Deer Valley
- Taos
- Banff
- Gstaad
- St. Moritz
- Courchevel
Upcoming Presentations InfoLess
- New Orleans, LA 10.21.26 Sold Out
- Dallas, TX 10.30.26 Details Soon
Host an Odyssea Privately HowLess
Book the full voyage for your own group — friends & family, your company, or your clients.
Private Group Details ›Every EPIC STORY has these 6 elements. Odyssea does too.
The Hero
Our guest is the hero in our story. They seek wisdom, knowledge, understanding, value and fun. They are foiled by a lack of consistent information and confusing and conflicting answers to questions in restaurants. They are commonly lied to and they know it. They seek a way to navigate around the bullshit and understand how to get to the truth.
The Villain
The seafood industrial complex and the restaurant business who have been lying to you in many ways. They obscure the truth, mislead, mislabel and create confusion. They are using shitty products as filler and they are hiding lower quality proteins behind sauces, sugar, salt and fat.
The Mission
Our hero seeks to find the truth. They need a different set of tools, tactics, methodologies and techniques to find their preferences and where value lies in fine dining. The traditional models and the existing system present more barriers to this than solutions.
The Journey
Downstream and out to sea: through water from river to sea. The People, Provenance & Process. Following the flow.
The Guide
Your guide is the Anti-Chef, Kevin Joseph. He’s not “against” great Chefs — he admires them. But they are very, very rare. They are storytellers. They are transparent. They are artists, gifted with passion and blessed by using that passion to create a purpose that serves others. But most “Chefs” are really cooks or executives. They are not storytellers. They are not transparent and they are not telling you the truth or delivering value. Worse, the traditional fine dining model is built on volume, and that means turning tables and making a profit at the lowest possible price. That creates incentives to rush patrons and cut corners. And the whole front-of-house and back-of-house design of traditional fine dining means you are dealing with a waiter, not the Chef. Did your waiter source the product? Create the dish? Do they understand it at all? Do they have time to engage in a conversation with the entire room? The model is broken. Our hero needs a new guide and a new model.
The Resolution
SEEfood, DIFFERENTLY!
Same Love Letter. Different Muse.
At CENTRAL in Lima, Peru, Chef Virgilio Martínez created an experience that takes patrons on an expedition. He showcases the extraordinary ecological diversity of his country. The path goes from East to West — Andes to Pacific. It’s his love letter to Peru. He changed the game. Epicureans and Gastronauts have pilgrimaged to Central for years.
Andes to Pacific · East to West · Peru
With ODYSSEA, Chef Kevin Joseph riffs on CENTRAL, without leaving the water, and keeping the focus on seafood. The path is West to East — Appalachians to Atlantic. And this presentation tours, traveling wherever and to whomever it can. It’s Kevin’s love letter to the ecological diversity he grew up exploring along the East Coast of the United States.
Appalachians to Atlantic · West to East · United States
Bring Odyssea to your community, retreat, hotel, resort, prospects, club, team or venue.
Bring Odyssea to any audience in any market in partnership with us. You secure the presentation of ODYSSEA and we work together to fill the seats by offering them to the public at a mutually agreed upon price. Anyone is invited to reserve seats. You are our “Presenting Partner” for the evening. MoreLess
In this model an entity will secure our programming. This will include all fees, costs of goods sold and other services or travel expenses. We’ll secure a venue, if needed, as well. Expect the cost per head here to run between $500 and $1,500 per guest depending on what options are desired, location and date. Together we will market seats to the public. So, if seats are priced at $500 and your total cost is $500 per seat and we sell out the event, you are at a net loss / gain of $0. Value here is created in that you can control who you invite to purchase seats. And, through the process there are a host of ways you can deliver messages and other offerings to the guests. Contact us for ideas and more info on this model.
Entertain prospects, create programming for conferences, reward loyal customers or reward employees.
10 guest minimum · 20 guest maximumAttract new members, reward loyal members, present unique programming, attract food media & influencers.
10 guest minimum · 20 guest maximumGenerate revenues from distressed space, attract new guests, reward loyal guests and present unique programming.
10 guest minimum · 20 guest maximumAlign your elite luxury brand with an elite dining and seafood experience.
10 guest minimum · 20 guest maximumFill that private dining room that isn’t always full. Generate revenues from distressed space, attract new guests, reward loyal guests and present unique programming.
10 guest minimum · 20 guest maximumDemonstrate the lifestyle you are selling, open houses, media events, team building, closing gifts and more.
10 guest minimum · 20 guest maximumHost ODYSSEA privately.
Set a course for adventure in a venue you control or one we secure for you. You control the guest list. Seats / Reservations are not available to the general public.
Book a private presentation of ODYSSEA in your home, club, farm, or a venue we secure for you — and host friends, family, or whomever you choose.
Corporations, brands, hotels, resorts, private clubs or any group of people can host a private presentation of ODYSSEA in any venue they have or that we secure for them.
“Dinner as performance art, and you'll never look at an oyster (or caviar) the same way again.” — Town & Country Magazine
For journalists & media.
Working on a story, segment, or feature about Odyssea, Raw Lab, or Chef Kevin Joseph? We're happy to help with interviews, background, and imagery.
Fine dining is dead.
Long live fine dining!
Epicureanism is a culinary & hospitality prophecy & philosophy. It informs Odyssea’s style and format. This affords an alternative lens on the plate: People, Provenance, Process & Produce can be better understood and appreciated through flipping the traditional fine dining model.
Epicureanism offers an alternative set of tactics and values around sourcing, preparing and presenting products—one that delivers a more complete story about every species featured and dish served. It allows us to better trace the food served through the forces and efforts that brought it to the table.
While Epicureanism asks more of a meal and a diner, it also gives more back including a clearer sense of what’s “sustainable & responsible,” what’s “safe & healthy,” and much more.
Say hello.
Questions about a voyage, a venue, or anything else — reach out and we'll follow up directly.