Fish tacos Photo Debee Tlumacki for The Boston Globe
IN THE KITCHEN One bite at The Jetty and you can’t help but wonder who the heck is in the kitchen. Midafternoon at a remote beach on a cloudy summer weekday — and you can’t expect much. Yet, restaurants live or die by their capacity to produce consistently good fare any time of any day.
Turns out, it’s chef Scott Thompson, who last ran the kitchen at (the wonderful) Pomodoro in Brookline and credits award-winning Boston-area chef Jimmy Burke (who opened Pembroke’s Orta and Scituate’s Riva) with teaching him his best moves.
Thompson calls The Jetty’s food progressive American, drawing inspiration from international street foods and his years cooking Italian.
THE LOCALE Perched on the ocean at the tip of a curved jetty in Marshfield’s Brant Rock section, the restaurant is the former Bailey. Summer residents Tracy and Richard Vaughn bought the place, renovated it, and opened mid-summer 2014.
The 99-seat sports bar is aimed at those who not only watch sports, but also participate in them — a water cooler with paper cups just inside the front door provides a drink for runners, bikers, swimmers, or surfers. The large rustic space has rough wooden floors and wallboards, cavernous ceilings, and butcher block-thick wooden tables. Windows along the street lend light, but there are none on the beach side. There’s plenty of room for live music and open mike nights.
ON THE MENU Appetizers, sandwiches, and burgers, salads (with add-on proteins), a few main courses for dinner, and nightly specials make Thompson’s smart lunch and dinner menus easy to maneuver while offering something for every appetite.
Lunchtime’s soft pita sandwich ($11) is so full-flavored and full-bodied that it’s a surprise when you realize it’s vegetarian. The chef’s spin on this Israeli street food is meaty with non-meat proteins (hard-boiled egg slices, feta cheese), fresh (cukes, tomatoes, mint), juicy (tahini spread, yogurt sauce), and creamy (roasted eggplant).
Fish tacos (offered for both lunch and dinner) ($11/$14) are just right — with a light, crispy batter on the deep-fried cod, bright pico de gallo, and spicy mayo.
A platter of the Mexican street corn ($8) surprises and delivers. Four roasted half cobs — flavored with Parmesan, garlic aioli, chili powder, cilantro, and lime — are served on skewers. Great with a beer at the bar.
Taking the cake at dinner one night was oven-roasted cod ($18). Served with a thick slice of grilled garlic bread and a handful of arugula, the naked-looking cod is baked in a light wine, garlic, tomato, olive, caper sauce.
Breakfast is served daily and so are all-fruit, honey-sweetened smoothies ($7).
Open just a year, The Jetty’s a solid new place to eat.
The Jetty, 278 Ocean St., Marshfield, 781-319-2181, www.thejetty-marshfield.com.
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