An Oyster Bar That Never Prints a Menu

The bar has no name on the outside, which is either the point or an oversight, depending on who you ask. Inside, twelve stools face a chalkboard that is updated twice a day by a woman named Ruth. On the chalkboard are two words: oysters and beer. Underneath, in smaller letters: sometimes crackers.

Ruth's father opened the place in 1968, and his objection to the concept of a menu was, he liked to say, a matter of principle. 'A menu is a promise you may not want to keep,' he told his daughter. Ruth has extended the philosophy to include websites, phone numbers, and, since 2014, the concept of a bathroom sign.

The oysters arrive from a bed she can see from the back door. The beer arrives from a distributor in Gainesville who has learned not to ask questions. Locals come at four, tourists at six, and by seven the chalkboard has been erased and the door has been closed with a hand-lettered sign that reads, simply: tomorrow.