Restaurants in downtown Gloucester

[taxi]

Meeting a friend for lunch tomorrow in Gloucester. We both like seafood and good salads. Any suggestions for two chatty buddies?
Thanks.

[bachslunch]

Smokin' Jim's BBQ in East Gloucester is also very good. Just be ready to eat in your car -- or be ready to fight off the seagulls at the picnic tables out back -- since there's no place to eat inside.

[SEH]

Alchemy was a good choice glad you enjoyed.

A couple posts mention Franklin & Duckworth's. Just want to note that those are both dinner only.

[phonelady]

Has anyone tried Duckworth's Bistro, 197 East Main Street, Gloucester [phone]?

[cath116]

Have eaten at Duckworth's often. Usually lovely food (sometimes a little heavy handed on the salt). Especially like the fact that mains can be had in half portion sizes. It's clear the chef cares.

[bachslunch]

I'll also happily endorse Duckworth's.

[taxi]

Hey, everyone, Just wanted to get back to all of you who took the time to respond. We ended up at Alchemy's and thoroughly enjoyed it. I had the crab cakes and my friend had a Meditteranean wrap which she loved. On our walk after, she said that she would defintely bring people there. Thanks for all of your suggestions. It was rather chilly and cloudy up there which surprised us as it was supposed to be 90 today!

[Harp00n]

Well it certainly must have felt more enjoyable on a day like today than sitting on the deck of the, now defunct, BOV. I feel almost as terrible about the bum rec as the passing of BOV, almost :-))

[Harp00n]

Hi Taxi,
I will also rec Alchemy and Passports, esp. for their salads. In addition, I would heartily endorse all of the following:

Halibut Point - not so much for salads, although they do serve them, but for the great seafood apps, rawbar, drinks, great burgers and others sangs, They do a lot more seafood entrees for dinner. http://www.halibutpoint.com/

Sugar Magnolia's - This is a great couple-run breakfast and lunch spot with some really inventive salads & sangs but no license http://www.sugarmags.com/

Boulevard Ocean View - If it's a nice day tomorrow, this would be my prime choice. BOV is an excellent, licensed, casual Portuguese with an outside deck facing the harbor. I love this joint. Tons of seafood options here. No website, but if you go to roadfood.com's site they give a good overview of BOV, the food and the vibe.

Finally, here's a fairly recent thread on Gloucester that will give you some further recs and expand on some of those covered on your OP; http://www.chowhound.com/topics/153137

Harp00n

[taxi]

Thanks so much for your help and great ideas...

[Harp00n]

You're welcome taxi!

[bachslunch]

There's an offshoot of the Franklin Cafe there, the Franklin Cape Ann. Enjoyed it the one time I went.

[taxi]

So nice of you to reply...

[cath116]

Unfortunately, Boulevard Ocean View is no longer open (we miss it). There is a new Portuguese restaurant in town, the Azorean, but I haven't tried it yet.

[Harp00n]

Wha? I hadn't gotten over there this year yet, when did this happen?
That's just terrible. What a great place it was :-(

[Harp00n]

Obtw, I was also aware of The Azorean Restaurant & Bar but haven't made it there, as of yet. My "list" is getting to be way beyond manageable.. The Azorean's gotten some initial buzz on this board;. http://www.chowhound.com/topics/353445

And here's their site; http://www.azoreanrestaurant.com/inde...

-----
Azorean Restaurant & Bar
133 Washington St, Gloucester, MA 01930

[FoonFan]

I ate at Azorean last week. Good news/bad news. The owner of the late, great Boulevard Oceanview is Azorean's head chef. The menu is clearly Boulevard-inspired, with items such as Portuguese soup and paella. My daughter had a 1/2 grilled chicken that was absolutely delicious - lemony and garlicy and a bargain at 14 bucks for the dinner. Grownups split the paella - it was good but not as good as I remember from Boulevard. Still has the whole lobster on top, but the lobster was salty and not particularly tasty. The sauce was okay, but perhaps lacked a bit of Madeira flavor or something. Paella was $29, but could have easily fed 3 hungry people. Portuguese soup had an off flavor - not even in the same league as Boulevard's. The room is attractive, but large and very noisy. It's probably a 100 seat restaurant, compared to 20 or 30 for Boulevard. Perhaps the chef is not able to control each and every order to the extent that he was at Boulevard. Boulevard's policy seemed to be that the chef cooked everything personally. If that meant you waited 45 minutes for your meal, so be it.

As a point of comparison, we ate the following evening at Causeway. Ordered a "frutti di mare" that was a pound or two of fresh seafood (clams, shrimp, mussels, scallops, calamari) and linguine with a spicy red sauce. I would have called it a fra diavolo. Anyway it was far tastier than Azorean's paella, and a real bargain at 17 bucks.

[Harp00n]

Sorry for my delayed response....thanks for filling us all in on the chef connection and your recent experience at the Azorean, FoonFan!

[FoonFan]

We really like Passports for pleasant, informal atmosphere and great food. Salads are particularly good.

[taxi]

Appreciate your answering my request.

[bear]

We had dinner at Alchemy in downtown Gloucester a couple of months back and really enjoyed it.

http://www.alchemybistro.com/

[ipsofatso]

Ditto Alchemy

[taxi]

Another thanks...

[taxi]

Thanks bunches.