Take a stroll up Bow Street where nestled inside this stretch of exposed brick buildings, bleached and weathered by the ocean air off the New England Coast, is the seafood restaurant known as Surf.
Perhaps you’re hesitant to try a restaurant that can nail both a classic fish and chips and the spicy salmon maki, well rest assured that Surf’s variety isn’t overwhelmingly so that it lacks consistency across its seafood-centric menu. Albeit that consistency, at times, felt a bit too much like a franchise in the way it lacked originality.
It’s almost guaranteed that if the seafood is fresh, as in, sitting feet above the water on the balcony of the restaurant, fresh - then you’ll have something that will have you leaving feeling content. Surf being no different, in fact, you leave content with your meal, the service, and their effort to safely spin each dish. The tomato and bacon salad, liken to the classic B.L.T., notions the missing component of toasted sandwich bread with lightly fried tomatoes, making both the salad skeptics and sandwich snobs satisfied. The appetizer portion can be shared, or serve as a main for one. Between bites, sip on the Bloody Mary, served with a playful kabob stacked with cocktail shrimp, citrus and olives, putting the kibosh on the traditional celery stalk.
The arrival of flaky fish and chips was just that - crispy, flaky and served with traditional slaw.
Coast the menu and just order the sushi.
A big hit was the spicy salmon maki off the sushi menu. A vibrant layer of colors to match the distinct ingredients, and made with such velvety smooth salmon you weren’t sure if you were biting down on avocado or the latter.
And let’s not forget the tuna nigiri, equally smooth as the salmon, ruby red and served solely with pickled ginger, soy sauce and wasabi. If you want pure, you got it.
Surf doesn’t just highlight the seafood in each of its items on the menu, it enhances it where the opportunity presents itself. Though pleased, I think they could have been a bit more adventurous with the classics, which on this occasion, skim the surface of being a homogenized derivative of national seafood restaurants.