The Blue Water Seafood Company in East Brunswick and Red Bank

 

The sole criteria for preparing fish and seafood are that the products be absolutely fresh and cooked to perfection.  This isn’t asking for much, is it?  But it is.  The search for a seafood restaurant in New Jersey that meets those critical standards is akin to hunting for the proverbial needle in the haystack.  Happily, I have found that needle!

In fact, I found it nine years ago when the Blue Water Seafood Company opened its doors at 1126 Route 18 North in East Brunswick, New Jersey.  The very recent expansion of this great seafood eatery into a second location in Red Bank (corner of West Front and Broad Streets) prompted me to spread the good news to seafood aficionados across the State.

After all these years of patronizing the establishment on Route 18, I finally discovered the restaurant’s secret just a few weeks ago, via a palaver with Paul, a most excellent and knowledgeable waiter. Paul shared that Jimmy Vastardis, the restaurants’ owner, was once a purveyor of fish and seafood for a client base comprised of fine and casual dining establishments. In promoting his product line, Jimmy naturally created business relationships with the chefs of these restaurants.  Jimmy’s knowledge and experience culminated when he took things to the next logical level by opening his first Blue Water Seafood Restaurant — which also sells fresh, raw fish and shellfish, right on the premises, to patrons.     

 

In my nine years of eating there with my husband, our family, my employer, and friends, not one of us has ever had less than a stellar experience.  The restaurant is small, impeccably clean, and unpretentious.  For reasons that should be obvious, I prefer to patronize eateries in which the kitchen is open to the public, a predilection too rarely indulged by restaurant owners.  Enter Blue Water on Route 18 and the open kitchen is immediately to your left.  You know the food is fresh when the owner is confident enough to allow you to peer into the place in which it is prepared.  Have a seat at a banquette or a table and give yourself plenty of time to peruse the menus, plural.

The two blackboards on the walls list the daily specials, from luscious appetizers to entrees and desserts.  These specials are always and incredibly fresh.  Paul had suggested I try the black sea bass, because that species had just begun its seasonal run that very week.

The items on the blackboards are cousins to the fare in Manhattan’s upscale, fine dining establishments, with two exceptions: the prices are better and the portions are generous.  With those selections, the chef takes creative license, pairing, for instance, lobster with a grapefruit sauce (an odd marriage, which I can attest is excellent) and fettuccine with bay scallops, roasted garlic, shitake and Portobello mushrooms, and basil.

The printed menu offers more traditional fare, spanning the gamut of cuttlefish, all manner of swimming fish in season, and shellfish, all of which can be ordered to your preference (broiled, baked, boiled/steamed, fried, or raw).  My husband insists upon starting every meal at Blue Water with a dozen raw oysters.  At the risk of making a pun, he is as happy as a clam when he’s slurping down those plump, juicy beauties.

Although I’ve tried many of the chef’s innovative creations, I went the traditional route a few weeks ago and started with an appetizer platter of fried calamari.  The calamari was tender and the portion, which ran about $9.00, was enough for an entree!  I was nearly full by the time my meaty crab cakes arrived (all meat, in fact; no filler or other ingredients that deliver less crab for your buck).

My husband helped me polish off the crab cakes as he’d already inhaled his favorite: blackened salmon.  He swears this is perfection, and that no other seafood restaurant comes close to it.  The salmon filet is seasoned and cooked flawlessly — and yes, the wait staff inquiries as to how you prefer your fish cooked: rare, medium, or well done.  A very generous portion of shoestring fries accompanied my crab cakes, and my husband’s salmon came with julienned vegetables as well as delicious red roasted potatoes.

If you adore fish and shellfish but other members of your party don’t, never fear.  Chicken, burgers, and steak are among the menu offerings.

Appetizers include my all-time favorite, a salad composed of warm, breaded and fried goat cheese medallions that melt decadently on my tongue and are balanced by fresh pears, baby greens, walnuts, and beets with a light and tasty vinaigrette dressing.  Cakes, tarts, and other desserts vary with the season and the chef’s imagination.  Their crème brulee is to die for, particularly when it’s paired with just enough fresh berries whose juicy tartness serves as a perfect counterpoint to the rich, thick custard.

If I ever have to face a firing squad and am given a choice of my last meal, it’s going to be something from Blue Water Seafood’s terrific menu!