Seabar

One of the truly odd (not to say annoying) features of Buffalo, a town renowned for its numerous excellent restaurants and enthusiastic foodies, is that along its extensive waterfront there’s not really a decent restaurant.

Oh, sure, there are lots of places to eat. Yet the quality of these waterfront restaurants tends to vary. The few exceptions are simple places, really. Sometimes a person wants more sophisticated cuisine.

So where to eat? The good news is that, while it’s not on the waterfront, there is excellent seafood to be had — at the aptly named Seabar. Conveniently located near many theaters, all those downtown offices and lots of new loft-style living spaces, Seabar started as a relatively small sushi place. It’s in the experienced hands of chef/owners Michael and Sherri Andrzejewski, who have been cooking (Mike) and baking (Sherri) for many years at top restaurants in the Buffalo area.

They first ventured out on their own with Tsunami, an Asian fusion restaurant. Things were going well until a horrible motorcycle accident a few years back, when Mike lost a leg but realized he’d gained a legion of culinary fans, who rallied to his side.

In 2008, the Andrzejewskis opened Seabar and, this June, they expanded dramatically, both in terms of physical size and the menu. With two long, skinny rooms and a bar in front, Seabar features contemporary décor and changing colored light displays bathing the walls and white china in geometric shapes. The bar comes complete with its own menu, so we tried a flight of saki — five different shots varying widely from dry, anise-scented to a thick, sweet, opaque white that is, apparently, a dessert saki.

Meat eaters have many options here, such as 40-hour short ribs ($24) and lamb shoulder tornedos ($19). For an appetizer, there’s Bourdain’s last meal ($16): samplings of pork belly, marrow and foie gras torchon, served with a little dish of toasted French bread, on the menu in honor of chef, author and television star Anthony Bourdain. It’s so rich, my dining companion didn’t really need dinner afterward, although he managed to polish off his flight of sashimi and Japanese salad quite nicely.

The real star of this show is seafood, and there is an extensive sushi menu (all $6 to $12). Among the more unusual choices are miso caramel crab (tempura, crab cream cheese and mushroom); BBQ salmon (BBQ and smoked salmon, with avocado and chili BBQ sauce); and Buffalo’s own beef on weck, usually a sandwich but here served as a sushi roll (beef filet, carpaccio and horseradish cream).

But there’s much more than raw fish on the menu — for example, an appetizer of warm oysters and caviar ($14.75). Presented in a wide, shallow dish, the oysters are poached in a celery crème fraîche with white wine and topped with American sturgeon caviar. It’s difficult to select from among entrées like Spanish-style prawns ($24) served on rice with saffron, chorizo and sherry vinegar and the ubiquitous linguini and clams ($18), served here with garlic, shallots, fresh tomatoes and herbs interlaced with gentle Spanish piquillos peppers.