Ahh, the Jersey Shore. It gets a bad rap from the show but if you are lucky enough to have friends who have houses down there, it can be a great weekend get away. There are some really lovely towns that aren't the GTL crowd. The great thing about beach towns is that they are usually filled with tons of yummy seafood restaurants. So this past Saturday night while in Spring Lake, a bunch of us checked out Shipwreck Grill which was close the water and pretty crowded on a Saturday night. They try to "class" it up a bit by putting a sign out in front saying that they don't allow service to anyone wearing shorts, flip flops, baseball hats, etc but when you're in a beach town, half the population is going to show up in flip flops, so good luck with that. I guess they were going for a more mature crowd because the demographic here is definitely older and not for the fist pumping crowd.
The menu here is classic traditional surf and turf fare: lobster tails, fish, raw bar, and steaks. As a seafood lover, I was thrilled with the options and had a really hard time deciding between all the fish entrees. I ended up going for the lobster bisque ($9) to start and Amy and I shared the seared tuna ($28) and the halibut ($35) since we were both deciding between those 2 dishes.
The lobster bisque was a fairly large sized portion and extremely rich. It was too heavy handed with the sherry reduction and skimpy on the lobster pieces. I know it's not a chowder and shouldn't be chunky but it I just felt like I was having a bowl of sherry with a hint of lobster instead of the other way around. Next time I'll stick with calm chowder instead. Luckily the fish dishes were better. I started with the halibut which came with New Zealand green mussels (my favorite!!), potato chunks, pea tendrils, and asparagus all sitting in a light lobster broth. The halibut was a nice light flakey white fish and was paired nicely with the lobster broth. I loved the green mussel touch because you don't see them too often and it made me wish they had a whole entree focused around it. Despite having so many ingredients throw together, the dish was actually very simple but constructed well. Half way through I switched to the seared tuna which was a very classic sesame crusted rare tuna steak served with braised cabbage and pea shoots. Again, it wasn't anything too complex or sophisticated but it was a very solid and nicely cooked rare piece of tuna. I would have liked more of the ginger soy glaze on it or perhaps a soy dipping sauce since the edges of the fish were a little dry (I guess I'm just really used to sashimi tuna which is much moister in texture).
Overall, it was really pleasant adult meal. While I wouldn't call this a really high end establishment by NYC standards, I can see how they are a bit more upscale than a traditional seafood shack by the water in a beach town where it is ok to roll in with shorts and flip flops. Total bill: $99/pp with tax, tip and drinks
Photo Credit: Yelp
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