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The again story: Tracing the characters on this story could be as sophisticated as monitoring the plot strains on “Mare of Easttown,” however principally: This house was Island Creek Oyster Bar — a sleeker effort from an overlapping all-star staff behind Row 34′s authentic location in Fort Level. Nevertheless, Island Creek Oyster Bar homeowners Shore Gregory and Jeremy Sewall split with companions Garrett Harker and Skip Bennett earlier this yr. Island Creek’s Boston location on the Lodge Commonwealth in Kenmore Sq. is now a bittersweet memory. So is sister restaurant Jap Normal, the place Harker was a beloved presence. Sewall, in the meantime, additionally ran Brookline’s acclaimed Lineage for a decade; it closed in 2016.
Immediately, long-running places of Row 34 in Fort Level and a sibling in Portsmouth, N.H., stay alongside the Burlington newcomer. Gregory and Sewall run all three branches, and Sewall is within the kitchen at every location a few nights per week. Co-chef de delicacies Isaac Reyes helped to open Burlington’s authentic Island Creek.
“Having only one Island Creek flapping within the breeze in Burlington, realizing Kenmore was going away, didn’t really feel proper,” Sewall says. “Row 34 is a greater match for the suburbs, with a lower cost level and never as valuable, however with the identical consideration to high quality and the identical degree of power and repair.”
As for the Kenmore goodbye? He’s circumspect.
“It was 10 years of my life or longer. I helped open the resort after I moved again to Boston in 2003. However nothing lasts ceaselessly. Eating places aren’t pets,” he says.
What to eat: Nothing lasts ceaselessly certainly. If you happen to’d informed 12-year-old me feasting on buttery crabmeat pie at Jimmy’s on the Mall in 1991 that sometime I’d be an grownup ordering $34 lobster fettuccine throughout the parking zone, properly, I wouldn’t have believed you. However Burlington has modified. Flashier eating places are transferring in, from the Cheesecake Manufacturing unit (which changed my beloved Jimmy’s) to Parm (a red-sauce providing from New York Metropolis’s Main Meals Group) to Fogo de Chão, a Brazilian steakhouse chain.
So it’s good to have a neighborhood seafood spot, even when it’s swankier than the glistening casserole of my youth. A $5 crispy oyster slider tastes extra like oyster than batter, a welcome shock. Home-made rolls with a gloss of salt and a aspect of honey-cayenne butter ($5) is the kind of factor you’ll eat at midnight with the fridge door open. Fish tacos are pleasantly crunchy with a welcome splash of salsa verde, even when the flour tortillas are limp. (In the course of the pandemic, this location rebranded as La Ventana, a taco pop-up, which Sewall plans to revive within the coming months.) Lobster fettuccine, although expensive, doesn’t endure from a scarcity of meat — and it’s boosted with melty braised quick ribs, too. Avocado and cucumber salad with black sesame seeds ($8) is a refreshing counterpoint to all that heavy meals. For dessert, get a saucer-size chocolate chip cookie ($9).
What to drink: Sewall guarantees a extra approachable beer listing at this location; Fort Level is thought for rarer choices. Each are curated by beer director Suzy Hays. There’s additionally a wholesome collection of high-acid white wines to face up in opposition to briny oysters. (Island Creek Oysters stays a vendor.)
The takeaway: High quality seafood from a well-pedigreed supply.
Row 34, 300 District Ave., Burlington, 781-761-6500, www.row34.com
Kara Baskin could be reached at kara.baskin@globe.com. Observe her on Twitter @kcbaskin.
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