Blue Water Lunch

I hadn’t been to Blue Water Grill—that long-standing BRGuest establishment in Union Square—since my maiden year living in Manhattan. I liked it fine back then, but it always struck me as contrived, and that feeling has stuck with me all this time.

However, after lunch there last week, I must say, that no matter how staged this place is, the food is phenomenal. This is a well-oiled machine to say the least. A lunch with five people in which we ordered variations on the same drink (iced tea! Lemonade! Arnold Palmer!) without the waiter mixing up a single one, was unbelievable. The food—my plate was a marinated seafood salad with two huge shrimp, a massive half of a lobster tail and one claw, a fistful of calamari, and a few mussels—was even more outstanding. Said salad was impeccably dressed and our appetizer oysters were fresh and varied. Other entrees looked delicious but were gobbled up before I could taste. A good sign!