Celebrate National Seafood Month at a Boston Steakhouse
National Seafood Month is October, which may seem like a good time to go to a seafood restaurant, but your chances of getting a superior piece of fish are just as good, if not better, at a steakhouse.
Boston has excellent seafood restaurants, but at a steakhouse, where the people really know their protein, you can be sure you’re going to be making selections from a carefully curated menu of only the finest seafood available.
Here are five of Boston’s best steakhouses that also offer some of Boston’s finest seafood – perfect places for celebrating National Seafood Month in October.
Abe & Louie’s. At the legendary Abe & Louie’s, the best possible way to begin dinner is Abe’s Shellfish Tower, a jaw-dropping, edible sculpture of seafood, including what you might expect (raw oysters, shrimp, lobster) but also some surprises (clams casino, Oysters Rockefeller, crab-stuffed mushrooms). If you still feel like a steak, stick with the seafood and get a steak of swordfish or ahi tuna. If you crave more crustacean, you’re going to want the Lobster Savannah with mushrooms, pepper, parmesan and sherry cream sauce.
Grill 23 & Bar. In Boston, Grill 23 & Bar is as well known for its surf as it is for its turf offerings. The Moosabec mussels are what you want if you’re a fan of this bivalve, and the shellfish are done up in superb form with white wine, bacon and fennel. For a main course, there are excellent tuna and halibut preparations, but we recommend the beautiful Loch Durart Salmon, grilled with soba noodles, soy pickled mushrooms, edamame and radish, a stunning and delicious meeting of East and West.
Stockyard Food & Spirit. With “stockyard” in the name, you might conclude that this place is all about the meat, and make no mistake, there are some epic steaks served at Stockyard Food & Spirit. Consider the seafood. Wicked Shrimp, with tongue-tickling Thai chili mayo is an excellent way to start a meal, whether your entrée is going to be beefsteak or seafood, but if you’re still in the mood for seafood, we recommend the pan-roasted Atlantic salmon with parmesan risotto and asparagus, or if you want to go simpler and classically East Coast, the lobster roll is a superb option.
The Bancroft.. Though billing itself as “an All-American Steakhouse,” the Bancroft is also a spectacular restaurant for seafood. Having the entire Atlantic seaboard to choose from, there’s Boston Clam Chowder and Maine Lobster and Corn Stew, as well as a large selection of oysters and clams. For entrées, you will want to check out the whole grilled Branzino with skordalia and ladolemeno sauce and the Szechuan crusted ahi tuna, a wonderful Asian-inflected take on what is probably everybody’s favorite fish.
O Ya. It’s a steakhouse, but the Japanese influence signals to you that you will also find some excellent seafood at O Ya. The seafood is prepared with care and creativity. A good example of the chef’s art is the Ora king salmon with Vietnamese dashi caramel and spicy rau ram salsa or the wild spot prawn with habanero, tamarind and finger lime. These are supremely well crafted and delicious seafood creations, and you’ll also want to try the rock shrimp in herbal ocean broth and warm sesame mayo, as well as the classic somen noodles with local squid. This is seafood prepared with rare precision and care…and it’s all served at a steakhouse, the kind of place you really want to celebrate National Seafood Month.
