If you're looking for a downtown dinner with a patio, cocktails and seafood, The Boat House at 30 South 2nd Street sums up its kitchen as fresh ingredients and killer comfort food. It's an evening place. The doors open at 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday and at 3 p.m. Friday through Sunday, and it closes at 9 p.m., or 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.
The menu mixes coastal plates with heavier comfort dishes. Starters include Voodoo Chicken Crunch with pickled vegetables and honey mustard, BBQ pork mac and cheese egg rolls, P.E.I. mussels in white wine and garlic, blackened ahi tuna over soba noodles, and a jumbo lump crab cake. The seafood gumbo carries shrimp, scallops, crawfish and andouille. Among the entrées, the Key West grouper comes with macadamia and coconut rice, the North Carolina flounder sits on a lobster and shrimp risotto, and the Cedar Teriyaki Salmon comes with lo mein and Asian vegetables. If someone in the group wants meat, there's a hanger steak with chimichurri, braised short ribs and a meatball Bolognese over pappardelle. Kids 12 and under have their own menu.
The bar leans on cocktails and a long beer list, including bottles from Bold City, Cigar City and Bell's, and local and seasonal drafts. The restaurant posts its live music lineup on its social media and events page. One thing to know for groups: parties of six or more have a 20 percent gratuity added.
The Boat House sits just off Centre Street on the same stretch of South 2nd as Indigo, and the Salty Pelican is a couple of blocks away on the harbor. Flying in for a long weekend? Arrival and departure services can get the first night's dinner plans confirmed and the thermostat set before your flight lands.