Boathouse – - Sittin’ on the dock of the river…Or not
Wednesday, April 8th, 2009
The first thing you need to be aware of is how to get to The Boathouse in Ossining. Use your gps device and you’ll find yourself in the parking lot of Sing Sing Penitentiary. Best advice is to swing down Snowden (off of 9) and follow it down, then continue onto Broadway. Finally, you will make a slight hairpin left-turn placing you on Westerly Road.
Finding Your Way to Boathouse
The restaurant, which resembles something from Nantucket, is tucked among boats and local boat clubs. Many will agree that Westchester certainly needs more river-front dining – - due to the placement of the building, I have mixed feelings. The reason is that we anticipated sitting and admiring the beautiful Hudson while dining. Instead, we admired a parking lot of SUVs and sedans. The restaurant parking lot separates your view from the river. There is outdoor seating on a patio for warmer weather dining.
Inside Boathouse, you will quickly notice its cute nautical theme. A charming bar area with fish adorning the standing bar behind the stools. The mermaid and ship captain designs complement the bathroom doors.
The dining room itself is not overly large but comfortable with tables leaving enough space for private conversation. Walls are a relaxing plum/clay tone. The only thing to break the relaxing environment are the commercials as they play a radio rather than have a more formal music (commerical free) set-up.
Waitstaff are quite friendly and we had nice experiences on each visit. Particularly a standout is Serbian waiter Boban. He sports a great enthusiastic smile and has nice energy about him. By the way, you don’t have to remember “Boban” as he is aka Gus.
Let’s get to the food. Shrimp Luciano is referred to as a reverse saute in a sauce of lemon, parsley, garlic, and butter. So popular, they now offer it as an entree. Delicious slight crunch and a nice blend of the ingredients keep it fresh and interesting.
An order of Spedini is not to be missed. Think “Italian kabob.” The best way to describe it is think of decent bread wrapped around fresh mozzarella and often include little meatballs on the inside. The spedini here arepillow soft and creamy on the inside but ends a little on the crunchy side as it cools. It is served in a brown butter garlic anchovy sauce. Quite nice.
Tempura Nori
Next is the Vegetable Nori Crisp with matchstick veggies wrapped in tempura coated nori. Then they have sliced it on the bias and serve with pickled ginger, wasabi mayo, and soy sauce. I would order this again.
The Blackened Tuna Burger is delivered with a spicy kick. Served with steak fries (not homemade) and again, with the pickled ginger. To my chagrin, it was ordered medium-rare and delivered more on the medium-side.
Stuffed Burger? Yep! dig into this fun creation served on a ciabatta roll and you’ll find yourself encountering melted cheese, crispy bacon, and tomato in the center of the burger. You’re good to go with this one.
To accompany your meal, Boathouse is offering a modest but affordable wine list at $21 each.
Finally, time for dessert. The Apple Raspberry Pie is quite dense yet has a soft bottom crust. It is nicely sweet yet not too much. It is crowned with a crumb topping and a goodly dollop of homemade whipped cream.
I would recommend that you stay away from the chocolate crepes. They were served too chilled. Had they been served at room-temperature, the mouth feel would be more luxurious and you would sense the true flavor of the chocolate. The crepes are filled with a creamy chocolate ganache and served on a plate drizzled with a raspberry coulis.
Owners Scott London, Val and Lori Polidor0 (who also own Fabulous Foods Catering) have executed a fine new venue. Maybe we can all get together and shove the building to the end and allow the cars to park behind. Waterviews baby!
The Boathouse – - Fine Food & Spirits
26 Westerly Road
Ossining, NY 10562
914-923-6466
