The area’s restaurant scene continues to attract national attention and accolades due to its quality and diversity.
Bethesda Magazine’s food critic David Hagedorn wrote Tuesday that despite the restaurant’s service problems, there is much to love about Miss Toya’s Creole House:
Pass up the cup of gumbo starter and order the “loaded” gumbo entree instead. Its presentation alone—a majestic cluster of meaty snow crab legs resting atop a soup rife with andouille sausage, shrimp and chicken—warrants the upgrade, but the flavor seals the deal. Miskiri’s roux (flour cooked long and slow in oil) is a deep, rust color and imbues the dish with coffee-like notes, nuttiness and soul. Seafood stock adds to the gumbo’s complexity, and a hit of cayenne gives it a kick. Another notable entree—catfish and grits—is an enormous, moist fillet encrusted in cornmeal that is placed on a bed of white cheddar grits and sauced with rich crawfish cream. Plan to take half home, as you will if you order the two-per-serving, wonderfully tender, mammoth short ribs braised with celery, onions, garlic, bell peppers, bay leaves and thyme and served over sauteed spinach or chunky mashed potatoes (your choice).
Jeffery Miskiri, who founded Miskiri Hospitality Group in 2021, opened Miss Toya’s in mid-August in the space formerly occupied by Eggspectation at 923 Ellsworth Dr. in Downtown Silver Spring.
Miskiri, raised in Takoma Park and a Montgomery Blair High School graduate, has over 10 years of experience in the restaurant business, spending seven years working in family restaurants and running a catering service. He opened Po Boy Jim Bar & Grill, his first brick-and-mortar operation, on H Street NE in Washington.
“I went from being a chef to being a restaurateur, on to being the founder of my own hospitality group,” he said to the Source last year.
“Miss Toya’s is the sister restaurant to my full-service restaurant, Creole on 14th [in Washington], the reason behind it being to expand on Creole and Cajun food,” Miskiri said. “The diversity and the body of language that that cuisine presents is so large that I knew that I could something similar but totally different at the same time.”
“This might be my most exciting project,” he said. “I say that a lot, but seeing that I’m actually coming back home where I grew up…. I know everything about downtown Silver Spring. I’m just really excited to bring that Cajun-Creole flair and twist to the neighborhood.”
Graphic Courtesy of Miss Toya’s Creole House