Review: Choptank
Friday night Char and I made our way down to the West Village to check out the neighborhood’s newest restaurant, Choptank, right on Bleecker street and Grove, where Anita Lo’s Bar Q used to be. Aside from a few service-related issues, which were understandable given the place isn’t even two months old, Choptank was a delight and I’ll definitely be back.
We started out at the bar with a few fun cocktails and took in the scene - if you’re a fan of other slightly elevated-in-presentation seafood restaurants like Ditch Plains or Flex Mussels, then you’ll definitely enjoy the vibe at Choptank. There are actually two bars - one when you walk in, where the bartenders mix together drinks like the 1500 Poydras Street (bourbon, apricot liquor, lemon juice, and bitters, served in a large tumbler) or the Light and Mildly Inclement (a dressed-up Dark & Stormy) - and another grey marble bar which wraps around the raw bar/oyster shucking station, at which you can also dine. Interesting rattan/branch-like lampshades hang down in the dining room, and cute beach Polaroids are pinned to the walls in clusters. The restaurant just sort of glows - cool blues and warm, flickering golds make the space really inviting.
We sat down and were treated to some house-made potato chips and the thickest, creamiest, crab-iest crab dip I’ve ever had - we literally had to brace the bowl with one hand and scoop with the other. Sometimes this meant we got a little extra dip on our chips, oops, too bad. For starters, we shared some local and West coast oysters - all excellent. We also sampled the rock shrimp taco, which was great, but not that memorable. It comes as one taco, but with three tortillas, which was a little odd. And wasteful! We also shared the Virginia ham, butter, honey and biscuits dish. The ham and honey were wonderful together - salty, sticky and sweet, but the biscuits were a little hard and dry for me. I would have preferred something fluffier and more buttery, rather than being given the butter on the side. But I think all these dishes have potential and they’ll all get better with time and a little tweaking. The service was nice - she still seemed to be getting up to speed on the drinks menu, but, did a great job of checking in and chatting with us about the place. At the end of our meal she sent over the owners, who were totally friendly and energetic, and so eager to share their story with us. It was fun to see such earnestness in people.
For our entrees, I had a softball-sized crabcake, which was cooked perfectly. Crunchy on the outside, big chunks of crab flesh inside, and little else. Simple, but very rich. Char had the fried chicken (pictured above) with honey and greens. Again, cooked perfectly. Crispy, juicy, and the honey was just lethal with that salty chicken. He cleaned his plate.
The owners shared that in a few weeks they’ll start doing brunch, and in the summer, crab boils out on the back patio. They clearly know what the people want! That’s what I liked about the restaurant: it had a point of view (MD-style seafood) but also delivered on what people enjoy, so it struck the balance between interesting menu additions and dishes people love (like the crabcake, which you can find just about anywhere in NYC, but never this good). I’d reccommend the place for just about anything. Great for a date, great for a meal with the parents, and, I’m seriously considering having my birthday there. Just an easy, enjoyable, tasty place.
Image via NYmag.
