Harvey Cedars Take 2

Sorry about the delay in posting these seemingly "old" stories now from this past weekend....

I recently drove down to the beach with a good friend of mine who accompanied me in visiting another friend down in LBI. We went out for dinner and stayed the night, kayaked, sailed, and had a really awesome time! Not surprisingly, we went to Harvey Cedars Shellfish Co. like I had when I went down with my parents, since their seafood is truly amazing, and they have enough options that I knew exactly what I wanted. They had not changed their specials menu, so I opted for the grilled yellowfin tuna with a mango vinaigrette, grilled pineapple rings, sauteed zucchini, and Jersey corn (the star of my dinner) in place of cole slaw. I was rather thankful that I got the corn, since it was yet again to die for...completely and utterly amazing to the last fibrous bite into the cob.

I ordered the tuna medium-rare as recommended by the waitress, even though I generally order tuna rare. I figure that the locals know the quality of the fish better than I do and how I would best enjoy their preparations. Unfortunately it was closer to medium than rare, and I was biting into gray rather than ripe pink flesh, but it was still quite tasty. I really enjoyed the juiciness of the rare center juxtaposed with the smoky goodness of the grilled exterior. It allows you to taste the best flavor of the yellowfin while satisfying the craving I had for some smoky grilled flavor. The zucchini was sauteed to the point of tenderness without losing its bite, a necessity for me with vegetables, but I was not so fond of its oiliness for a vegetable. I found a piece of bacon fat along with my veggies. As an attempted-pescatarian who is not so fond of bacon in general, I was a little taken aback by the chef's desire to deny the vegetables their own earthy veggie flavor paying respect to the average American's love of bacon. Who can blame him; it is the restaurant business, no? I wasn't starving, so I left some of the zucchini uneaten in favor of the delectable corn <3. I swear I just could not get enough of it. I had the vinaigrette on the side, and it was not quite redolent of mangoes as I had hoped. I am simply thankful it was on the side and not slathered on the beautiful hunk of flaky seafood, otherwise ruining its natural juiciness.

Overall it was both an excellent meal and an excellent trip down to the beach!