Dining Around Town

It's Restaurant Week and this time I promised myself I'd visit at least one place I'd normally not go. I kept my promise by having dinner at Seaworthy. It was reserved just because I have to occasionally deviate from the classic food I prefer. Seaworthy has been around since about 2015, when it arrived on the scene as part of the Ace Hotel chain. A few years ago it was changed to The Barnett Hotel, and I’m just not sure what is going on with Seaworthy now. My two companions and I were not the age demographic here, which explains so much about the evening.

First, Seaworthy is located in a very old building, which looks the part. Though it is very cool, it reminds me of a place under renovation where the detritus of the past has not been completely removed. In the room where we sat, red booths lined the walls and surrounded beautiful bare wood tables with cast iron pedestal supports. Old pictures lined the walls, which were colored old-smoke yellow. (It didn’t smell like smoke at all but looked like someone had been smoking for a century and yellowed the walls. ) A fireplace in the room looked like the area surrounding it hadn’t been swept after drywall was removed. To the age demographic in the room this must have been perceived as cool. To us, not so much.

My companions were already annoyed when we sat down because they were told they couldn’t wait for me at the bar because it was 5:30 and the resy was for 5. (I have no doubt that this was my mistake. It sounds like me.) However, they wanted to wait at the bar and wound up sitting outside on a bench. Who turns down a customer wanting a beer? These two continued to be underwhelmed by the service, though I expected it by looking at the place. I have concluded that millennials and younger simply have no idea that there is another way to do things. I have seen their world, and I’ll pass. They have not seen mine. In a blind taste of food, I’d bet my last nickel they’d be impressed.

Another mistake I made was not noticing that the price of this Restaurant Week dinner menu was $32, rather than $56. When I realized that, I added extra apps from the regular menu. Since there were three of us and three choices per course, we just got three different things per course and tried everything. This caused a bit of difficulty because the table wasn’t big enough, and there was never enough plates. We had to keep asking for more plates.

The extra apps were Oyster Purloo, and Boudin and Gravy, though the latter was a “Large Plate, ” something I didn’t realize until the bill came. (Again, on me for not reading the menu carefully.) These two arrived in the midst of the app delivery from the Restaurant Week first course.

The Oyster Purloo was an interesting dish, sort of a combination of Oyster Pan Roast and Paella, made with the famous Carolina Gold rice, smoked ham hock, and Porcini mushrooms. I liked this dish. There was a bit of Soccarat in this cast iron skillet, but I was more interested in the flavor of this dish. The smoked ham hock and mushroom combination was tasty. One of us was a restaurateur who serves a lot of seafood, and after he noted that none of the seafood tasted fresh, I was less enthusiastic about everything. 

The Boudin and Gravy was also tasty. It had braised duck leg and guinea hen grits. I have no idea where the boudin came in, but I liked this as well. The grits were creamy and nice, and the gravy was intensely flavorful. Good stuff.

Things went downhill when the Restaurant Week items arrived. One of us got the heirloom tomato salad, another got the hushpuppies, and we also had the crab salad. 

I was intrigued by the crab salad, which did not have the texture or look of a crab salad. I later learned that it was a crab and shrimp salad, and what I tasted and felt was the heartier protein of the shrimp rather than the delicate texture of crab. There were shallots and leeks to round this out. Had I known there were shrimp (maybe from studying the menu more,) I would have been more interested in eating this. It was billed as crab salad, and it was very clearly less crab than anything else. It was served with pieces of bun from the lobster roll that arrived with the entrees. I still liked this.

The hushpuppies were very good. They came surrounded by a mixture of corn maquechoux and green tomato chow chow. The hushpuppies themselves were very nice. Good flavor and texture. Not totally greaseless, but fine. Together with the rest of the dish, this was a nice bite of food. Vegetarian, maybe vegan, but I don’t care.

The heirloom tomato salad was the best thing on the table. It was billed as a Caprese salad, but was not presented that way. I didn’t notice Balsamic vinegar anywhere, and the Buffalo milk Mozzarella was torn. Not a fan of that, but the tomatoes were very good.

For entrees, we had Fish and Chips, Shrimp and Grits, and the Seaworthy Roll, which was a crawfish roll. The crawfish roll came in what seemed like a housemade hot dog bun, but that would surprise me. It had the usual mayo base, and I thought it quite tasty. Fries that were not housecut but very good fries came with this, along with spicy and smoky ketchup.

