Lunch at the Bayside

After visiting the Westport Rivers Winery, we decided to get a taste of the local culture and grab a late lunch somewhere in Westport. We selected the Bayside Restaurant from the winery's list of recommended places and we knew we were in for a good lunch when we pulled up. With waterfront views of Buzzard's Bay and cheerful and slightly kitschy table decorations, we were tempted to try the outside deck but due to the wait time, we opted for a table right away indoors.

Amy, Andrew and Phu all enjoyed their order of one of the daily specials, a chipotle corn chowder with chorizo:

Andrew said it was more like a Rhode Island chowder in consistency but had nice big chunks of all the ingredients:

My green salad was pretty ordinary but the creamy dill dressing was great!

Andrew and Phu decided to split an appetizer and an entree for their meal - they started with the fried calamari. Since Amy and I helped ourselves to a few pieces, I can state firsthand that it was pretty good but nothing special, especially since the marinara was a little watery (plus, I like aioli better as a dipping sauce):

Everyone agreed that Amy's coconut fried shrimp were pretty awesome:

Andrew raved about their Fisherman's Platter, claiming it was the best he ever had (and this is high praise from someone who grew up in Plymouth!) Nothing was greasy and he thought that it was arranged with care, compared to most places that would throw together a bunch of fried shrimp, scallops, oysters and fish and call it a day. Even the french fries hiding underneath the pile of fried seafood got the thumbs up:

I ordered a feta and shrimp pasta dish - while there was plenty of juicy, plump shrimp, I felt that the sauce was too buttery and lacked flavor. Amy and Andrew tasted it and liked it better than I did, so I guess it all depends on your pasta preferences:



Overall, I highly recommend the Bayside Restaurant. They also had an impressive list of homemade pies for dessert, including a wonderfully tart Key Lime pie.