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Now that I've been to Blackfish Avalon, though, I'm not sure I'll ever be able to slurp another Cape May Salt without hoping for a carbonated froth of Meyer lemon and a dice of pickled watermelon on top. That fizzy cloud of citrus, whipped to a high-tech mousse with xanthan gum and CO2, had a tart effervescence that set the mollusk to brisk attention. Then it melted away like lemony sea foam when I took a bite, leaving the heightened taste of oyster framed by a subtle crunch of sweet-and-sour watermelon.
It takes a great chef to improve on something nature has already perfected. But talented Chip Roman, 29, already is making it seem effortless at the newly minted Avalon branch of his popular Conshohocken BYOB.
That oyster, though, was just one of the highlight bites of my summer so far. An exciting crop of ambitious new restaurants at the Jersey Shore has delivered many others, many inspired by a newfound enthusiasm for local ingredients. From perfect (and sustainable) fish and chips with a side of organic greens to pulled duck sliders, zesty gazpacho dolloped with sweet lump crab, and an old favorite breakfast of butterscotch scones happily rediscovered - this was one of my best eating tours of the Shore in years.
Much of the new energy is centered on the island that holds Avalon and Stone Harbor, where Sea Salt chef Lucas Manteca is giving a much-needed update to classic seashore cookery with his refreshingly casual Quahog's Seafood Shack, and Jason Hippen is making his chef-owner debut at Jay's on Third.
But this season also features a couple of notable comebacks: a fresh start for former Water's Edge chef Neil Elsohn at tiny Gertrude's in Ventnor, and a new Ocean City address for Michael and Jennifer Bailey. Their repertoire of homey baked goods and satisfying suppers at the old 4th Street Cafe has moved a few blocks north to quieter Who's on 1st.
If they're baking, I'm buying. So get the beach tags, and dust off the boogie board. Because this summer's dinner roster down the Shore is going to require a hearty appetite.
It's impressive to think that Chip Roman opened this 100-seat BYO only a month ago, hardly three weeks after signing the lease.
The former Scoogi's space on Avalon's main drag has been crisply repainted in halogen-lit white and gray. The staff, on summer loan from Roman's other Blackfish in Conshohocken and his catering operations, move through the room like well-oiled pros.
Roman's kitchen, meanwhile, is already cooking as if it's been here forever, spinning great ingredients into vivid contemporary dishes that amounted to one of the best meals I've eaten down the Shore - ever. Those oysters were just a start.
A mound of deepwater Jonah crabmeat, studded with sweet Cavaillon melon, came over an orange pool of melon soup steeped with rose geranium. Homemade agnolotti, glossed in brown butter and crisped sage, were stuffed with tender short ribs piqued by the tang of pancetta and salami.
Crisply seared black bass came with silver corn and soybean succotash and a frothy corn essence. Mahimahi drew soft earthiness from wild rice and sweet peas with subtly curried butter. And the medium-rare swordfish steak was just a stunner, basking in the Middle Eastern glow of its zaatar thyme-and-sumac crust and a spicy vinaigrette made with the cuminy crumbles of merguez lamb sausage.
The desserts were less inventive but expertly done. And it is rare that a creme brulee is as perfect as this, a warm brown mirror of delicately burnt sugar hiding a vanilla custard so luxuriously creamy, it almost flows. As it melted away off the spoon, I got a little shiver. Like eating that perfect oyster, it was a sensation I'll remember for a very long time.
Perhaps it's no surprise that Jason Hippen, the namesake behind Stone Harbor's other big new opening, keeps doing victory laps through the chocolate-brown and peach-colored dining room at Jay's on Third. The 36-year-old Hippen is a local favorite. He grew up on the nearby Wildwood boardwalk, where his parents owned the pizza shop (3 J's), where he met his wife, Anne Sitz-Simons, who worked there on summer visits from her native Ireland. He went to culinary school nearby, and did stints in upscale Wildwood kitchens (Marie Nicole's, JP Prime), along with line work at Morimoto and Atlantic City's Buddakan.
So when Hippen and Sitz-Simons debuted this summer as first-time owner-operators in the former Fish Tales after a light renovation, they had the hometown crowd raring to go. I only wish they'd let Hippen stay in the kitchen to cook.
I could taste a glimmer of talent in the promptly served appetizer course, which signaled an appealing Asian-fusion bent. Beautiful scallops came over a creamy chowder sauce rimmed with the orange heat of chile oil. Tender duck confit shreds in an Asian barbecue glaze came mounded into brioche slider rolls with house-pickled pineapple. The "bamboo beef" skewers were a fun Japanese take on satay beef.
But then the glad-handing started, and as Hippen did his endless rounds, the already flustered service fell apart. We couldn't get bread. We couldn't get water. And where was the main course? It appeared, after a long wait, with the marks of a harried kitchen.
The red snapper was seared to an unpleasantly tough, fishy chew. The halibut was slightly better, but at $26 seemed awfully lonely in a bowl of miso broth with nothing but three tiny clams beside it, one of them with a broken shell. The well-roasted chicken was a highlight, plump and juicy, with braised oyster mushrooms and good mashed potatoes. But dessert brought creme brulee with a lumpy custard and a grainy, half-burnt crust.
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