On a breezy, balmy, perfect Saturday afternoon in mid-August, four of us are sitting at a table on a lovely stone patio with sweeping ocean views, sipping pear Cosmos (a revelatory twist on the oldie), IPAs, and spritzes, and watching with amusement as Sea Craft Chef Troy Turcotte and Conor Keating stroll down the steps and across the street to the beach wall, where they lean and confer. The server tells us that office space is tight inside, so management often conducts business there. Chef’s practically inhaling sea inspo at every meeting, and it shows.
When we first stumbled on the Narragansett restaurant, we didn’t realize it fronted the seasonal Shore House Hotel, tucked discreetly behind it. The two are entirely independent of each other, and Sea Craft is open year-round. Its mind-bending view is matched by a creative but approachable menu, built with fresh, seriously high-quality ingredients, and a staff that’s warm, fun, and professional.
The inviting, multi-level exterior and sophisticated, airy interior were imagined by local, award-winning interior designer Libby Slader, also responsible for the chic design at James Beard Award-nominated Giusto in Newport. Adding to the mystique is the building’s history, which includes secret tunnels used during Prohibition.
To the menu, all the flowers. Turcotte’s dishes pay respect to the provenance of New England cuisine but with a spin, and while seafood stands out, everything Turcotte’s putting out is quality, from Faroe Island salmon to Wagyu meatballs, organic Statler chicken to prime beef. For the handheld sammies, hand-cut fries. Yet even the steaks and chops served à la carte are exceptionally reasonably priced. Bartenders are engaging, focused, with a sense of team camaraderie that spills over the bar in the best way possible.
Order some raw bar with your drinks (look around, how can you not?) and a plate of Togarashi popcorn chicken with yuzu aioli and pickled cucumber, the ultimate nibble for your cocktail.
Hawaiian, Asian, Italian, and classic American flavors are represented in Turcotte’s dishes, and it’s clear he prides himself on a balanced palette for every plate. Salmon crudo with grapefruit, avocado crema, chili oil, and Fresno chili is an example—the bittersweet citrus cutting through the rich, fatty salmon, the crema softening the bitterness, the chili oil and Fresno bringing a whisper of heat and a bit of crunch to offset it all.
Rhode Island loves fish and chips, and I’d put Sea Craft’s version, plus their beer-battered fish sandwich, right up there with the best of the bunch in merry old England. Chef T insists on cod-only for both. The thick, white, sweet, flaky fillet is perfectly battered for crunch—not too much, not too little, not the slightest bit greasy—and topped with a smoky-tangy chipotle tartar sauce, pickled red onions, lettuce, tomato, and those hand-cut, golden fries. No. Words.
Turcotte fries in beef tallow and nearly 100% seed-free oils and works with fresh, never-frozen seafood and organic and farm-raised meat and produce, with a mandate that he’d rather run out of a menu item than serve an inferior product.
Keating says customer favorites include locally caught, miso-seared tuna, pink vodka chicken parm, pizzas, and that gorgeous fish and chips, but notes that Turcotte changes the menu every six to eight weeks in winter, keeping it fresh and fun.
See you there.
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