Sea scallops with mushrooms, asparagus, and gnocchi

Oyster platter with shrimp

As you might expect, Salem has a passel of seafood restaurants. They’re clusteered mainly around the Derby Wharf area, where the tourists are when they are not looking at spooky stuff. This being the non-tourist time of year, we opted for a weeknight dinner at Finz as we had not been there yet in the three and a half years we’ve lived here.

I started with a half-dozen oysters as an appetizer. When raw oysters are on offer, I almost always get them. My friends on Facebook and I had been talking about our love/dislike of oysters, so I was already primed to have them. These were served with cocktail sauce and horseradish and I had to ask for mignonette sauce separately. The mignonette, however, was not good at all. Waaaaay too vinegary and harsh. I felt the burn on the back of my throat all evening. I don’t care for cocktail sauce with oysters, but I ended up having some anywaym just to combat the taste of the mignonette sauce. Might not bother with ordering oysters at this restaurant again.

On the other hand, I thought my entree was splendid. The scallops were seared, but not burnt (a too-common result with scallops). They surrounded a very tasty combination of mushrooms, asparagus, and browned gnocchi that seemed more elevated than I would have expected from a typical seafood restaurant. Looks like they change up what goes with the scallops, since their current online menu has them paired with a corn risotto at the moment.

I imagine we’ll go back again, though I like Sea Level Oyster Bar better overall. They are apparently owned by the same people, and I’m not entirely sure why they would be any different, but I suppose each kitchen is going to be its own thing.