Redefining Fine Dining with Kevin Joseph and Charleston’s Raw Lab Experience
Tucked into the charm of Charleston’s Market Street sits a different kind of dining experience that has little to do with white tablecloths or maître d's and everything to do with curiosity, connection, and grounding yourself in the present moment. The Raw Lab experience offers guests the opportunity to be vulnerable, take the risk of being bad at something, and dive deeply into a unique dining experience. Punctuated by music, lighting, and education about each dish, Chef Kevin’s intention with this rare dining experience is to cultivate a renewed inspiration to learn and grow within each diner that extends well beyond the last sip of wine.
In this episode of Southern Character, James and Amanda sit down with Kevin Joseph, founder of Empire Oyster and Raw Lab, in an ambient courtyard setting to discuss the evolution of not just the Raw Lab experience itself, but his continued study of how to bring a table of 12 once-strangers into a fully immersive dining experience beyond anything they’ve ever had anywhere else - even if they’ve eaten at some of the finest dining establishments around the world.
An Education in Hospitality
Kevin’s family is firmly rooted in the restaurant industry, starting with his father buying a restaurant in Breckenridge, CO in 1970, and later, his grandparents opening a pizzeria in Montauk, East Hampton, NY so that the family could live closer and run the restaurant. After his parents divorced, Kevin split his time between New York and Southwestern Florida near Naples, and began casually working at his grandmother's 25-year beachside seafood stronghold during the summers, peeling shrimp, washing dishes, and waiting tables.
Kevin returned to Colorado for college in Boulder and became a ski instructor during a gap year, earning the highest-level ski instructor certification and securing a job in St. Moritz, Switzerland, where he learned how to cultivate positive experiences within luxury services, which he says translated well into his current endeavor with Raw Lab.
The Origin of an Oyster Obsession
After the loss of several family members in 2010, Kevin returned to New York to support his father, moving him back into their abandoned lake house and spending his time renovating the space. In his spare time, Kevin found himself taking an interest in oysters, recognizing a similarity in the recent culture shift around wine education and the budding interest in oysters, and especially in their role within our ecosystems. This led to starting New York Oyster Week in 2011 and curating events around New York City, garnering authority on oysters at a time when there was limited information available.
One of the first companies to work with Kevin was Blue Island Oyster Company, which led to a job traveling North America buying and selling oysters, hosting events, and training chefs, all while celebrating the history, culture, economy, and ecology of oysters. Kevin now considers his credentials to be fairly singular, despite a vast public interest in luxury food and drink, and considers that most oysters are simply served in a restaurant that happens to offer a raw bar, rather than fully embraced for their full flavor profile. Thus, Raw Lab’s mission began to take shape, building on more than fifteen years of scientific and anecdotal study around oysters and seafood.
The Raw Lab: An Experience Like No Other
Relocating to Charleston in 2021 led to the opening of Raw Lab in early 2022, first as a friends and family only experience and eventually expanding to a reservation book that stays booked more than three months out. Kevin is careful to make the distinction between this and other more typical fine dining experiences - this is not for everyone, and participating comes with some ground rules.
Raw Lab, a 12-seat experimental raw bar where everything from the music to the wine to the way you chew your oyster is choreographed. It’s not a restaurant. There’s no waitstaff. No kitchen. No traditional menu. Kevin serves as host, chef, educator, DJ, and bartender all in one. Guests arrive promptly at 6:37 p.m., a quirky but deliberate rule to set the pace and the tone of the evening.
The Five Pillars of the Raw Lab Philosophy
Kevin’s philosophy is built around five core “pillars,” which shape the entire Raw Lab experience:
Caviar Trip – A guided tasting meant to completely reframe what caviar is and how to experience it.
Whole, Live, Raw, Bioavailable Food – A focus on nutrient-dense, minimally manipulated food.
Marine Cuisine – Sourcing seafood that is not only sustainable but top-quality in flavor and form.
Sea Salt Complex – Incorporating salts from around the world and across geologic time for both health and metaphysical reflection.
Wine Travel – Instead of a traditional wine list, guests receive small pours from 17 wines, creating a journey of global flavors.
Amanda recalls her first-ever experience with caviar as being nothing short of transformational. Kevin guided the table through what he calls a “Caviar Trip,” asking guests to close their eyes and engage every sense—moving from what he calls “monkey brain” to “lizard brain,” shifting from chaos to stillness. James, meanwhile, couldn’t get enough of the James Brown Lobster Caesar Salad, a dish equal parts flavor and performance, complete with fresh parmesan and a dance break.
Each participant is asked to fully engage with every detail, embracing vulnerability and taking part in a shared journey together. As Chef Kevin puts it, the shift between eating - something we do a lot of - and this kind of dining is discovery, and his mission remains to inspire, rather than mystify, to create an accessible and valuable experience that each visitor can take with them.
Total Transformation
Throughout the experience, 12 strangers dine at once, trying the same dishes in the same order—each reaction shared in real time, creating a kind of social alchemy. Guests are encouraged to fail, to laugh, to play, and to discover something new about the food, the people around them, and maybe themselves.
Kevin doesn’t just want you to eat better. He wants to challenge how you think about food: how it’s sourced, how it’s prepared, what nutrients it offers, and how it can bring people together. If you’re in Charleston and think you know oysters, think again. Raw Lab isn’t just a meal - it’s a moonshot.
To fully capture Kevin Joseph’s passion for the Raw Lab experience, be sure to catch the latest episode of Southern Character.