A DUMBO eatery is reconnecting the nautical neighborhood with its seafaring roots.
Water Street Restaurant and Lounge has opened a raw bar, serving up the mouth-watering mollusks that once defined the city’s culinary landscape.
“We’ve been open here for eight years and I decided it was time to reinvent the place,” said owner Jeff Rodman. “We’re down by the water, and we wanted to do something that was different than what was already here.”
New chef Marc Elliot (pictured) runs the bivalve bar, which is well stocked with the shellfish that once populated New York harbor (when it was clean!).
But not everything about the raw bar is ode to the old New York oyster joints. Elliot serves briny Bluepoint oysters with a sushi-inspired blue ginger sauce — a contemporary recipe he invented when a waiter knocked the savory condiment atop a heap of half-shells.
Water Street Restaurant and Lounge (66 Water St. between Main and Dock Streets) is open Sunday–Thursday, 11 am to 11 pm (bar until 2 am); and Friday–Saturday, 11 am to midnight (bar until 4 am). Call (718) 625-9352 for information.
