East End Eats: A Total Makeover at Baron’s Cove

Baron’s Cove

31 West Water Street, Sag Harbor

725-2101

Breakfast, lunch, and dinner daily

Having never been to Baron’s Cove in Sag Harbor in its previous life, I did not know what to expect. I must say, the renovation is quite impressive.

From the outside the main building looks like a plantation — a big porch above and a big porch below, Adirondack chairs, rocking chairs, and Colonel Sanders in the corner nursing a mint julep. Okay, that last part isn’t true but it could be. The downstairs bar and lobby are rather dark, with glossy black paint trim, grey and white wallpaper, and enough nautical memorabilia to remind you, lest you forget, that you are near water and marinas and boats and birdies and fish. The downstairs bar appears to be a scene, the music is loud, and the girls wear sequins. There are fireplaces inside and out.

When you go upstairs to the dining room, the atmosphere changes into what looks like a yacht club circa 1968. The salt and pepper shakers are those itty bitty hotel dining room kind. The candle holders are cut glass set into faux brass bases. There are blue banquettes, black chairs with royal blue cushions, and a high ceiling with huge Edison bulb chandeliers. There are wooden boat half-models and nautical flags and International Code Signal pennants everywhere on the bur­lapped walls. The blue water goblets on the tables would fit in just as easily at Medieval Times, they are that huge.

We arrived on time for our 5:45 p.m. (gaaack!) reservation but were asked nonetheless if we could be finished by 7. We were, but the dining room remained only about a third full the entire time.

After being seated, we got one Parker House roll each and a dish of butter. We began our meal with the beet salad, calamari, and a side order of the hand-cut fries. The beet salad was dainty and quite good. The pale, golden beets were quite vinegary, topped with frisee, crumbled goat cheese, and almond brittle. If you forgot about the brittle, it was disconcerting to bite down on the crystallized sugar chunks, but the combination was original and interesting. The calamari was very good, lots of tender little rings, a few tentacles, and other deep-fried items, some of which worked, some of which didn’t. There were thin rings of jalapeno peppers, slices of lemon, and large green olives. The odd addition was cherry tomato halves, which are too moist to hold the crunch of the batter. The calamari was served with a very mild lemon garlic aioli, more mayo than zesty sharpness. The hand-cut fries were excellent, though not really crisp, more like fluffy, and flecked with parsley.

For entrees we tried the duck breast, black bass, and ribeye steak. The duck was good, cooked medium, and served with some quinoa with dark, pickled cherries and steamed spinach. The steamed spinach was a bit dull as an accompaniment. The black bass was served on top of a mixture of sauteed wild mushrooms, Swiss chard, and some roasted tomatoes. It was good, but needed a bit more seasoning. The ribeye steak was cooked to medium rare as requested but this, too, lacked seasoning and was not as tender as good ribeye should be.

The mixed grill offerings on the menu include one side dish and one sauce choice. We got the parsleyed new potatoes and blue cheese sauce (as our waiter said the chef would suggest this combination). The potatoes were fine, the sauce bland and not very blue cheesy.

The service on the night of our visit was very good.  Our waiter, Scott, was friendly and knowledgeable and our Gigantor goblets were refilled as needed.

The prices at Baron’s Cove are moderate to expensive. Appetizers are $8 to $19, entrees are $18 to $52, mixed grill items are $34 to $88 (that’s for two), sides are $7, desserts $8 to $10.

There were only two desserts available, other than ice cream and sorbet; we tried both. One was billed as strawberry rhubarb crisp but it did not have any strawberries in it. It was inexplicably served cold in a cereal bowl (as opposed to a ramekin in which it could have been heated).

The rhubarb compote was very tart, and the topping was tasty, but lacked crunch. The second dessert, described as pound cake with berries, only had three blackberries on top, so I’d say that’s more like a garnish, not an element of the dish. It was dense and a bit lemony, pretty good.

Perhaps the menu is intentionally simple — chops, fish, chicken, cole­slaw, Cobb salad, and the like, because it is attached to a hotel. Overall, it was a pleasant experience in an attractive setting.