Dining This Week
Looking Sharp / Award-winning Sharpies offers top cuisine on Beaufort waterfront
By Sherley Buckland
After recently taking first runner-up in the Fine Dining Category of the N.C. Department of Agriculture’s Goodness Grows in North Carolina Best Dish Cooking Competition, Sharpies Grill and Bar in Beaufort is becoming one of the most award-winning restaurants on the Crystal Coast.
The winning dishes included an appetizer of banana and
coconut encrusted prawns served with an Asian cucumber slaw, peanut curry
sauce and tamari glaze, and a grilled soft-shell crab entrée served over
parmesan polenta with crispy collards and a tomato, thyme and bacon jus.
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The banana and coconut encrusted prawns are dipped in tempura batter and rolled in the banana/coconut mixture, then quickly fried and removed from the heat, yielding a plump delicious treat that you won’t want to put down. Prawns are slightly larger that shrimp, with a sweeter, firmer texture, while the banana, coconut and tempura batter enhance that natural sweetness of the prawns. The addition of Asian slaw provides a cool refreshing balance of flavor.
I’ve never really gotten overly excited about crab dishes, other than when my grandmother would make stewed hard crabs. That was then, this is now and WOW!
The grilled soft-shell crabs at Sharpies take down-home cooking to a new level. I am now convinced — and you should be too — that grilling soft-shell crabs with a little olive oil, salt and pepper is the best way to cook them. Grilling yields the truest essence of their flavor and the meat just comes apart with ease.
The grilled crabs are served over a mound of Parmesan polenta (cornmeal grits with cheese), then the tomato thyme and bacon jus is poured over top. The jus is a light sauce with mild tomato and bacon flavors. The crown of this dish is the crispy collards. Stemmed, rolled and cut into thin strips, the collards are flash fried just long enough to get the water out, drained and salted. The finished product looks like shiny, emerald green confetti, tastes delicious and smells wonderful.
These award-winning dishes are available nightly on the menu at Sharpies with a recommended wine paring of the 2005 E. Guigal Cotes-du-Rhone Blanc.
Other incredible dishes at Sharpies include the banana and coconut encrusted yellowfin tuna, fresh local grouper, and the certified Angus beef ribeye.
One of my favorite dishes at Sharpies is the yellowfin tuna. Tuna caught fresh that day is filleted in house, then dipped in a mixture of banana chips and shaved coconut before it’s pan seared to the diner’s requested temperature (I like my tuna rare).
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The
tuna is then sliced and fanned around a mound of lime-cilantro risotto and
served with grilled bok choy, curry aioli and tamari glaze. I am getting
hungry again just telling you about it. The presentation is so beautiful you
will want to stare at your plate a minute before diving in. You will sink in
your seat as the clean, fresh flavors of the tuna swim around your palate with
the hints of citrus from the risotto and the zest of the curry aioli.
Grouper is my favorite seafood delicacy with its mild, white, deep-sea fish and firm, flaky texture. At Sharpies, it’s grilled over an open flame and served over mashed potatoes with a side of grilled asparagus, then topped with beurre blanc sauce. When I think “meat and potatoes,” this is exactly what comes to mind.
For you real “meat and potatoes” fans, Allow me to recommend the Angus beef ribeye. Also grilled, the ribeye is served with garlic smashed potatoes and asparagus in a red wine jus. It is fork tender and more than mouth watering. The red wine jus adds a subtle richness to the ribeye and the garlic-mashed potatoes — Oh, YUM!
A night out at Sharpies is not complete without dessert. Each is made in house and what a treat. The white chocolate key lime tartlet is the perfect blend of sweet and zest. If you’re in the mood for something more intense, go for the pots de crème au chocolat, a little pot of chocolate with the most deliciously intense chocolate flavors imaginable (such that it is served with demi spoons to ensure you don’t overload on the first bite).
Located at 521 Front Street on the Historic Beaufort Waterfront, Sharpies is a participating member of Carteret Catch, Goodness Grows in N.C. and has twice received a four-star rating from John Batchelor, restaurant critic for the Greensboro News and Record’s Go Triad magazine.
Location
521 Front St., Beaufort
Phone
(252) 838-0101
Reservations
Accepted
Specials
See the previously reviewed restaurants on the Restaurant Archive page
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