Miss Toya’s Offers a Taste of New Orleans in Silver Spring

Residents of the D.C. metropolitan area don’t have to travel to New Orleans to get a sample of some of that city’s famed cuisine. 

Now, they can simply go to Silver Spring to have their taste buds satisfied. However, in the near future, they’ll have a second local option – in the District, east of the Anacostia River. 

“We love serving New Orleans-style food to our customers,” said Toya Miskiri, a co-owner of Miss Toya’s Creole House in Silver Spring. “We have been well received since we opened up several weeks ago. This area has a real taste for Southern and Creole cuisine.”

Miss Toya’s Creole House, the latest eatery of The Miskiri Hospitality Group (MHG), operates in the downtown Silver Spring development. The MHG, co-founded by her husband restauranteur Jeffeary Miskiri, wanted to have an establishment in his native Montgomery County. Miss Toya’s took the physical location of Eggspectation, a breakfast and brunch restaurant.

The MHG also owns Po Boy Jim Bar & Grill on H Street in Northeast and in Columbia, Maryland and Creole on 14^th in the city’s northwest quadrant in the Columbia Heights neighborhood, plus Suga & Spice in Hyattsville, Maryland. Toya Miskiri said the group also owns a restaurant in Cleveland.

Miss Toya’s features Creole-cooked cuisine including pasta prepared with shrimp, lobster and crabmeat, catfish or shrimp and grits, short ribs (beef), gumbo and jambalaya. 

The restaurant features a variety of salads as well as classic American fare such as a chicken sandwich, burger and po’ boy with seafood seasoning. It also features a wide range of oysters and entrees that include pork chops, a Pittsburg ribeye steak and Creole-spiced lamb.

Customers can feed their children with the offerings of the Kids’ Menu featuring alfredo, chicken tenders and a shrimp basket. Sides offered to patrons include macaroni and cheese, crab and Cajun fries, seafood fried rice and asparagus. Desserts include key lime pie, banana foster cake and white chocolate bean bread pudding. Specialty cocktails and brunch packages that must be purchased as a whole are also offered to customers.

Dontrell Smith, a Ward 7 political activist and former candidate for the D.C. State Board of Education, works as the chief of staff for the MHG and currently maintains a focus on Miss Toya’s. Smith, who holds a Bachelor of Business and MBA from Howard University, has gained the respect of Toya Miskiri.

“Dontrell helps us a lot with hiring and training our staff,” she said.

Smith revealed plans continue to open a restaurant in D.C.’s Penn Branch neighborhood of Ward 7 in Southeast, making it the group’s first restaurant located east of the Anacostia River.

Smith expressed excitement about working with MHG and its location in Ward 7 set for groundbreaking in November.

“I wanted to be a part of a strong Black business,” Smith said. “The Miskiri Hospitality Group is just that and they are offering a different concept in hospitality. People used to want to go to clubs but now they want to go to lounges. That’s why the Penn Branch location will work. People coming from Prince George’s County into D.C. will be able to come to our restaurant and relax and have a good time.”