Oceana Review

Intro
Oceana - Recommended
55 E 54th St, New York 10022
Btwn Madison & Park Ave
Phone: 212-759-5941

I really haven't been to any high-end seafood restaurants in NY, so I've always wanted to see how different seafood should be in the hands of a top-notch chef. I've been to Daniel and I still say that the Paupiette of Black Sea Bass is my favorite dish of all time, but I wanted to go to a 3+ star seafood restaurant. I've also been to Pearl Oyster bar (great) and Mermaid Inn (terrible), but those places are not exactly high-end. So, my search for phenomenal seafood led me to Oceana based on the Daniel Boulud show and Michael Colameco's show as well. The chef that both were raving about was Cornelius Gallagher, supposedly an up and coming young chef. Unfortunately, I didn't realize he left late last year for to be head of a catering company. Good thing, the new chef Ben Pollinger has phenomenal credentials - La Côte Basque, Lespinasse. Overall, I was pretty happy with the restaurant. Solid food, but just not mind blowing like Daniel. Overall, I give the restaurant an 83/100.

My Menu
1) Amuse Bouche - Yellow Tail wrapped in rice paper?
2) Florida Stone Crab Claws Salad - Recommended
3) Pan Roasted Chatam Cod - Highly Recommended
4) Oceana's Cheese Plate - Recommended

Dish Comments
1) Got the palate going, but really nothing special. Kinda difficult to compare any crudo type seafood, when I've had the best in Sushi Yasuda.
2) First time trying stone crabs and it was sweet and better than the average blue crab, but I expected it to be ethereal which it was not. I'm assuming if I go to Miami (Joe's Stone Crabs) I'd find out what real stone crabs should taste like. A nice dish though with interesting flavors.
3) Very happy with the sauce and the fish. Sauce composed of Manilla Clams, Fingerling Potatoes, and Linguica Sausage. This was one of those dishes where I needed bread to sop up all the liquid because none of the sauce should go to waste. Fish was great, but I felt it could have been a bit more moist.
4) Sold cheese plate that had around 9 different cheeses. Nothing spectacular on the plate, but every cheese was very tasty.

Overall Restaurant Experience (83/100)

• Food 8.3/10 - Very happy with the food, with one dish being great. The rest were good.
  
• Service 7.9/10 - Nice staff. Unfortunately food took a while. We were 5 dudes last night ordering the 3 course tasting, however it still took about 2 hours to serve. Didn't notice that much since we had 2 phenomenal bottles of wine.
  
• Atmosphere 8/10 - Inside the restaurant looks like the inside of a ship, which I thought was funny. Customers were mainly corporate - lots of suits or guys in jackets. Half full for a Thursday, which I'm assuming is not a good sign for the restaurant. We were a little loud and felt very comfortable.
  
• Price 7.5/10 - Relatively pricey - $78 for 3 courses. I was still happy to pay though.
  

Closing Comments
I thought this was a very good restaurant, but nothing really exceptional. This maybe a curse, but after going to plenty of spectacular restaurants I always have a point of comparison how something should be. Since I have not been to many high-end seafood only restaurants, it's tough for a comparison. I was happier with this experience over my experience at Veritas. Definitely would go back, but not before my trip to Le Bernardin...