By Bob Sacks
The food at The Asbury Ocean Club is very good, and fully merits 3 stars. The setting less so. We arrived at this new – since July – hotel/condo complex, entered a small lobby, and asked for the restaurant. A young man appeared, and took us by elevator to the third floor. The doors opened onto a large room with a bar on one wall, where we were introduced to a pleasant young woman who showed us to what can be best described as an adjacent, dimly lit, wide corridor, with seven or eight round marble cocktail tables, and a banquette on one wall.
Two of the 30-inch round tables were pushed together to create our “table for four,” utilizing the banquette and two chairs for seating. There was a large room just beyond, with some random couches and seating with a few small cocktail tables, reserved solely for hotel guests and condo owners, but there was no traditional dining room. The high ceilings, lush design, and clearly expensive, eye-catching decorator touches of this “dining area” made for a contradiction I am still trying to understand. However, the food is why we came, and, happily, it was very good!
We started with Beet Cured Tuna ($18). Four thick slices of dark red Saku Tuna (high grade tuna cut into a block), cured with red beets, tarragon and Burgundy, beautifully plated with a streak of reddish pomegranate crème fraîche and bagel chips, was delicious; almost too pretty to eat.
Suckling Pig Belly ($16), garnished with pickled radish, soy sauce caviar, and edamame puree, was crunchy-crackly on the out- side, and meatier and less fatty than other versions of this dish we have had elsewhere. The open flame cooking lent a subtle smoky flavor to the meat. Excellent!
A thick and creamy Honey Nut Squash Soup ($13) was a cut above the ordinary. This diminutive relative of the butternut squash is far more flavorful; a bit sweeter and nuttier in taste, and said to be even more nutritious. Prepared with nutmeg crème fraîche, sage, pieces of “honeynut brittle,” lemon, and some olive oil for smoothness, it was a nice opportunity to try this less often seen squash.
So as not to slight the aforementioned larger cousin of the honeynut, we ordered the Harvest Risotto ($15). Properly creamy, but not mushy, risotto, was topped with cubes of butternut squash, toasted pumpkin seeds, nasturtium, and pickled currants, making for a hearty seasonal dish.
It was impossible to resist the Skate Milanese ($32); it is not frequently seen on menus. A skate wing, dipped in egg and coated with parmesan and bread crumbs, is then skillet-fried, creating a nice brown crust. Florets of butter poached cauliflower, cauliflower fonduta (fondue), sage potatoes, and a caper berry concasse (read: chopped) buerre blanc, shared the plate with the moist, sweet-tasting fish. Yum!
Rarely seen on menus, Skate Wing Milanese, was breaded and pan fried, making for a crispy crust and juicy, tender interior. Photo by Bob Sacks
Dutch Country Brick Chicken ($26), arrived with Brussel Bubble and Squeak (a traditional English dish made from roasted Brussels sprouts and potatoes), cranberry gastrique (sweet and sour sauce), and chicken demi-glace. This unique preparation was very good, and very interesting as well!
A novel presentation of Duck Two Ways ($38) offered a succulent, blood orange-glazed confit of leg and thigh, and thick slices of rare breast meat, paired with cooked red cabbage, sitting atop a butternut squash puree. The richness of the duck was balanced perfectly by the acidity of the cabbage and citrus flavors.
A selection of side dishes indicated that the kitchen did not consider them to be incidentals. A toothsome order of glazed carrots ($5), prepared with honey butter, were slightly sweet and deeply flavorful. We also enjoyed a Kennett Square Mushroom Ragu ($6); the earthiness of the mushrooms was enhanced with a mushroom stock, lemon and chervil.
The wine list is not long, but well chosen. We selected a 2018 Clement & Florian Berthier Sancerre ($64). This crispy white, sauvignon blanc-based wine, from the Loire Valley in France, with its appealing minerality, was an ideal contrast for most of the dishes.
The desserts were as beautifully plated as the rest of the food that preceded them. Sweet Potato Kuchen ($10) was memorable. A cube of that cake was topped with a small mound of black sesame glaze, and shared the plate with a pool of beet mousse and nuggets of white chocolate and coffee “peb- bles.” The humble sweet potato has never been so hon- ored before!
I was informed after the meal that there are indeed plans to create a more traditional dining room in the near future, which would then allow diners to enjoy the excellent, high quality food, in a setting more worthy of it. Once that has happened, the restaurant at the Asbury Ocean Club will definitely warrant four stars; the food’s already there!
Asbury Ocean Club
1101 Ocean Ave.
AsburyOceanClub.com
Bob Sacks, longtime food and wine buff, reviews restaurants in this column. Follow him on Instagram @dinnerwithbob.
