EXPERIENCE: Comfort food

A Tasteful Tale of Warmth

Sea Craft’s menu tells a unique story of vibrant flavor, unmatched comfort, and surprise

It’s not every day your dinner menu has a prologue. Sea Craft, Narragansett’s newest waterfront restaurant, tells a three-course story: an introduction, body of work, and conclusion. As the prologue puts it, “The menu is, and will always be our story, an explanation of who we are and what we want to show you.”

A friend and I shu ed into Sea Craft on a chilly night, using the side entrance at first (as we’d been accustomed to when the restaurant was Turtle Soup) and caught a glimpse of The Shore House, the historic inn built in 1901 that houses Sea Craft. Turning a corner, we were met with the sophisticated black-and-white motif of the dining room, including a large bar easy to imagine overflowing with raw bar lovers on a summer night. We chose a quiet table by a window and settled into our rattan chairs.

Before diving into the “Introduction” or appetizer course, we took our time perusing a selection of classic beach cocktails and settled on the Agiros Pera’ and an Aviation. The

Torched Taleggio

For our app, we selected the Torched Taleggio and were immediately delighted by the approachability of the fry bread, best described (at least for New Englanders) as a tiny doughboy. We spread each piece with a sweet yet tart plum jam, topped with a generous spread of the torched cheese. Similar to a brie, the taleggio had a thin, rough exterior with a smooth and creamy, melt-in-your-mouth inside. Between the cocktails and this elevated comfort-food bite, it’s safe to say we were warmed from the seaside chill.

From root vegetables and vibrant salads to fish and steak dishes, the “Body of Work” section of the menu has something for everyone. Still craving cozy, my friend opted for the Goat Ricotta Anolini. The broth, a mushroom brodo, was subtle and soothing, pairing perfectly with the freshness of the goat ricotta and savoriness of the salt pork.

For my entree, server Matt swayed me to try the Whole Spanish Mackerel when he described the creaminess of the chickpea puree on the side. The fish was perfectly crispy and salty on the outside, soft and light on the inside, and neighbored by a generous serving of beets topped with zesty gremolata parsley sauce. Next to it was the chickpea puree (as creamy and delicious as described) carefully lined with urfa pepper, a satisfying surprise accompanying yet another warming course. Chocolate Budino

Full and content, we almost stopped there, but remembered no story is complete without a conclusion. For dessert, Matt o ered a final suggestion – the Chocolate Budino. The cool chocolate pudding was topped, to our delight, with a toasted mezcal meringue and paired with a crumbly shortbread-like sable cookie. Finishing this culinary story with, essentially, an elevated s’more felt symbolic of our entire experience – comfortable enough to settle in, surprising enough to come back for more.

Sea Craft

113 Ocean Road, Narragansett SeaCraftRI.com • @seacraftri Photo courtesy of Sea Craft