Blue Plate Oysterette

For the final leg of my friend's spring break extravaganza, we thought we would break free from our Asian streak and go with some lovely fresh seafood (after all, one can't get delectably fresh seafood in Arkansas) at Blue Plate Oysterette in Santa Monica.

Designed by Tim Clarke, the interior of the restaurant had a very East Coast beach cottage feel. With clean lines, wicker high chairs, and wrought iron tables, I imagine this is what a casual Hamptons eatery would look like- casual, calming and classy.

For starters, we ordered up a plate of fresh Metcalf Bay oysters. Served with the usual suspects of a lemon wedge, house made cocktail sauce and mignonette, these metcalf oysters were plump with a sweet smokey finish. Beautiful, but I will say a little on the small side. They were slurped down within minutes.

For our main dish, we decided to split an order of Peruvian ceviche with rocoto chiles and papas huancainas. The scallop ceviche was a little more tart and spicy than I expected, with the rocoto chiles adding a slight burning aftertaste, but in a good and intriguing way. The papas huancainas (made with boiled Yukon potatoes, humongous corn kernels, hard boiled eggs, topped with a spicy creamy sauce and served a top lettuce) lacked a little tang, but I am guessing was left as such in order to counterbalance the intensity of the ceviche.

We also split an order of the blackboard special of ocean trout with toasted barley, tomatoes and mushrooms. The ocean trout was lovely up till the point that I found a bug crawling among the barley. Argh! I am pretty sure it landed there sometime after the food was placed in front of us but needless to say...

To replace our bugged ocean trout, we ordered the shellfish bouillabaisse with baguette toast, house-made rouille and grated gruyere cheese. Made with shrimps, clams and mussels, this classic Provençal seafood stew truly hit the spot and we forgot all about the gross bug in our ocean trout. The broth of this bouillabaisse was rich and layered with seafood goodness. A mental image of a French woman slaving all day over the stove and making her entire house smell like heaven popped into my head. The shellfish were fresh and cooked to perfection. In addition, I rather enjoyed the process of topping my baguette slices with rouille (which was quite tasty with the right mix of garlic and saffron) and gruyere and then delicately soaking them in the broth before popping them into my mouth. Ahhh!

Details:
Blue Plate Oysterette
1355 Ocean Ave
Santa Monica CA 90401
310-576-3474