The Shrimp and Grits were also not bad. The grits were creamy and the sauce light and shrimpy, but I just couldn’t get past the “not so fresh” comment at the table.

The most disturbing thing I have seen in a restaurant in some time was also part of the entree course. The Fish and Chips was a little scary. I get Fish and Chips everywhere I see it, and I have never seen the like. First, the requisite two pieces of fish in the Tempura batter were greasy. But when we tried to cut into the fish, it was so tough we had to exert some force to tear it apart. It was gray flesh and really unpleasant. I was so curious that we called the waitress over and asked her what it was. She returned from the kitchen with the response of Tidewater Fish. The seafood restaurateur had to look it up, declaring it a trash fish, which I already knew by looking at it. I would have much preferred a higher price for the menu and an edible fish. Disturbing.

When I talked about it on The Food Show ,it was explained as an estuary fish, and recognizable fish cousins were named: Redfish, Drum, and others that turn up in restaurants here all the time. Sorry, but this must have been a very distant cousin.

The French fries that we almost ordered had they been housecut turned out to be some of the best items on the table.

Dessert came with this, and it was also absurd. An oatmeal cookie sandwich with pineapple sorbet inside. We each had a bite of this and left all three at the table, with one bite removed.

The restaurateur in the group was bemused by the server's non-reaction to our clear lack of interest in the food. He wondered why no one asked why we were having a bite of the food and leaving the rest.

When I got to my car, parked two cars from the front entrance to the restaurant, some kid in his thirties was leaning on it as he talked to his buddies in front of a neighboring business. The perfect end to such an evening. At least the conversation was great.

The following day, I had lunch at Mr. B’s, one of my favorite places in town. There were three of us again, and we each had something from the Restaurant Week menu of two courses for $25. On the table was the legendary Gumbo Ya Ya, as well as eggplant sticks, and a Caprese Salad. For entrees, we had Buster Crabs, Chicken Piccata, and a Salmon BLT.

My first question was about the salmon being farm-raised or wild. When I got the wrong answer, I was not envious of my companion’s BLT. I was very green about the portion of the Gumbo Ya Ya for the third of us. I am crazy about that gumbo and it was the largest portion of it I’ve seen. As part of a $25 deal! C’mon! No one was jealous of my eggplant sticks. I had them all to myself.

They were fine. Greaseless and golden brown, they were the right size, and there was a nice amount of them. They had a heavy grating of Parmesan on top, which had sort of melted together. But the horseradish-infused aioli was fantastic. I wanted to put this on everything. By the end of lunch, I was dipping bread in it.

The last app on the table was the Caprese salad. This was a nice portion of red tomatoes interspersed with some Buffalo Mozzarella and heavily drizzled with Balsamic vinegar. This is definitely not my thing, but I liked this.

The entree that was ordered with the Caprese Salad was the Salmon BLT. It was beautiful, with three slices of avocado and a few slices of thick bacon, as well as more red tomato and lettuce. The salmon was grilled nicely, and the croissant was flaky. It was served with housemade waffle crisps. The one of us who got this was delighted.

The entree ordered with the gumbo was the Chicken Piccata. I was really envious of this dish. It was gorgeous, and the best thing on the table, unless you count the Gumbo Ya-Ya. Clearly, this was the best of the three choices, all made by the same person. 

In keeping with what Tom always said about me, I had the least of the choices, but it was still good. I remember the Buster Crabs in the height of their popularity. They were always pan-seared in an Amandine preparation. This to me is the gold standard of softshell crab dishes. 

I have ordered Buster Crabs here recently (here and Mandina’s is the only place I see them now). I expected to see them Amandine here, but they were deep-fried, and served over Maquechoux. They look like the wingette section of the chicken wing rather than softshell crab because they were missing little legs.. They were fried nicely (golden brown and greaseless.) There was plenty of maquechoux underneath, and the combination was delicious.

The place was packed, and I have no idea how many were there for the $25 menu,  The price was incredible, and the portions were the same size as on the regular menu. The three of us ate the two-course menu and had tea. The bill was under a hundred dollars. If I had never been there I would be jazzed about coming back. I’m still jazzed about returning and I go there with some regularity. Mission accomplished.