Maritime Boat Club
Seafood restaurant · Union Square ·
Seafood, produce-driven menu, refined dining, low-intervention wines
Seafood, produce-driven menu, refined dining, low-intervention wines
"Maritime Boat Club, by the Bar Maritime team, is a seasonal seafood restaurant inside the Palihotel in Union Square. The menu covers dishes like kanpachi crudo, grilled halibut, and a $125 seafood sampler called “The Kraken” with oysters, jumbo shrimp, mussels, and a lot more." - julia chen 1, patrick wong
"Yes, Maritime Boat Club is a seafood-focused restaurant, but it’s the produce that really shined on my first visit. Beautiful slices of tomato paired with torn shiso leaves, balled melon dressed in tiny elderflowers, the entire dish a gentle pond of tomato water, dots of elderberry shrub and olive oil, was just on of quite a few dishes showing off for our region. But of all the summer produce highlighted on the menu, the baby corn stood out most: a plate of baby corn, husk and tiny kernels charred, giving way to tender cobs that provide a sweet, central, toothsome bite. Steamed, shucked, then grilled, gently cooked before being given the confidence of a sear. Crunchy bits of cranberry beans give the corn another dimension of texture, and the corn was accompanied by a burnt ash sauce and a smooth quenelle of Brokaw avocado puree. It made for a lovely addition, but these seasonal gems, under the hands of Maritime chef Felix Santos, was a treat. He says there’s a small window to get them, so he can’t pass them up when they appear at the farmer’s market. If you, too, like me, mostly only ever experience baby corn through a tin can, this will also make you wonder what else you’re missing out on." - Dianne de Guzman
"Opened Tuesday, June 24, this new seafaring restaurant sits behind a literal curtain in Bar Maritime on the Palihotel's second floor; take the stairs into the hushed, wooden Bar Maritime, pause to appreciate the feel—like a ship subsumed by Monstro in Pinocchio—and wade to the back where the property's latest seafaring addition lives. The full, separate restaurant comes from much of the same team behind the new Union Square bar with the addition of chef Felix Santos, an Atelier Crenn and Sorrel alum, and aims to offer upscale seafood that remains accessible for wallet-conscious diners: most items fall under $30 and many bottles of wine are below $100, though there are still banner, pricy items for special occasions. Santos’s flavors lean Mexican—his wife, fellow chef Sofia Lechuga-Santos, is Mexican and he’s cooked throughout Mexico—and he says tostadas and tacos are the dishes he reaches for. The snacks consultant George Dingle made for the initial opening will cycle off the menu now that Santos is in the pilot seat; in their place are Tomales Bay mussels steamed then marinated in market vegetables for a few hours and fried, paired with toasted bread escabeche-style; peppers stuffed with cod and scallop, a “seafood sausage,” to invoke a rustic texture; and a bistro burger replacing steak frites (Santos says he loves burgers and is nerding out on dialing in the ratio of Painted Hills beef to proper bun size). He ties the burger work back to a year he and his wife spent in Tulum working for a boutique hotel and eating burgers by the sea: “It was wonderful. Mexican food, local produce,” Santos says, “that’s exciting for me to call back to something I’ve done in the past with a close place in my heart.” Larger dining-room dishes include grilled ikejime halibut with bay laurel bearnaise sourced from Jooharian Farms alongside white asparagus, a $125 Kraken seafood tower jeweled with Hog Island sweetwater oysters and highwater oysters, mussels escabeche, jumbo gulf shrimp, and tuna tartare, and a $140 Painted Hills cote de boeuf with McGinnis Ranch purple haze carrot, guajillo, and pepitas. Larry Piaskowy (formerly of Rich Table and True Laurel) will work the drinks in addition to Bar Maritime, and wine selections are overseen by Andrew Pettingell of Otium and Osteria Mozza. Santos was connected to the role through friends and an Atelier Crenn captain, and he’s excited to take the storied Burritt Room space into its next chapter, thrilled to take produce right from the ocean—“five orders of oysters if that happens to be what’s available that day, and serve it that same day.” “A food menu that’s thoughtful and delicious, but not prohibitive,” Santos says. “The option for value, but also the option to splurge. If I get live scallops, it’s not going to be $10 scallops.” The restaurant is open 5:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and 5:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday; reservations available on Resy." - Paolo Bicchieri
"Maritime Boat Club, by the Bar Maritime team, is a seasonal seafood restaurant inside the Palihotel in Union Square. The menu covers dishes like kanpachi crudo, grilled halibut, and a $125 seafood sampler called “The Kraken” with oysters, jumbo shrimp, mussels, and a lot more. We haven’t been here yet, but want you to know this spot exists." - Julia Chen
"An accompanying second-story food-focused space inside a boutique hotel, this recently opened outpost features a menu from a chef with pedigree at Quince and Atelier Crenn, pairing attentive cooking with the club's intimate, lived-in atmosphere." - Paolo Bicchieri
