Day at the shore: Oystercatchers, fresh clams and a big seafood dinner

A highlight of Members Day at American Littoral Society headquarters in historic Fort Hancock are fresh clams -- shucked or grilled -- washed down with beer.

Editor's note: In 2016, The Fishery in South Amboy was out of business.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The only true antidote to staring at a sea of red brake lights year-round on New Jersey's congested streets and highways is a day at the shore.

Even in the hot sun on Saturday, I enjoyed watching American Oystercatchers using their long, red bills to hunt for food buried in the sand. 

A 90-minute nature walk with bird watching is a great way to whet your appetite for a lunch of fresh clams, sandwiches, salads and beer laid out on Members Day by the American Littoral Society, a non-profit group dedicated to coastal conservation.

I skipped the sandwiches, and had a couple of dozen fresh clams, some raw and others grilled and plucked out of their hot shells.
  
I washed them down with beer from a keg, and followed with salads, romaine lettuce and then fruit.

The oldest working lighthouse in the United States (opened in 1764) is on Sandy Hook, where the American Littoral Society, a coastal preservation non-profit, is headquartered.

The Broiled Seafood Combo at The Fishery Seafood Restaurant in South Amboy is served with a vegetable; potato, rice or french fries, and a cup of chowder.

At The Fishery in South Amboy

After our filling lunch on Sandy Hook, we stopped on the way home for an early dinner at The Fishery, a no-frills seafood restaurant and market in South Amboy that might remind you of Seafood Gourmet in Maywood.

After our initial visit in 2009 -- when were returning from a weekend in Barnegat Light, one of New Jersey's oldest fishing ports -- we've eaten at The Fishery at least once a year.

On Saturday, the board listing specials showed three farmed fish -- Scottish Salmon, Tilapia and Catfish -- and no live lobsters were available, so we ordered from the menu.

My wife started with Maryland Crab, Clam & Corn Chowder, topped with fresh crab meat, and I had Maine Lobster, Clam & Corn Chowder ($4.75 each), both cream-based soups.

Mine didn't have any lobster on top, but was good nonetheless.

Then, we shared a Sauteed Soft Shell Crab appetizer ($11.95), a House Salad with Garlic Toast ($4.95) and a Broiled Seafood Combo ($21.95).

The garlic-and-white-wine sauce with the soft shell crab was so good I was tempted to bring the plate to my lips to drink it all.

Our seafood combination plate included fresh flounder, shrimp, scallops, a stuffed clam, crab-stuffed jumbo shrimp, fresh spinach sauteed with garlic and a baked potato we didn't have room for.

My wife got the stuffed shrimp, and I found bacon in the clam stuffing that I don't eat. Nor was it mentioned on the menu.

We enjoyed our dinner, but I'll give the nod to Maywood's Seafood Gourmet, which is only a couple miles from our home.

The highlight of our meal at The Fishery was this appetizer of Sauteed Soft Shell Crab swimming in a garlicky white-wine sauce.

The House Salad is romaine lettuce in a wonderful balsamic vinaigrette made by the Greek owner and chef.

The Fishery has about 20 seats and a small selection of fresh seafood on ice.

Details

The Fishery Seafood Restaurant, 1812 Route 35 north, at Midland Avenue, South Amboy; 1-732-721-9100. 

Open 7 days for lunch and dinner, BYO, small parking lot next to busy highway.

On Facebook: The Fishery Seafood Restaurant

Clams, crabs, yams, salads and organic whole-wheat pasta

Hundreds of Cherrystone Clams were shucked under a tree on Saturday, the first day of summer, during Members' Day at American Littoral Society in Highlands, above and below.

The clams came from Virginia, because they were cheaper than New Jersey clams, one of the shuckers said.

The headquarters of the American Littoral Society, a coastal conservation group, is in a former lieutenant's house at Fort Hancock, part of the Sandy Hook national park, above and below.

The front porch overlooks Sandy Hook Bay.

Navesink Fishery, in a shopping center on Route 36 in Navesink, above and below, is a homier version of Seafood Gourmet, the fish market-restaurant in Maywood.

I had hoped to have another lunch of soft-shell crabs, like the one I enjoyed on Friday in Maywood, but Navesink Fishery doesn't serve lunch on Saturdays. (1-732-291-8017).

