Sunday at Sea
A new New Orleans restaurant worthy of distinction.
Words and photos by Katie Sikora
It was a brisk morning by New Orleans standards as my boyfriend and I walked up Carondelet Street in the CBD. Although the sun inched closer to its peak, we pulled our zippers all the way up and tucked ourselves into the doorway of our destination. You’d walk right by its unremarkable wooden door if you didn’t know something was very intentionally being kept behind it. It truly is a creole cottage hidden in plain sight in the middle of a downtown business district. But look up as you cross the threshold and you’ll see its name in lights — blue neon light, that is.
Seaworthy.
And worthy of the sea the place certainly is. After being seated at a small bar-style table tucked behind the entry wall of this relatively young oyster bar and sustainable seafood restaurant — which I realize sounds like the opposite of prime seating but give me a small nook to snuggle into and people-watch from any day — and while my partner kept one eye glued to his fantasy football roster, my eyes circled around the room. The bartender went to work painstakingly creating our cocktails — a Violet Hour made with cava, hibiscus, St. Germain, grapefruit, and a bit of basil for me and the Look Mum, No Hands with coconut, chai, rum, Baileys, and accented by a salted rim for the football fan — next to the extensive and picturesque oyster bar. Stark white marble juxtaposed against dark grained wood and a cold light spilling in from the window; part Paris, part fishing town, everything added up to truly give the feeling of walking straight off the dock into the local hideaway for a drink and some freshly-caught fish.
Other small cabaret tables like ours dotted the rest of the bright but intimate dining room, slowly filling in with other couples as the sun rose higher in the sky. Late into our meal, a fabulously white-haired couple by the names of Michael and Renee were seated next to us and quickly introduced themselves. It was clearly a bit of a routine for them to sidle up to the couple next to them and get down to business when it came to chatting. As locals in New Orleans since the 70s, they couldn’t help themselves from it if they tried. And who would want them to anyway?
Chef Justin Koslowsky, previously of Michelin-awarded Atera and acclaimed Contra in New York City and who made the move to New Orleans to help open the kitchen at sister restaurant Josephine Estelle in 2016, adapted and reintroduced the Seaworthy brunch menu to the masses again this past August which gave them at least one morning back a week during the slow, miserable (yeah, I said it) heat of summer in Louisiana but also allowed for more time and thought to be put into the reimagined weekend menu — something the entire team is excited about.
Our meal began with a sourdough toast blanketed in freshly prepared smoked fish spread, cucumbers and radish slices, avocado, and sprouts that we promptly inhaled. Our dish was cleared and a second round of libations from the cocktail menu developed by Beverage Director Ryan Anderson were delivered: red sangria with a brandy float and one of the most refreshing and intricately flavored Pimm’s Cup either of us had ever tasted.
And then the second round was upon us.
While Chef’s first choice from the new menu is the seafood pozole with hominy made from scratch and shrimp, scallops, and mussels taking the place of pork and chicken in the classic rendition of the dish, my partner — nursing a severe lack of sleep that comes with being a New Orleans sound engineer with an early-to-bed-early-to-rise girlfriend — chose definitively Micah’s Sandwich, a brioche bun filled with andouille, fontal cheese, and scrambled egg and served with crispy home potatoes (the same red potatoes you’ll find in any local’s crawfish pot nonetheless). I also strayed from our recommendation when I spotted the Crab Cake on the menu. As a woman who grew up with a father making her crab cakes on special occasions, I have a soft spot for them to be sure. But that is where the similarities end. Where my father was a good ole’ Polish boy who served his cakes up with tartar sauce and a lemon wedge, the Seaworthy team has complimented their crab cakes with peas, poached eggs, and a housemade rouille.
Our conversation with Renee and Michael eventually took a turn to the changing landscape of New Orleans culture. As the most recent transplant of this impromptu double date*, I was trying mostly to listen when Renee spit out a gem I had to scramble to type into my Notes app before I forgot it. “[New Orleans] is becoming more cosmopolitan even though it plays to our New Orleans roots.” Her tone was genuine, diplomatic, and although she spoke broadly of our city, her words were indicative of the meal we had all just (if inadvertently) shared together. The menu at Seaworthy is not “classic” New Orleans fare. You will find no daiquiris or étouffée on the menu. But the things you will find — a perfectly crafted Pimm’s Cup, home fries that are subtly evocative of our beloved crawfish boil, your new friends at the next table — are all nods to what New Orleans was and is and honoring that evolution as a city.
*My boyfriend would want very much for it to be known that he was born and raised in the New Orleans suburbs and is not a transplant.
For more information about Seaworthy, visit their website here.
