Oceanaire

It's the end of an era... okay well if an "era" was 2 years than that would be accurate. I officially moved out of my Boston apartment on Saturday. I'm sad to leave it, there were so many memories made in that apartment, but I'm excited to start the next chapter of my life in a new city - with new restaurants! Although Boston will always remain near and dear to my heart, it's definitely time for a change - and to conclude my wonderful time in the city we went to a restaurant where it all began... Oceanaire. This is one of the first Boston restaurants I went to when we were moving my sister into her Boston dorm room for the first time. If you're looking for seafood and elegance this would be my recommendation. The executive chef does a great job of taking local ingredients and elevating them to the next level with flavor and presentation. It's really refreshing to see an entire menu dedicated to amazingly fresh seafood.

I love this photo. It captures the essence of the wine
along with Kayla chowing down. 

I enjoyed Oceanaire then and I thoroughly enjoyed it this time as well. After cleaning and packing for the entire day my sister and I were pretty excited for a good meal and some wine. What we weren't as excited about was sharing my apartment with the rest of the family.... five Rutherfords in a tiny apartment is not conducive to sleeping.... or sanity. My parents and Jordan arrived in Boston around 8, and by 8:40 we were seated at Oceanaire in a cozy table in the back. In true Rutherford family fashion, as soon as my sister excused herself to the bathroom my mom took her seat, my dad took my mom's, and Jordan and I were asked to switch - pretty standard. After the seating debacle the waitress came over and asked if we wanted anything to drink, I promptly took her up on her offer, and then began to relax.

I ordered pinot noir, and the waitress asked if I had a preference or if I would like her to pick one for me. I said i trusted her judgement, and she quickly returned with my wine. As she was pouring the wine into my glass (from a one-glass wine decanter) she explained that it was "one of her personal favorites", and it had lovely "vanilla notes" in it. I really enjoyed both her explanation, reassurance, and overall pleasant attitude... I couldn't wait to try the wine.

Our waitress was also really great because she dealt with our family insanity. By this I just mean that we were all so tired that sometimes we didn't really answer her questions, and we were super indecisive, etc. She sensed our overall lethargic attitude and suggested we put in an order for some appetizers first. My dad and brother ordered the clams casino (my brother is a miniature version of my dad.... well not physically miniature because he's almost 6 ft himself), my mom ordered the iceberg lettuce wedge salad, and Kayla ordered the BLT salad. I passed on an appetizer... a lot of the time I do... I also typically skip out on dessert... I'm an entree kind of girl... plain and simple.

Clams Casino

The classic clams casino was tasty, and had a generous amount of both bacon and clam in each shell (maybe even too much bacon, if there is such a thing?). It's almost not fair to judge any other clams casino because my mom makes an amazing one and I am incredible bias. I prefer my clams casino to have more breading, and have everything chopped up together - but that's strictly personal preference. The presentation of this dish was very beautiful though, and it was a great appetizer size.

Iceberg Lettuce Wedge Salad

Here's my mom's salad. As you can see, these are hearty salads, and could easily act as a meal if you hadn't been packing for days on end and were starving. The lettuce was super fresh and crunchy, the tomatoes were fresh, the bacon was nice and crispy, and the blue cheese was super creamy and delicious... there was a lot of dressing on the salad, but my mom absolutely loved it.

BLT Salad

My sister ordered the BLT salad, and it was exactly like the sandwich, minus the bread of course. The lettuce was super crisp, as was the bacon, and it was topped with a creamy buttermilk bacon dressing. Kayla loved the salad, but she was pretty pissed off about the huge slices of tomatoes... Kayla hates tomatoes, yet ordered a BLT salad.... perhaps she though the "T" stood for "thanks, no tomatoes for me"? -  I'm just not sure. But other than the huge tomatoes she ate the whole thing... sorry Kayla, the readers deserved the truth.

Finally it was entree time, and if you're my dad, second martini time. For dinner we had a little difficulty ordering, as usual. It all started because Joan wanted lobster. That was actually a fairly easy decision. Where it got tricky was when the waitress asked if she wanted it cracked for her, or left whole. She chose whole.... and we chose to get covered in lobster juices... seems fair.

Cute presentation... although when I was "younger" I would make the waiter or waitress take it back if it had the eyes still in. It freaked me out.

My mom really loved it, and the meat was super tender and delicious. I also loved how my parent's meals were served with little stands of melted butter, that had flames underneath keeping the butter hot. It's the little touches that make a restaurant slightly superior.

King Crab legs - sans the physical legs

Again, meat was really tender, and my dad thoroughly enjoyed the food. I was only able to sneak a little bite because everyone wanted all of their food.

Creamed Corn

 Above you will find Kayla's dinner of creamed corn. It was really good, but I would recommend that it be ordered as a side dish, not an entree. It was really yummy though, and not too over-the-top creamy.

Shrimp Scampi

Jordan ordered the shrimp scampi, which was served with tomatoes, and linguine,  in a garlic and olive oil broth. The pasta was cooked to a perfect al dente, and the broth was really delicious and had great garlic flavor. My only criticism was that the shrimp was tough, and slightly overcooked. The dish would have been perfect minus the shrimp... so they should have just named it scampi.

Seared Georges Bank Sea Scallops

Last but not least, my entree, the scallops. The scallops were from Georges Bank, and wow this is one of my new favorite dishes. The scallops were perfectly cooked, and were cooked with local corn, chanterelle mushrooms, chorizo, roasted poblano peppers, all bathing in a sweet corn sauce. The balance of the spiciness from the peppers and chorizo mixed with the sweetness from the corn made for a wonderful and enjoyable dish. I really loved everything about this dish - it was the perfect portion for an entree, the corn was cooked really well, and there was a perfect level of spiciness that made the dish very delicious. I wanted to try this dish because it reminded me of what Kayla ordered at Aperitivo (with the corn and bacon hash), and I have to say that this hash was amazing. I would absolutely recommend this meal to anyone! 

Also, the professionalism of the wait staff was really great. Our waitress was friendly and informative, and when my parent's embarrassed me by announcing to her that I was a "professional food blogger," (got to love their confidence in me) she immediately brought over the menu for me to photograph, and also circled the wine I had. 

Top half of the menu

My entree

Bottom half of the menu

In case anyone is really into wine, I would definitely recommend this pinot noir, it was really delicious and went great with my dinner.
For additional wine recommendations please feel free to check out Cara's blog as well (she usually reviews really affordable wines and gives great
explanations on their flavor notes).

 After an amazing dinner we headed back to my apartment to "finish packing." As soon as we went back to the apartment however, we all were way too tired to work. Oh, how were the sleeping arrangements in your little apartment? Thank you for asking. My parents took my bed - it's only fair, they gave birth to me and raised me, therefore they get my bed. My brother (diva cough cough) slept on the day bed in my room, and Kayla and I took the couches. I gave Kayla the full-sized couch because she gave up her weekend to help me move, which left me with the love seat. Needless to say, none of us really slept because we were either uncomfortable, or guilty because we were comfortable, therefore everyone was super cheerful on Saturday for the move (especially when my father woke us up at 6:30 am). All and all though it was a great dinner, and while I'm sad to say goodbye to my apartment in Boston, I'm excited for my next move! (Stay tuned!)