August 19th, 2009
A New Restaurant Has Arrived in Bethany Beach, Delaware…It is Blue Water
It is early, yesterday, Tuesday evening, and I had heard that a new restaurant opened in Bethany Beach. I thought, well, let’s check it out. Maybe I can be the first one to review it. It was not to be, because The Wave, which is the local paper, mainly serving the Bethany Beach area, has an article on the restaurant in today’s issue. But it is o.k. because the more exposure, the better it is for the establishment.
This casual and friendly restaurant opened its doors in July. The owner, Joe Garner, is also the head chef. Blue Water is located on 786 Garfield Parkway, on Rt. 26. It is precisely at the Rt. 26 Mall. The telephone is 302-539-4005.
As you come in, the bar is ahead of you and on this Tuesday night it was full. People were chatting and the bar was decorated with offshore flags. The restaurant offers good happy hour specials.
To the right is the dining area and everything is very nautical and beachy, including the tablecloths. It was early so there were not too many occupied tables but by the time we left more people were coming in.
We really enjoyed the music; a good beat and not too loud, so we could have a perfectly normal conversation.
I informed our waitress that my husand had a gluten allergy and she was very nice and went and talked to the chef and he said that anything my husband wanted he could adapt to his diet. How nice is that?
Now let’s get to the good part. The menu is mainly seafood but also has chicken, beef and sandwiches. Even a children’s menu.
I would say that, at least, on this Tuesday evening, the food on the menu was Chesapeake with Louisiana overtones.
Some of the highlights on the menu were:
For starters: Blue Crab Bisque, Fried Green Tomatoes filled with herb cream cheese, Blackened Chicken Nachos, Daily Ceviche, Tartare of Salmon with soft poached egg and caviar, and a Foi Grass au Torchon with cherry-apricot preserves.
O.k., I am stopping here for a second because a few of the aforementioned starters need an explanation.
What is foie grass au torchon? It is the fattened liver of a goose or duck, which has been force fed to grow a bigger liver. The au torchon method of cooking is that the fresh foie grass is wrapped in a piece of muslin and it is just briefly poached in a flavored liquid. When it cools, then the foie grass is soaked in the poaching liquid for a number of days. The liquid is usually flavored with a sweet wine. It is eaten at room temperature with toast.
What is ceviche? It is a lemon and lime marinade for fish and what it does is it “cooks” the fish without added heat. Very popular in Latin American countries.
What is tartare? It means raw.
I ordered the ceviche and my husband ordered the tartare of salmon with the soft poached egg and caviar. My ceviche had a very good citrus flavor. The only thing I would have done differently was to cut the fish in smaller pieces. Easier to scoop it with the tortilla chips. My husband’s starter came in a beautiful martini glass, with a curvature of the stem. He had asked for extra caviar. He said it was so delicious and he could not believe that it was only $2.50. I said that there is nothing for $2.50 on the menu. So, we get the waitress to bring us a menu. Well, it was $25, he just did not have his glasses on and missed the minute detail of no decimal point between the 2 numbers. But that is o.k., it has happened before; this summer we had the Japanese beef the size of a domino chip for $57. We had a good laugh. Isn’t that what matters? I think.
On with Blue Water and its menu. They have salads like Coastal Cobb, Beef Steak and Tomato and Baby Spinach, Caesar and a few others.
For their main event, they featured Crab Cakes with fried tomato, and sautee sweet corn, Grilled Atlantic Salmon on a Lobster asparagus hash, and grain mustard cream. That was very good and my husband enjoyed it. Pan Seared Big Eye Tuna with hopping John rice, and sweet and hot sauce. I had the scallops and they were very good. The dish had a little bit of that Louisiana heat. They also have a Paella for Two, N.Y. Strip and Chicken Breasts are also on the menu, as well as a few other dishes.
Their sandwiches are Surf & Turf Sliders, Fried Green Tomato BLT, Po’ Boys and Build your own Burger among others.
In the Children’s menu they have pizza, mac n’ cheese, kids sliders, chicken tenders and fluff and peanut butter sandwich.
We did not have dessert but there were some cakes and other sweet endings.
The prices are reasonable at Blue Water and I think it is worth trying, if you are vacationing or, really, living in the Bethany Beach area.
Note: The information on the method of cooking “au torchon” was taken from www.hertzmann.com
Tags: Bethany Beach, cocktails, Delaware Beaches, Fenwick Island, Full Bar, Gluten free awareness, Restaurants, Reviews, South Bethany
Gloria,
Great review on Blue Water- we will try it soon. Also, the corn from Freemans was terrific-so sweet. Thanks for all of the great info. on our area; I learn something new everyday from your website.
Hey you are back. Thanks for your comments!! Just tell Randy to wear his glasses. Those old folks always forget. LOL
I talked to the man that you spoke to at Freeman’s corn and he said he is the only one that is not a Freeman. Funny!
This place sounds great. I’m sure we will try it once we move down to Fenwick!
I think the restaurant has a lot of potential. They only opened in July so they are ironing a few things out. They have good specials even late in the evening at the bar. Thanks for your comments.
Gloria,
I can’t believe that you went to this restaurant and did not stop by.
Steve
PS. I am taking Jenny out to dinner tomorrow, and she wants to go to a place that she can dress up. Of course, I want great food, reasonably priced. What do you recommend.
How is Mancini now that John no longer works there.
Are you going to Rehoboth or Ocean City? Jules in Ocean City is very good. Liquid Assets is fun and the food is very good too. I took Pat there for lunch once. I wrote on the blog about Liquid Assets. I have not been to Catch 54 on Rt. 54. Have not been to Mancinis in a long time. I have not been to Frescos in Ocean City in ages but people like it a lot. All of them have web sites. We went to Blue Water unexpectedly so I did not call but we are empty nesters once again. I think you would like Jules a lot. I wrote last night about Cafe Sole and it really was good. But, is in Rehoboth. If you go, then Amy should be the waitress. She is great. Let me know which way you are heading. See you and thanks again for commenting on this blog.
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A New Restaurant Has Arrived in Bethany Beach, Delaware…It is Blue Water – About My Beaches…