East End Eats: Bostwick's
What better way to enjoy seafood than at a place where you can gaze out into the waters that provided the heart of the meal and our area's fishing traditions.
If that's what you have in mind, Bostwick's Seafood Grill and Oyster Bar on Three Mile Harbor in East Hampton, fits the bill. Owned by the team of Chris Eggert and Kevin Boles, who draw crowds at Sante Fe Junction in East Hampton, Bostwick's is new this year, sort of.
At the end of Gann Road in East Hampton, the restaurant is a combination of the best elements of two run by the team last season: Bostwick's Seafood Grill and the East Coast Oyster Bar: It has first-rate seafood and a casual but attentive staff. The Bostwick's bar, which often has standing room only, has become a favorite watering hole for after-work gatherers.
Watching The Boats
An open but covered deck and an adjoining but equally airy indoor dining room afford a chance to take a peek at the town's dock, where such fishing vessels as Stuart Vorpahl's Polly-Ruth are docked, and the Harbor Marina, which is full of recreational boats.
Three of us have enjoyed lunch and dinner at Bostwick's this summer on several occasions, and agree the food is consistently good, fresh, and affordable, without any pretensions or attitude.
At a recent lunch, one of our party enjoyed a grilled tuna sandwich on a soft kaiser bun. It was ample, fresh, nicely spiced, and cooked rare as ordered, with crisp red-leaf lettuce and ripe tomato. Another choice was a fried flounder sandwich, a staple that should please kids and adults alike. It was served with the same accompaniments as the tuna, with tartar sauce on the side. Its consumer didn't take the waitress up on having it supplemented with cheese.
Refreshing Add-Ons
For any true landlubbers in your midst, and we had one, Bostwick's offers a good old cheeseburger. It was juicy and came with plenty of lettuce and tomato.
As side dishes, the french fries were perfect examples of the curly, skin-still-on variety, and the potato salad was called "just like homemade." Coleslaw was of the crunchy, peppery, and refreshing sort.
Other lunch choices are popular choices - shrimp or lobster salad and grilled chicken sandwiches, hot dogs, two kinds of clam chowder and an oyster stew, a raw bar, and salads, like the mixed greens we sampled with lunch. The cucumber-dill dressing we sampled was grainy, as if whole cucumbers had been put through a blender and it needed some additional bite.
Dinner Choices
Dinner at Bostwick's has proven satisfying on more than one occasion. Dinner for two who were reservation-less on a busy Sunday night required a mere 20-minute wait. The raw bar sampler - two oysters, two clams, and five peel-and-eat shrimp - were as refreshing as could be wished for after a hot summer day. A warm, round loaf of bread was enjoyed at the table as well.
The crab cake entree, two large and plump cakes, might have had a bit more crab to them, but they were tasty, sauteed brown on the outside and paired with a tangy whole- grain mustard sauce. At their side, colorful julienned summer vegetables sh zucchini, squash, and carrots - needed no embellishment..
The Bostwick clambake was nicely presented on a large platter, with a big steamed lobster in the middle and clams and mussels, red- skinned potatoes, and corn on the cob rounding it out. The potatoes, though, seemed boiled and entirely plain, a far cry from potatoes done over a traditional clambake fire.
And, For Dessert. . .
There were many other entrees on the menu, including swordfish charred with capers, lemon, roasted shallots, and herbs and soft shell crabs sauteed with garlic, shallots, lemon, and white wine. In addition to the clambake, large platters feature an assortment of fried fish and shellfish, a surf-and-turf, broiled seafood with half a lobster, and "shore dinners" that feature New York strip steak, grilled free-range chicken, roasted Long Island duck, and pasta primavera. We expect they will live up to what we have already enjoyed at Bostwick's.
The most noteworthy dessert we tried was the Bostwick Brownie, a big one served with three syrups, ice cream, and some fresh fruit. Not for the dieters, but otherwise not to be missed. Also, the wine list offers a number of unusually affordable picks, including one of this reviewer's favorite local whites, SagPond's La Ferme Martin Chardonnay, a Gristina Merlot, and Pindar's Mythology Meritage red. Bostwick's serves dinner seven nights a week and reservations are advisable. Lunch is served Friday through Sunday.