Gold Dig #37

Son of a Gun is another of Jon and Vinny’s eateries that makes Jonathan Gold’s 101 Best Restaurants list. You can also check out my Petit Trois review and my Animal review. Son of a Gun is their seafood spot, or as they refer to it on their website – a “hip, nautical-themed restaurant”.

Based purely on that absurd self-description, I was skeptical of the place. But I have to admit I liked the vibe of this place as much as any Gold Dig I’ve done so far. They play great music, and the sea-themed decor somehow managed to be fun rather than corny.

The Dish

The food is small plates, mostly fancied-up versions of familiar fish house dishes like shrimp toast and lobster roll. While everything was tasty, the portions are pretty tiny. You end up having to order quite a few items (they recommend 2-3 per person), which results in a fairly hefty check for what you’re getting.

Caramelized Onion Dip with Potato Chips

We started with the caramelized onion dip with potato chips, which surprisingly turned out to be one of my favorites. It brought back memories of eating onion dip made from powder mix and sour cream with Ruffles potato chips, common at football parties and picnics. Only the best possible version of that. The potato chips are crisp and almost translucent while still managing to have good substance to bite into, nicely seasoned with salt and pepper. The dip is creamy, sweet and tangy. But there’s not a whole lot of dip or chips, so you have to pace yourself to keep from scarfing the whole thing down in no time flat.

Smoked Mahi Dip, Celery, Radish, Crackers

This dish comes out as a thin circle of smoked mahi dip, topped with a high pile of beautifully ribboned celery, served with a bowl of packaged crackers and a bottle of Tabasco sauce. You are instructed to squeeze lemon over the top, then spread on a cracker and add Tabasco. Even though you’re assembling it yourself, with these ingredients you can’t help but have it come out pretty. It’s not so different from tuna on crackers, but again a leveled up rendition. Weirdly, the celery was the best part for me – I didn’t even know you could ribbon celery, and not only was it a fantastic aesthetic, but it also was wonderfully fresh and  somehow without those tough celery strings!

Fried Chicken Sandwich, Spicy B&B Pickle Slaw, Rooster Aioli

Jonathan Gold said it seems like two out of every three people get the fried chicken sandwich at Son of a Gun, so naturally we wanted to try it. It’s the one thing we had that was of a substantial size, stacked high with slaw on a big piece of chicken. The breading on the fried chicken was perfectly crisp, though there was a lot of it. My first bite was entirely breading, and I was surprised to find it was somewhat bland. The next bite, however, had juicy flavorful chicken that went great with the pickled slaw and Rooster aioli. It seemed as though the chicken was brined, but the breading was unseasoned – the reverse of most fried chicken where all the flavor is on the outside.

Kennebec Fries, Malt Vinegar Aioli

The waitress talked us into getting fries to make sure we had enough to fill us up. Like I said, small portions. Normally, I like my fries pretty skinny, and these were thicker than I usually prefer. But they had good crunchy outsides and were well seasoned. Good to eat alone, even better with the vinegar aioli. Not a world-changing dish, but helpful to make sure you don’t walk away hungry.

Shrimp Toast Sandwich, Hoisin, Herbs, Sriracha Mayo

The shrimp toast was a delicious dish, though lest you be deceived by the close-up picture, it is tiny. That plate is not a dinner plate, more like the size of a tea saucer. It was easily smaller than the palm of my hand, and I am a five-foot tall Asian female with tiny hands. But geez was it good. They spread shrimp paste onto bread, and then fry it, so it becomes one hot crunchy treat sandwiched around hoisin, Sriracha mayo, and herbs. My only complaint was I wanted a whole lot more of it.