Are these yams or sweet potatoes? ShopRite in Paramus complicates the answer by selling them as "yams/sweet potatoes" for $1.29 a pound. I boiled them with peeled garlic, drained and mashed them with extra-virgin olive oil, salt, curry powder, cinnamon, red-pepper flakes, black pepper and other seasoning. Yams are starchier and probably have more calories.

A wedge of frittata (egg whites, cheese, fresh tomato, garlic and pesto) served with mashed yams/sweet potatoes and leftover Chinese takeout string beans.

A dinner salad from the cafe at Englewood Hospital and Medical Center includes tofu and mozzarella cheese.

Another dinner salad includes red- and green-leaf lettuce from our garden, smoked wild Alaskan sockeye salmon, organic beets, Campari tomatoes and reduced-fat Jarlsberg Lite Swiss Cheese, all dressed with extra-virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar, above and below. Most of the ingredients are from Costco Wholesale.

Non-organic whole wheat spaghetti, on sale last week at the ShopRite in Paramus, was no bargain, compared to the $1.39 Trader Joe's and Whole Foods Market charges for 1 pound of the organic version. But ShopRite did have a sale on 1-pound packages of Luigi Vitelli-brand organic Whole Wheat Capellini from Italy with a cooking time of 3 minutes ($1.25), a whole-wheat shape I haven't seen anywhere else.

On the way home from the shore, stop at The Fishery in South Amboy

Fort Hancock is part of the Sandy Hook National Recreation Area on the New Jersey Shore.

Editor's note: In 2016, The Fishery in South Amboy was no longer in business.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR


We drove down to Sandy Hook on Saturday for an open house at American Littoral Society headquarters and stopped on the way home for an early dinner at The Fishery in South Amboy (though I've always thought it was in neighboring Sayreville).


The squat building housing a fish market and restaurant on Route 35 has only 22 seats amid a simple decor of white tile and oversize fishing lures, but there's table service and a full menu of fresh and frozen seafood, including one-pound Brazilian lobster tails and colossal shrimp. 

Most of the interior is taken up by fish cases and the open kitchen.

Me, my wife and our son started with one dozen, steamed Little Neck clams ($9.95) in a broth with chopped tomato and parsley that I sopped up with garlic bread and scooped up with empty shells. 

Then, we each tried a different soup: lobster bisque, Maine lobster and corn chowder and Maryland crab and corn chowder ($3.50 or $3.95 for a cup). All were terrific.

Mateo, the Greek chef who bought The Fishery from the original owner about a year ago, buys his fish at the relocated Fulton Fish Market in the Bronx. He said so many different items are coming in now, after a lackluster winter, he feels as excited as a little boy shopping there.

But he excels in the simple grilling of fresh fish, and does less well when he tries something like the monkfish scampi with linguine I ordered off the specials blackboard ($14.95). 

My wife had some of my fresh fish and pasta -- which needed seasoning -- and also shared my son's selection, a platter of beautifully fried red snapper with Buffalo fries -- spicy potatoes under a blanket of mozzarella cheese (also $14.95).  

We enjoyed a side order of simply sauteed fresh spinach ($3.95), but wish the portion was larger.

As we were leaving, I noticed a whole red snapper nestled in ice I missed on the way in. That would have been terrific grilled with a Greek-style oil, lemon and oregano sauce on the side -- as we've had whole fish there before. 

I also wished I had room for the baklava or rice pudding.


One change we noticed on this visit was a printed menu with the South Amboy address, rather than  the familiar Sayreville, which separated from the former many years ago. Sayreville and the Raritan River are considered the start of the Jersey shore by many.


At the American Littoral Society open house in Fort Hancock, I got my first taste this year of fresh clams, but the man shucking these sweet mollusks said they were from Chesapeake Bay, not New Jersey. They were no less delicious.


The Fishery, 1812 Route 35 north and Midland Avenue, South Amboy, N.J.; 732-721-9100; open seven days.  

You may be able to bring your own wine. Please call ahead.

Donate a recipe for a good cause

The American Littoral Society -- the folks who protect the shore -- is trying to raise funds by soliciting recipes for a cookbook. Proceeds from sale of the book also will go to a nearby child-care center. Find details at the society's Web site:

Cookin' for the Coast

I'm a member, and look forward to Members' Day, when you can explore the national park at Sandy Hook and eat your fill of freshly shucked clams washed down with beer.