Sun, surf and seafood

Ah, the beach. You can do so much there. You can sunbathe, swim, surf, boat, read or just relax. But whenever I walk on the boardwalk, gazing at the sun setting over the horizon, the one thing that comes to my mind is … seafood.

There are so many restaurants on the beach, but out of all of them, a new one caught my eye. That place is called The Blue Plate Oysterette. This amazing seafood restaurant is located at 1355 Ocean Ave., in Santa Monica. This is actually a very convenient location seeing as you have a great view of the sun’s reflection as it sets under the horizon at dinnertime. So, pretty much, it’s dinner and a show.

The Blue Plate Oysterette only serves its customers fresh and delicious food. They get their seafood from local suppliers. The seafood and oysters are so fresh I can almost taste the ocean in the soft meat. Their simple but thorough menu is filled with delicious choices.

This restaurant serves an incredibly mouthwatering New England clam chowder. This soup is made from fresh short-neck clams, potatoes, crunchy bacon (which gives the creamy broth a salty and savory homey-kind of feeling) and their secret ingredient: corn. This combination of flavors and textures is one of the greatest you will ever try.

Adding to the list of delicious appetizers is the artichoke with aioli dipping sauce, which you will be surprised to know, is served chilled, which brings out the flavors and natural juices inside the already moist artichoke. The dipping sauce adds a nice little punch to an already fantastic appetizer.

They also offer a crazy crab dip with crunchy bagel chips, a crispy cornmeal crusted fried calamari, the manager’s personal favorite oyster’s Rockefeller, and of course, their raw bar, which has fresh oysters, mussels, shrimp and clams.

Now we move on to the entrées. The Blue Plate Oysterette serves a luscious pesto shrimp, which is served with brown rice or pasta. This is one of the best seafood dishes I have ever tried in my life. You can taste each ingredient, as its fresh qualities shine through. Their “Just Hooked” is the catch of the day prepared in your choice of: roasted garlic pesto, fresh checca (tomatoes, garlic, basil and olive oil), lemon caper sauce or the sauce of the day.

This restaurant has so many choices, but I only have space for a few more: their signature lobster roll served on brioche, the linguini with clams is served with a red sauce seasoned to perfection, and fish served as tacos or breaded with chips. And for you non-seafood-eaters, they have choices of kobe beef hot dogs, burgers and grilled steak or chicken.

Now, you are probably thinking, “Well, this is fantastic. Can it get any better?” Well, my dad’s mussels were fantastic. He got them served in a lemon, white wine and garlic broth. You can also order them in a red curry sauce. Dipping their delicious bread into the broth was almost as good as eating the mussels themselves.

This restaurant has such fabulous food for adults, and can still make their match with their Kid’s Menu. Blue Plate’s kid choices are the mini protein plate with your choice of fish, shrimp, chicken or beef (with a side); fish sticks; hot dog; mac and cheese; and grilled cheese or pasta with butter. I ordered the fish protein plate, which was mahi-mahi that night, and macaroni and cheese as my side. I didn’t expect much but when it came out from the kitchen the plate had a nice-sized piece of well-seasoned grilled fish and a bowl of the greatest mac and cheese I have ever tasted. It was shell macaroni and the sauce got trapped inside the shell so that when I bit into it all of the cheese just squirted out into my mouth. My sister got the same thing, except with chicken and homemade pickles, which we expected to be one or two sour dill pickles but turned out to be an array of pickled vegetables including carrots, pickles, dill, pickled peppers (which Peter Piper didn’t pick), onions and shallots. They were all flavorful, especially those pickled peppers.

Before I tell you about dessert, here are some fun facts about this restaurant:

First, each night they serve four to five different types of oysters and shuck about 1,000 oysters and clams. Their shellfish comes from many different locations, which explains the variety of oysters each night. They make their own saltwater taffy. Salvador the manager has been in the restaurant business for 22 years and has opened eight restaurants.

The restaurant has a small seating area, but it is always packed. There are three tables on the patio, so you can sit, sip and gaze at the sunset. The overall feeling of the restaurant is a contemporary 1950s diner with banquet booths, black and white tiled floors with two big TV’s showing surfing footage. Pretty lights hang down from the ceiling. There’s a bar so you can watch the chefs at work. The kitchen is rather small and filled with a dozen or so people busily preparing food, drinks and desserts.

Speaking of dessert, the blueberry cobbler served a la mode is definitely a fan favorite, along with their fruit tart with cookie dough crust and, we can’t forget their homemade ice cream sundaes and popsicles, which are out of this world.

Overall, I think that Blue Plate Oysterette is a great place for a family meal. I hope you will all agree when you visit it sometime soon. Until next time, surf on!

Brandon Cohen has lived Santa Monica his whole life. He resides in Sunset Park with his family. He loves food, restaurants and writing. Brandon is 11 years old.