Critics’ choice: Seafood in the spotlight

Smithereens

New York City

“Summer on Cape Cod this is not,” said Matthew Schneier in NYMag.com. Chef Nick Tamburo’s homage to New England oceanic foodways occupies a cramped subterranean East Village space that makes a meal there “closer to dining belowdecks on the Pequod.” Fittingly, the menu is full of deep cuts and dark riffs on the New England theme: a maple-infused pâté of smoked bluefish, rye-like anadama bread, grilled mackerel that’s “perfumed with tamarind, allspice, and chile,” and head-on whiting that’s whole-fried and “served with the dignity usually accorded to branzino.”

Tamburo also isn’t afraid to be impious: He serves a delicious riff on clam chowder that buries quahogs in steamy rice. Not every dish lands. The chef’s “abiding interest in the weird” isn’t for all diners, and maybe seaweed doesn’t belong in any dessert. But after several months of unsteady experimentation, Smithereens has found its sea legs. Though it’s “not a restaurant for everyone,” it “might be an even better thing: a restaurant very much for some.” 414 E. 9th St.

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Bayonet

Birmingham, Alabama

“Everyone is having fun at airy Bayonet,” said Kim Severson in The New York Times. Rob and Emily McDaniel have given their Southern chophouse, Helen, a breezy companion of a seafood-forward sister, and the newcomer is so good that it made our newspaper’s list of America’s best new restaurants. Rob’s short rotating menu has him working wonders with sustainable fish. “He uses caramel sauce to punch up bánh mì stuffed with Gulf shrimp, makes schnitzel out of cobia, and pairs an acidic fruit salsa with fatty Ora King salmon collar.”

Meanwhile, at the raw bar, “Alabama oysters fight it out with East Coast stalwarts.” Clearly, “the chef and his team are tapped into the local seafood scene,” said Caroline Sanders Clements in Garden & Gun. But the McDaniels also recognize the value in variety, shipping in oysters from North Carolina’s Dukes of Topsail and Cape Cod’s Moon Shoal. Pop a dozen while snacking on hand-cut fries dipped in lemon aioli. “And no meal at Bayonet is complete without a martini stirred tableside with a plump, salty oyster at the bottom of the glass.” 2015 N. 2nd Ave.

Ostrea

Detroit

When Ostrea was announced, “I had high, if not unreasonable, expectations,” said Danny Palumbo in Hour Detroit. It’s a spin-off of the London Chop House, “a titan in the history of Detroit’s dining scene,” and while Ostrea turns out to be more easygoing, the food is just as refined.

Occupying a street-level space above the Chop House, the place always feels bustling, “even in its quiet moments,” in part because of the fresh seafood that’s constantly arriving. The oyster offerings change regularly. My dozen included Corktown Golds, Bad Boys, and Pink Moons, and “each one popped with a clean, oceanic freshness.”

Elsewhere, the menu is sneakily adventurous. Seafood restaurants today are almost required to serve hamachi crudo, but Ostrea’s is special, a “divinely harmonic” marriage of hamachi, basil, and grapefruit. The lobster roll, with flavors “faintly reminiscent of a Bloody Mary,” feels “both traditional and new.” The prices here have scared off some locals, but consider whether it’s wise to spend $22 on a chowder made with a crab and lobster velouté and loaded with scallops, swordfish, and chunks of bacon lardon. “For something so luxurious, I’d encourage it.” 536 Shelby St.