Seafood Subtlety on the North Fork
 Betsy Flinn |
(5/6/2008) Whether you arrive by Grady-White and pull right up into the Port of Egypt Marina or take the trip to Southold by car, the Seafood Barge is a worthy dining destination. Small and not too impressive on the outside, this unassuming-looking waterfront restaurant is serving some surprisingly sophisticated fish dishes, all Long Island wines, and fresh produce from nearby farms.
A variety of talented chefs have passed through the kitchen at the Seafood Barge, and their influences remain on some of the dishes. Michael Meehan introduced the towering Caesar salad. Americo Mintegui added some Asian touches to the menu, and now a young man named Noah Schwartz is at the “helm.” (Okay, no more nautical motif references, I promise!)
When you walk into the Seafood Barge from the parking lot filled with shrink-wrapped motorboats, you look straight out the back picture windows at the water. Over there, a fellow might be scrubbing his teak deck; straight ahead, an osprey redecorating her nest. Everybody is busy on the water, but it is a restful, quiet scene.
The interior of the Seafood Barge is all blue and white. Not quite navy blue, more like royal blue. An impressive marlin hangs on one wall, a swordfish and a dolphin on another. Some helpful brass signs point “To the Bar,” “To the Lifeboats,” etc. But it’s not a cornball atmosphere, just comfortable.
On each table you’ll find an unopened bottle of Long Island wine, a custom reminiscent of the tiny bistros and trattorias of France and Italy. On the day we went for lunch, there was a special being offered, two free desserts for the table if you purchased one of the restaurant’s overstocked (and quite reasonable) wines.
To begin our meal, we tried the calamari fritto misto with fennel, green beans, and lemon aioli, the baked oysters with basil, garlic, and Parmesan, steamed mussels with romesco broth and grilled bread, and the roasted beet and baby arugula salad with candied walnuts and goat cheese ranch dressing.
The calamari was delicious and tender, lightly crisped and not greasy at all. The delightful surprise with the calamari was the paper-thin slices of lemon and strips of fennel that had been fried along with it. The lemon slices were sour and crunchy, not bitter at all, and the fennel sweet and anise flavored. The zesty aioli was homemade and very good.
The baked oysters (Peconic Bay) were small and sweet but held their own against the strong pesto on top. The steamed mussels were also great; the romesco broth was smoky and spicy, tasting of chorizo or smoked paprika, perfect for dipping the grilled slices of baguette. The baby arugula salad was good, although the creaminess of the goat cheese ranch dressing weighed it down and wilted it prematurely.
At this point I should confess that one of our guests was a well-known East End chef, so the kitchen sent out an extra appetizer of a dainty crab salad adorned with avocado, blood orange slices, and baby amaranth leaves. A marvelous and light-tasting combination of sweet crab meat, barely bound with mayonnaise, enriched with creamy avocado, then made tart with the blood oranges, this creation by the new chef should be on the menu.
For entrees we ordered the grilled swordfish with potato purée, sautéed apples, pancetta, and Swiss chard with mustard seed vinaigrette, the pan-roasted halibut with white vegetable purée, spinach, and a Meyer lemon beurre blanc, the roasted, boneless, free-range half chicken with warm fingerling potatoes and arugula salad, and the warm lobster roll served with pickled peppers, cucumbers, and homemade potato chips.
Oh, and we had to get an order of truffled French fries. Just because.
The grilled swordfish was moist and flavorful and good, but, as one guest pointed out, it made him think of fall, and he thought the accompaniments were better suited to pork. The roast half chicken was a huge portion, with beautifully crisped skin. It was not treated like a second-class citizen in a mostly all-fish kitchen. The warm lobster salad was also good, big, and served on a toasted, buttered brioche-style roll.
The best dish may have been the halibut. Again, a nice, big piece of super-fresh fish, barely opaque in the middle, perfectly crisped and salted on the outside. The purée of parsnips and celery root underneath the wilted baby spinach was a great addition to it, but the Meyer lemon (confit?) beurre blanc made it shine. Slightly sweeter than regular lemons, Meyer lemons taste somewhat like a cross between tangerines and lemons. Their skin has a wonderful and distinctive flowery perfume. It all came through in this creative sauce.
For dessert we tried the blueberry bread pudding, an ice cream cookie sandwich, and the Key lime pie. The Key lime pie was tart and creamy with a definitely homemade graham cracker crust. The ice cream sandwich was made with thick oatmeal cookies and filled with mint-chip ice cream. That flavor combo threw me off a bit; I would have preferred vanilla or regular chocolate-chip ice cream. It was served with a little ramekin of deep, dark, warm chocolate sauce for dipping. This rescued it.
The blueberry bread pudding was the best of the desserts, a tall, round, and tender pudding with a great custard base, full of blueberries and topped with plenty of freshly whipped cream, not oversweetened.
Prices for appetizers run from $7 to $16, entrees from $22 to $31, excluding lobster, which is dependent on market prices.
Our pretty waitress, Kathy, was cheerful, helpful, and knowledgeable. Our busboy was new, nervous, and did an outstanding job in spite of this.
On the day we dined at the Seafood Barge, it was moderately busy. Most tables were filled that afternoon, but there was no waiting, or rushing, or “frantically relaxing” customers. A good number of the guests seemed to be there for the two-pound lobster specials to be paired with a reasonably priced Long Island wine.
The menu is short, and while the Seafood Barge offers the obligatory waterfront dining fried-fish-and-fries items you expect in such a place, it also serves some sophisticated dishes using the best of the local waters and farmland. So whether you go by boat, car, or bicycle, it’s worth the trip.