I was recently invited to check out the newer location of Turner's Seafood up in Salem, MA. Turner's Seafood opened their first seafood restaurant in Melrose over 20 years ago, taking the name of a popular old fisheries that used to supply to the Westin hotel chain. They opened up the Salem location 22 months ago.
Sure, Salem is mostly about the old witch trials and stuff, but I was more excited about this: Turner's Seafood is located at the old Lyceum Hall, which was where Alexander Graham Bell first did his public demonstration of the telephone! That's history right there.
I also love how Turner's Seafood is supporting local businesses, like the Ryan & Wood Distillery in Gloucester, MA. They use this distillery's products in many cocktails, like the Pamplemousse (Beauport vodka, St. Germain, pink grapefruit juice, lemon)
One of the key components of Turner's is the oyster bar. Sure, oyster bars are pretty common now, but when they first launched their oyster bar at their Melrose location 15 years ago, they were one of the few. Turner's still has a leg up, though, boasting one of their staff, Ryan Kripp (middle), the two-time champion of Boston Seafood Festival's Oyster Shucking contest!
Naturally, we started with some fresh oyster: Kumamoto, Pemaquid, and Wellfleet
Followed with broiled Pemaquid oysters with fennel butter
Classic New England Jonah crab cakes ($11.99) with apple cranberry slaw and tarragon remoulade
Executive Chef Yale Woodson thought about what would make the crab cakes really "New England" and decided to go with Jonah crab
Among other items I forgot to take a photo of was the shrimp cocktail. Turner's uses wild Mexican brown shrimp for shrimp cocktail, which is an unusual choice, but they believe the flavors are much better.
Buffalo scallops ($12.99)
This was a surprise hit, and surprised even the executive chef when he first started working here. We all thought the spicy buffalo sauce would overpower the scallops, but this is not so! It also works quite well and you still can taste the fresh scallops.
Local monkfish tail, creamy polenta, puttanesca sauce
This was a special of the day and it was one of my favorites! The monkfish tail was meaty and not dry and overall the dish had a nice, bold flavor that combines well with the creamy polenta.
I had another cocktail featuring a local spirit: Black Manhattan (also made with a spirit from the local distillery: Ryan & Wood rye whiskey, Averna, bitters)
I had a hard time deciding on my entree but finally went with the Newfoundland Finnan Haddie (house smoked North Atlantic haddock baked in pearl onion au gratin, mashed potato, grilled veggies, $20.99)
Finnan haddie used to be a popular New England dish, but now it's very hard to find. For that reason this is one of the more popular dishes here. The haddock is smoked in house with hickory. It's a comforting dish that would go over very well in the cold months.
Some other entrees the other bloggers had: Lobster Pie
The lobster pie for true lobster lovers, yep, this "pie" is pretty much all freshly picked lobster meat with butter and crumb topping. None of that creamy vegetable filler!
Tuna Sashimi dinner (black and white sesame seed crust, soy sauce, wasabi, pickled ginger, cold Asian noodle salad with peanuts, $26.99)
Indian pudding (Cornmeal pudding, corn flower, scalded milk, butter, this one tempered w eggs, molasses, spices)
Another rare New England item! The Indian pudding is a dish of Puritan background. Apparently it originally started as an appetizer, then moved its way to dessert - naturally so because of the sweetness of the dish from the molasses.
Turner's has two rooms upstairs for private parties, complete with fireplaces.
If you're heading to Salem and trying to decide where to eat, be sure to give Turner's Seafood a try. Despite being a fairly large restaurant, Turner's has a lot of local charm and great hospitality on top of the good food!
Turner's Seafood at Lyceum Hall
43 Church St
Salem, MA 01970
(978) 745-7665
http://www.turners-seafood.com/salem
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