Sea Grill: Great potential, but still a work in progress
While it may be one of the beachside’s niftier restaurants someday, the Sea Grill in the Surf Club Hotel (formerly the Vero Beach Inn) is still a work in progress.
The setting has enormous potential: The island’s largest tiki hut restaurant, overlooking the hotel’s new pool, has windows on three sides that unzip on warm nights, enabling you to dine virtually alfresco while enjoying the sounds of the surf.
Alas, the weather this winter has not been particularly kind, and not only did windows generally remain zipped up, but dinner many nights had to be served in Duke’s bar – which while pleasant enough, is not exactly a fine dining venue.
But the Sea Grill itself is not precisely a fine dining venue, either. It has more of a beach club ambience. While it offers some gourmet specialties -- presumably the creations of Executive Chief Walter Larzik, imported from the Palm Beach Polo Club -- the menu also features a quarter pound hot dog and a homemade hamburger.
Given the somewhat schizophrenic nature of the restaurant and the menu, we felt it only appropriate to order off the short but adequate wine menu a bottle of Ed Hardy chardonnay – a wine described by the Los Angeles Times a year ago as “an unlikely marriage of skate punk and refined elegance.”
The wine is bottled in France by the Castel Group, but bears the tattoo-themed street wear label of fashion designer Christian Audigier, who has a licensing agreement with Bay Area graphics artist Ed Hardy. Notwithstanding the unusual label, the wine, as the Los Angeles Times observed, is “really not half bad.”
The same proved true of our meals at the Sea Grill.
Our appetizers, in fact, were excellent. My husband ordered the sesame seared Ahi tuna ($13), sesame seed encrusted Ahi tuna, seared medium rare, served with wakame salad, pickled ginger, wasabi and soy sauce. An excellent rendition.
Our companion had the soup of the day – on this occasion a cream of chicken and broccoli ($3.95). The soup was initially brought to the table luke warm, but it came back the second time at the right temperature and drew plaudits.
I enjoyed the Sea Grill Steamers ($12), in this case Little Neck clams (mussels are the other option) sautéed in butter and white wine with garlic and rosemary. The succulence of the clams was exceeded only by the flavor of the broth – which was soaked up with every piece of bread in sight.
For salads, I had the Caprese ($10), an excellent treatment of freshly sliced crisp tomatoes and mozzarella garnished with basil and olive oil, and my husband had the Sea Grill house salad ($9), a combination of red oak, frisse, mesclun, shredded carrots, tomato, cucumber and onion served with a raspberry dressing.
These are both huge salads -- too much for one, particularly if you are having an appetizer. But shared by two, either of these would be perfect. The waiter seemed dubious, but I would encourage diners to ask for half salads.
For entrees, I had the Creole barbecued shrimp ($13.95) over wild rice. This was a nice dish, but could have been hotter (temperature-wise, not spice-wise) when brought to the table. My husband had the fresh fish of the day – in this case broiled dolphin ($14.95) and our companion had the Simon and Garfunkel half-roasted chicken ($16.95) prepared (as you might guess from the name) with parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme and served with pan juices and mashed potatoes.
Both of these latter two dishes would probably have been rated excellent had they not been so dry. Even the lemon wedges my husband requested for the fish did not turn it adequately moist – and the “pan juices” promised with the chicken were missing in action.
For dessert, we tried the Big Pine Key Lime pie ($7) – one of the better renditions of this dish. Dinner for two with a modest bottle of wine should run under $100 before tip.
Our waiter told us that most of those visiting the restaurant to date have been hotel guests, but if the Sea Grill is going to survive a Vero summer, it is going to need strong support from the local year-round community as well.
Potentially, this restaurant – where you can dine overlooking pool and sea – could be one of the great spots to enjoy a meal this summer. It still needs a little work, but here’s hoping that the Sea Grill’s potential is realized.
I welcome your comments, and encourage you to send feedback to me at tina@verobeach32963.com.
The reviewer is a beachside resident who dines anonymously at restaurants at the expense of Vero Beach 32963.
Hours
Dinner: Wednesday through Saturday, 4 pm – 9 pm
Bar
Full Bar
Address (MAP)
Surf Club Hotel, 4700 Highway A1A, Telephone: (772) 231-1602
