Perhaps these were just early-season growing pains for a promising new restaurateur. But there's only one sure way to win over the rest of us who don't know the chef already: Let the food do the talking.

Quahog's Seafood Shack

Argentine-born surfer chef Lucas Manteca has been crafting inventive fare for a few years at another of my favorite Shore BYOBs, Sea Salt in Stone Harbor. But Manteca and his wife, Deanna, have added an ambitious new challenge this summer with the larger Quahog's Seafood Shack, which updates the old-style New England chowder house with good, local ingredients and some diligent cooking.

The concept is long overdue in the land of the fried seafood combo, and this refreshingly casual spot narrows the divide between the sophisticated modern kitchen and the often-abused tradition of simple seafood without letting it get too fussy.

In fact, the space just off downtown Stone Harbor really looks like a cinder-block shack from the outside. The intimate 56-seat dining room inside has more polish than I expected. But the fun focus here is on the breezy covered back patio, where big parties gather around picnic tables laden with steamed lobster bakes, Cape May Salts on the half shell, and some of the creamiest chowder this side of Rhode Island.

The blackboard menu lends a clue as to what makes Quahog's different. The seafood comes from sustainable sources. The take-out containers are biodegradable. Much of the produce, from the sides of bok choy and baby zucchini to the beets in goat cheese vinaigrette, comes from nearby organic farms. And chef Carlos Barros, a veteran of the New York scene, knows what to do with this bounty.

The traditional items are outstanding. Big chunks of flaky pollock are perfectly beer-battered atop homemade tartar sauce alongside British-style "chips" fried from thick-cut potatoes. The complex chowder has nutmeg, cinnamon and smoky bacon flowing through its creamy broth and is full of tender cherrystone meat. The lobster roll is seriously pricey at $26, but has a fair portion of incredibly moist crustacean tossed in Sriracha-spiced Japanese mayo and comes tucked with celery leaves into a locally baked challah roll. My only disappointment was a brothless starter of big, chewy steamers.

For more contemporary takes, there is also a delicate shrimp and scallop seviche marinated in a spicy brew of an orange-cilantro marinade. A splendid whole black bass rubbed with herby chimichurri was a nod to Manteca's home country. The fried-to-order hush puppies were filled with fresh corn and an addictively spicy Mexican kick.

For dessert, there was moist banana bread pudding with dulce de leche and whoopie pies stuffed with fruit and marshmallow fluff. The pie's chocolate cookies were a little dry, a definite work in progress. But there's already so much to be happy about here, it's worth learning how to properly pronounce the name of Stone Harbor's casual new seafood hit. All together now: "Ko-Hogs."

Who's on 1st

Scone addicts at the Shore should rejoice for at least one other revival, especially because the return of Michael and Jennifer Bailey was hardly a given. The couple behind Ocean City's well-loved 4th Street Cafe had sold their Jersey home and headed to California last year, where they began a long-planned winery, Cosol Vineyards. The first vintages already are in the bottle.

But the allure of summer near an Atlantic beach still called: "I just love it here," Michael concedes. "I really do."

So they leased a space just blocks from their old 4th Street haunt (which has new operators), and called it Who's on 1st. It's a quieter residential spot, at the corner of 1st Street and Asbury Avenue, but the Baileys have given this casual cafe their usual funky touch, with a painted tree scrolling the walls of the yellow room, mismatched tables, and arty surfer photography for sale.

Most important, their kitchen is back in the groove. It's turning out the familiar rotation of craggy offbeat scones, with butterscotch, blueberries or Mexican chocolate studding the biscuity inner fluff. The best of them sell out early in the morning, as the cafe segues into a light-but-tasty lunch anchored with organic chicken salad, fresh burgers and green salads.

And although Who's on 1st has yet to become the all-day hangout the old place was, the Baileys still throw down linens in the evening and transform the 16-seat room, plus its 18 sidewalk seats, into one of Ocean City's better dinner destinations. The New American menu is small, the cooking fairly simple. But quality local ingredients are put into appealing combinations. Gorgeous Barnegat scallops are drizzled with a lively lemon dressing sparked with fresh ginger. A simple tomato corn chowder tastes like the summer farm market distilled.

The kitchen overcooked our local grass-fed steak, which, at $27, was the most expensive entree. But that was more than compensated for by the outstandingly moist, fresh crab cakes with mango salsa. And, of course, they serve freshly made desserts worthy of a cafe noted for its baking: rich chocolate tart in graham cracker crust, bread pudding baked from moist sticky buns, and lightly stewed peaches topped with a cobbler biscuit baked to order.

The cobbler alone is worth another visit.

Gertrude's

Neil Elsohn is getting to be an old pro at comebacks, but this time he's learning to downsize. The 24-seat space at Gertrude's, the intimate new BYOB in Ventnor named for his mother, is just a fraction of his previously grander venues in Cape May, the Water's Edge and 1919.

The menu is still huge for such a tiny place. But dishes like those blackened scallops in ginger glaze and cashew-crusted grouper in banana-rum sauce had to stay. These were some of the eclectic hits that helped make the 55-year-old Elsohn one of the godfathers of Jersey fusion cuisine - before a bout with pancreatic cancer temporarily knocked him out. Now recovered after three years recuperating off the kitchen line, he says the old energy is back.

And I could taste it, too. Granted, some dishes now feel dated in an overdressed, '90s kind of way, with a blitz of colors and a different nut crust for every oyster, cheese or fish. But there's no denying the convergence of good organic ingredients with a passion for cooking here. Our meal at cozy-but-comfortable Gertrude's, nicely rehabbed with pale brick walls and evocative photography, was one of our most satisfying this season at the Shore.

A zestily seasoned bowl of gazpacho coarsely milled from tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers came dolloped with sweet lumps of fresh crab. Thai-spiced cocktail sauce was the perfect dip for huge poached shrimp. A superbly tender loin of grilled lamb anchored a Mediterranean plate with roasted peppers and goat-cheese mashed potatoes; it would have been perfect had the tasty pesto-demiglace not been gloppy. Most memorable, though, was the gorgeously roasted half chicken. Almost completely boned beneath its crispy lemon-garlic crust, it was a picture of elevated comfort over Madeira-braised greens, mashed potatoes and mushrooms.

And comfort is the operative word in Elsohn's comeback place, which benefits from pleasantly experienced servers and the sense of calm that comes from a more manageable space. Next up for downsizing?