Amuse Bouche: Craving Scallops

Today’s Globe featured a really fascinating article about the current state of bay scallop fishery in Nantucket (summary: it’s been declining, but this year, it’s great!). It’s definitely worthwhile reading, but the major takeaway for us was wanting to eat scallops right now. Below, five of our scallop-crazed city’s best dishes featuring the delectable mollusk.

•Truth be told, most of the seafood-based restaurants in Chinatown make excellent scallop dishes. Our vote for the best, however, comes from the inimitable Peach Farm. Their sizzling scallops with black pepper are exactly as spicy as the name implies, so you’d better get a Tsingtao with which to wash it down.
Franklin Cafe makes a play on oysters Rockefeller with their scallop version with spinach, lemon, and watercress. Given the natural creaminess of scallops, it’s even more decadent than the original. Nice.
•The brand new Vee Vee focuses on seafood, so it’s only natural that they should pay tribute to the scallop. Their shrimp and scallop fritters are served with chipotle aioli.
•In addition to scallops, we’re thoroughly obsessed with leeks right now, so Lineage’s dish of day boat scallops with leeks and sweet shrimp with a blood-orange reduction sounds pretty great.
•Let’s face it: no one does spicy like East Coast Grill & Raw Bar. Their seared extra-large shrimp and New Bedford scallops are served with deliciously piquant sides of ginger-garlic noodles and sesame-chile spinach.

Peach Farm Restaurant [MenuPages]
Franklin Cafe [Official Site]
Vee Vee [Official Site]
Lineage [MenuPages]
East Coast Grill & Raw Bar [Official Site]

[Photo: bbally]

Amuse Bouche: Craving Scallops