Turner's Seafood Salem

I was invited to a Blogger event at Turner's Seafood at Lyceum Hall at their newest location in Salem. Their original restaurant is in Melrose. They also have a market in Gloucester, next to their seafood plant. Turner's Seafood started out as a wholesaler and then morphed into the restaurant business where they strive to provide an authentic New England Seafood Experience and their heritage goes back four generations.

They are located in historical Salem. There is plenty of parking nearby and their street abuts rte114.

The famous oyster bar is manned by Ryan Kripp, the two-time winner of the Boston Seafood Festival's Oyster Chucking Contest. The interior is comfy and welcoming. They also have a very nice function room upstairs with a small bar.

We started in the bar with a Pamplemousse made with Beauport Vodka, made locally in Gloucester, St. Germane, Grapefruit Juice and Lemon. It was really nice and refreshing.

Then it was off to the Oyster bar and some freshly shucked oysters. To the left was some delicious Kumamoto oysters and to the right was the Wellfleet. Both was delicious with the Kumamoto having a slight edge for me. They try to keep the selection down to three so that they can serve the best. The third choice today was the Pemaquid oysters. It was a pleasure watching Ryan chucking and he later gave a demonstration on how to chuck, in slow motion.

Some lightly broiled Pemaquid oysters with fennel butter was also delicious.

Classic New England mini Jonah Crabcakes with Tarragon Remoulade was excellent. No blue crab here, they are using Jonah crab.

Their shrimp are sustainable and wild-caught from Mexico and after they are deveined they are slowly poached in their shells and then shelled before being served. They were really good and with a good bite to them.

The day's surprise was the Buffalo (dry) Scallops with Blue Cheese dressing. I thought that the Buffalo coating would overpower the scallops, but it didn't. This turned out to be one of the best dishes for me. Loved it.

The Tuna Sashimi Bao with an ultralight steamed bun was a hit with everybody.

For my main, I picked the Tuna Sashimi with black and white sesame crust, soy sauce, wasabi, pickled ginger and Asian noodle salad. The tuna, cut from the loin, was of outstanding quality and super fresh. This was perfect dish after the multitude of apps that was offered.

A classic Creme Brulee looked perfect and was well balanced.

The Strawberry Shortcake was a big portion.

This was an outstand meal in an excellent restaurant run by people who really care about their food and customers.

You can keep up to date with them on Facebook: Turner's Seafood, Twitter: @TurnersSeafood. Instagram: @TurnersSeafood and they also have free Wifi. 

This meal was complimentary of Turner's Seafood, but all opinions are my own.