Four young women who are now grown-ups decided to get to together for dinner. This is what grown-ups do! My dear friend, Lauren who is married and now lives in Kansas City, Karen with a baby on the way, it seems sooner rather than later to me and Erin, and as my mother would say, “living over the brush” friend. Then there is me, the oldest 40-something on the planet who is not having babies, not married or living over the brush. Lucky for me I have amazing friends that somehow just works and we all fit together.
For our outing we decided on Island Creek Oyster Bar. To say I was excited is an understatement. I may love ICOB as much as Mistral but please don’t tell them that. I have also been dying to review ICOB for a very long time but have just never gotten around to it. This time I was not going to fail. Camera in hand, girls informed and game for review writing and fabulous dinner hopefully to come.
We did not have a reservation (well, we did but it ended up being too early for all of us), a crazy notion when trying to get into this restaurant. Even on a Monday I would say never chance this restaurant without booking in advance. As luck would have it they had an available absolutely amazing large round table in the corner of the restaurant looking out over everyone. It was perfect for conversation and for people watching.
We perused the regularly changing menus and had so many ideas of what we wanted. Fortunately, we all wanted something different so we knew we could easily steal a bite from other plates. Our waiters who tag teamed all night were pleasant, calm and unrushed given how busy the restaurant was. In fact, our male waiter was very very cute and eagerly attentive to give him a little more due.
Glasses of dry, crisp summer Rosé was in order, my favorite wine this summer. Once the wine order was placed we worked our way through the menu along with help from our waiter of what was to be quite a long list. First up and I honestly cannot remember which ones, were a couple of oysters based on our waiter’s recommendation. I do know they were both fabulous and quite different.
Next we ordered the Salmon Tartare for me and Lauren. Delicate, delectable bites of fresh salmon with a crisp taste of cucumber and sharp lime served with housemade salty chips.
Faroe Island Salmon Tartare – cucumber, sesame, lime – $12 00
Erin ordered an oyster slider, which we all eagerly took a bite of. It is so good. As Erin states… “from the perfect butter brioche bread to the fried oyster, the flavors pops in your mouth.”
Karen enjoyed the steamed Duxbury littlenecks, which “was served with a piece of toasted baguette to soak up the delicious, bacony broth at the bottom of the bowl – not to be missed! Ask for more bread if you can!”
Steamed Duxbury Littleneck Clams ICOB bacon, rosemary fennel broth, scallion butter – $13.00
For my entrée I ordered the Idaho Red Trout. I loved every single bite of this light, flavorful fish overlaid with potato hash, sweet leeks and salty chorizo that added something special to this simple creation.
Erin picked the striped bass, which she said “it is perfectly cooked with a wonderful sear on it. The fish just melted in your mouth. The tomato and eggplant it was served over gave it a fresh local taste too.”
Wild Massachusetts Striped Bass – roasted eggplant, salsa verde, herb yogurt – $32.00
An enviable dish was Karen’s lobster roll. A bit of a twist on the classic with crème fraiche. To quote Karen… “what a nice, tangy surprise to the taste buds to balance out the sweetness of the lobster. The lobster meat is perfectly cooked, chilled and served in the soft rosemary roll with plenty of celery crunch. Portion was larger than a typical lobster roll with an abundance of meat!”
Now, Lauren’s Casserole was something extra special. “Loaded with lobster and scallops in a rich and heavenly lobster sherry broth. House made crackers made it to die for.”
We ended our evening with strawberry shortcake donut to share. Wonderfully sweet with an interesting roasted white chocolate and an abundance of fresh strawberries.
To quote Erin, “there wasn’t a bad thing about that whole meal. I’d go back in a second!!” I concur it was an amazing night from beginning to end.
ICOB is a must visit whether you sit at the bar and share a bottle of wine with a selection of oysters or you seriously indulge in their dinner menu.
