Sea Shore Restaurant & Marina
City Island, The Bronx
New York
April 29, 2024
I am a proud Nutmegger, and an annoyingly outspoken proponent for Hartford and its development. But if I was ever going to move away from my home, then without a doubt I would go to City Island to live.
That’s where I traveled to on a warm and sunny Monday to try some world-class seafood at Sea Shore Restaurant and Marina. The restaurant sits right on the water, with a small fleet of private ships surrounding the marina that juts out into the Long Island Sound.
The hot weather made me want an icy drink, so I started with a Henny Colada. It’s made with Hennessy, pineapple juice and cream of coconut. Hennessy is a strong brown liquor, so I was concerned the liquor would overpower the other flavors. But the flavors blended harmoniously, delivering a strong but creamy iced drink that kept me cool on the warm day.
Even before the meal I ordered arrived, I was treated to a plethora of food choices. The restaurant started by bringing out three different choices of bread: a hard roll, corn bread, and my favorite, garlic bread. I may or may not have eaten half the loaf of garlic bread.
Next the waiter brought out an antipasto platter, which consisted of mushrooms, olives, chopped and whole peppers and two types of cheeses. The tray was a vinegary counterpoint to the sweet salad which followed shortly after. I’d never had a salad with both mandarin oranges and baby shrimp in the same salad. After drowning them both in ranch sauce, I devoured the salad.
By the time the food arrived, I was already putting a dent into my hunger. However, my plate of fried delights had me salivating all over again. I ordered the Fisherman’s Fried Seafood Combination, which consisted of jumbo shrimp, scallops, filet of sole and calamari. The food was crispy and golden without being too greasy. The sole was flaky and fell apart easily, making it easier to break into pieces to dip into the house made tartar sauce. The combination platter only came with two shrimp, but they were truly massive. It felt more like eating a drumstick. The shrimp was tender and juicy, although I would have preferred more but smaller shrimp to spread them throughout the meal.
My favorites of the platter were the scallops and calamari. The scallops were the perfect size, and I was able to pop them in my mouth once they had cooled down for a bit. The thin fried crust on the outside complimented the steaming scallop meat on the inside, producing the most flavorful item. The calamari was similarly well cooked, but I enjoyed them more as a cocktail sauce delivery vehicle, as the cocktail sauce had a great mix of acidity and tartness.
I barely made it through half of my meal, but not because I didn’t enjoy it, but because I enjoyed everything a bit too much. I had torn through so much food that I needed to go for a walk. City Island is a beautiful place, with a main street that hosts numerous restaurants, schools, small businesses and bars. The sun was shining overhead and the salty sea air blowing off the sound gave the day a hazy, dream-like feeling. Or maybe that was because of the food coma that was creeping in on me.
A few hundred yards from the restaurant, I stopped by Amadi Cigars to let my food settle while I had a smoke. I enjoy the physical act of smoking, and a good cigar can last for at least half an hour. Amadi’s had a wide selection of cigars, and I ended up choosing a mild cigar to go easier with my bursting belly. The cigar itself tasted like cinnamon, and the smoke was sweet and fragrant which helped with some of the harshness.
City Island is one of the most relaxing places I’ve been to, and the food at and service at Sea Shore put me at ease even further. It’s finally getting to be summertime, and I can’t wait to hit the road more often to try the food and festivities that the Northeast has to offer.
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Seashore Restaurant is open seven days a week.
Jamil goes to the Artist’s Collective for a violin concert.
