dinner by the beach at 3800 ocean

I’ve been in the dry 20-degree New England weather for the past few months. Obviously, it was weighing on me. So swinging down to West Palm Beach for a few days was the move. The hotel we’re staying at has a pretty highly rated restaurant, so that became meal number one. 3800 Ocean has an incredible view of the sea, and that, in combination with a great breeze and good food, made for a swell first meal. We went with the guacamole tuna tartare, mango and plantain-encrusted snapper, and Italian sausage flatbread. Good vibes.

Guacamole Tuna Tartare

The guacamole tuna tartare would have been a pretty average appetizer- if not for the guacamole. The tuna was pretty run-of-the-mill, and the chips were very solid. But the guacamole was incredible, and actually went really well with the tuna. Well done on this one.

Guacamole: 9/10

Tuna: 6/10

Chips: 7.5/10

Overall: 7.7/10

Mango and Plantain-Encrusted Snapper with Creamy Rice

This was very good. The plantain crust (and chips) definitely made the meal; it was a good sweet-savory combo that made up for the bland-ish snapper. The mango didn’t encrust the fish (as advertised), but the mango salsa was very good in combination with the rice and fish. The rice was solid.

Crust: 9/10

Fish prep: 7/10

Salsa: 8/10

Rice: 6.5/10

Overall: 8/10

Italian Sausage Flatbread:

Not much to say here- a pretty average flatbread. Sauce was fine, dough was solid, sausage was pretty good. The cheese-on-top method was unorthodox, and the cheese itself was fine.

Dough: 7/10

Sauce: 6/10

Cheese: 6/10

Sausage: 8/10

Overall: 7/10