Shoreline on the Water

Dinner and a show from new chef Scotty Szekretar on the edge of Lady Bird Lake

By Mike Sutter
AMERICAN-STATESMAN RESTAURANT CRITIC
Thursday, May 28, 2009

Picture half a dozen raw oysters on a glazed blue plate with dry ice. Now picture Blue Oyster Cult. Now pour a little liquid magic on the dry ice to make fog, add some cowbell and it's 'Don't Fear the Reaper' time, with lemon on the side.

This is Shoreline on the Water — that place right next to the Four Seasons that's not the Four Seasons but manages to have a stuffy hotel vibe anyway, except for the lounge and bar, with puffy leather club chairs, spotted cowhide chair backs and an old-school jovial bartender who talked politics and made jokes and drinks with equal speed.

Were the special effects on the half-shell an attempt by Shoreline to break free of its lake-view destination ennui, put a little 'River's Edge' on the edge of the river? A start in that direction, maybe, possibly signaled by a recent name change from Shoreline Grill to Shoreline on the Water. Shoreline's been around for 20 years, many of those under chef Dan Haverty. But chef Scotty Szekretar took over early this year, fresh from a term as chef for the seafood spot H2O on Long Island, N.Y., with a Culinary Institute of America education.

So let's eat some fish.

Something simple: pan-roasted halibut with Swiss chard, fried gnocchi and tomato coulis ($28). The chard was cooked perfectly, the tangy puréed tomato brightened up the pliant little dumplings and the halibut was as stiff and crumbly as aged cheese. Wait. I know I asked the waiter for rare-cooked fish, because he said this: 'They never cook the fish past where it needs it be.' Yes, they do. No matter how pretty the fish dish — and this one was a beauty, with bright circles of orange and green and the pearly halibut in the middle — it's a failure if the fish isn't right.

I strayed from the water long enough for an appetizer of do-it-yourself duck crêpes ($11, $5.50 at happy hour) that hit two basic notes: sweet and salty. Add messy, too. But the crêpes were light and perfectly laced on the edges, and the whole thing made for two fancy duck tacos topped with a slaw of Napa cabbage, carrot and red onion.

Otherwise, the fish and shellfish were (mostly) right. Those arena-rock oysters were fresh and briny ($14 for six, $8 in the bar during happy hour). Crunchy crab cakes ($16 for two, $8 at happy hour) tasted like crab instead of fried bread crumbs. But another appetizer — a sushi roll of rice and king crab cocooned in strands of fried potato — did a starchy march right over the tiny flecks of crab at its core. We got halfway through the eight little pieces before we gave up, because who wants to pay $12 for tater tots with soy glaze? I expressed that to the waiter (without saying 'tater tots') who took them away after an uncomfortable moment of my explanations and apologies, saying the chef would want to know. Isn't 'we really didn't care for this; it's too starchy and there's hardly any crab' enough explanation? At any rate, he suggested no substitutions, and the $12 dish showed up on the bill anyway. Because the other $137 we spent that night wasn't enough?

But let's look past that and talk about the Wednesday night wine dinners at Shoreline: a starter, a main course and a dessert for $45 with three modest glasses of wine ($35 without wine). To put that into perspective, another three-course meal at the same table cost us $48 without wine. One week, the dinner matched up lobster strudel, striped bass and a melon mélange; another week, crab croque madame, red snapper and chocolate profiteroles.

Our wine dinner included an heirloom-tomato salad, herb-crusted fluke and a flourless chocolate torte. The tender, flaky fish came rolled with a bready herb center like understated stuffing, crowning crunchy slivered snow peas and buttery béarnaise sauce with a hint of licorice, served with truffled mashed potatoes. The colorful salad was tossed with spinach and red onion, with a basil-serrano dressing that walked all over the poor pedigreed tomatoes with a lingering scorch. They never knew what hit them. For dessert, 'La Bête Noire' ('destroyer of diets') hit predictable, crowd-pleasing notes: part brownie, part chocolate truffle, all roof-of-the-mouth richness.

The wines paired with that dinner showed some imagination. And by imagination, I mean pairing a pinot noir (in this case, a fruit-forward Tolosa from California) with a low-key white fish. Factor in the herbs and the earthiness of the truffle oil, then add a hint of rationalization, and it somehow worked. The red was bookended by Italian whites, a dry Casalfarneto Verdicchio and a sweet, peach-blossom Gagliardo 'Villa M' moscato. The moscato worked especially well with another of pastry chef Taff Mayberry's creations, this one from a parallel universe where flavor alchemy counts more than cocoa percentages: a whole spiced pear poached to a firm-custard consistency on sweet mascarpone cream with delicate green tea gelato and berries.

The blue-oyster fog likely came from that same parallel universe. But how much more cowbell can Scotty Szekretar bring to Shoreline's covered veranda on the shore of Lady Bird Lake? It depends on when the rest of the show catches up.

msutter@statesman.com; 912-5902

Shoreline on the Water

98 San Jacinto Blvd., 477-3300,

Rating (fine dining):

Hours:11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. 5 to 10 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.

Prices:Starters $11 (duck crêpes) to $16 (crab cakes). Soups and salads $7-$12. Main courses $16 (potato gnocchi) to $35 (beef tenderloin), averaging $26. Desserts $8. Lunch main courses $12-$24

Payment:All major cards

Bar:Full bar service, including $5 key lime martinis (go ahead and trade in a man card for this one; it's worth it), raspberry mojitos and other cocktails during happy hour (4 to 7 p.m. Mondays through Fridays). The California-rich wine list features about 40 whites and more than 50 reds, including Grgich Hills fumé blanc ($74), Chalk Hill chardonnay ($50) and Stag's Leap Artemis cabernet sauvignon ($80). Nineteen are available by the glass, from $6 (Fall Creek sauvignon blanc) to $10.50 (Serenity pinot noir), with most ranging from $7 to $9.

Wheelchair access:Yes