From the Parrot’s new rooftop patio — at low tide. Photo by Joan Wilder for the Boston Globe,.

WHO’S IN CHARGE

Chef Brian Houlihan has really topped himself this time. On July 4, the restaurateur slung a banner from the former Red Parrot in Hull unveiling his newest restaurant’s new name, The Parrot, and opening its doors. Never mind that three of the enormous restaurant’s reconfigured dining areas were still under construction: The expansive ground floor beach bar dining room was ready and Houlihan was in the kitchen.

Since moving to Boston from Ireland at 18, in 1993, and working in several of the city’s kitchens, including the Four Seasons, the Scituate resident has opened four successful restaurants, starting in 2003 with Bia Bistro in Cohasset. Next, came the Tinker’s Son in Norwell, the Galley Kitchen & Bar in Scituate, and Trident Galley & Raw Bar in Hingham. The long-running Red Parrot, an oceanfront behemoth sprawling over the equivalent of a city block, had gone downhill over the years and Houlihan’s wonderful transformation of it is thrilling.

Asked why he would take on such an enormous venue, Houlihan joked. “Oh, I don’t know. It’s an icon? It was my civic duty?”

Pan roasted salmon. Photo by Joan Wilder for the Boston Globe.

THE LOCALE

The new restaurant is so completely changed it’s disorienting to people who knew the old place. The beautifully spacious beach bar dining room, with its simple white walls, tin ceiling, and wood floors is an airy space completely open to the sea: The restaurant’s front wall is glass and folds out of the way, accordion-style.

Meanwhile, around back is an entirely different environment: an Irish tavern in dark gentlemanly colors with its own back door. Up a half-flight — Houlihan calls it the mezzanine — is a dining room with large windows. Go up one more flight and you’re on the rooftop patio with its amazing views. Inside, construction is still underway on a dining room that should be open by Thanksgiving. All together, The Parrot will seat 400. Houlihan may develop two menus for different areas, and is likely to shutter the beach bar in the winter and open the pub and the third-floor dining room.

First floor beach bar at the new Parrot at Nantasket Beach. Photo for Boston Globe by Joan Wilder

ON THE MENU

The Parrot’s starting summer menu smartly mixes $6-$8 burgers, tacos, sliders and other beachy fare with a nicely chosen handful each of raw bar selections, starters, salads, and entrees that top out at $48 for a 28-ounce rib eye for two. On five or six summer visits, we ate up everything: the carefree summer atmosphere of the inside-outside beach bar as well as lots of terrific plates. Among my favorites is the yellow fin tuna poke ($14), a gorgeous, velvety smooth plate of diced tuna in a ginger, garlic, soy, hoisin, lime marinade. The batter-fried Scituate haddock ($20), a.k.a. fish n’ chips, is a gorgeous filet of haddock in a batter crispy enough to let you hold it, and light enough to break apart at the touch of your teeth. The house clam chowder ($6) is a very satisfying cup thick with plenty of tender clams. All the tacos are good: the fried haddock ($8) with its pico de gallo and sriracha aioli, my favorite. The smash burger ($8) delivers a hamburger experience and the pulled pork slider ($6) is better with its smoky meat and bright slaw. Houlihan reminds me most of Houlihan in two entrees. The rustic pan-roasted salmon ($26) is enriched with bits of very crispy skin and served with fingerling potatoes and roasted Brussels sprouts over an outstanding light seafood sauce. I loved it. Equally great is the grilled swordfish ($28). The large filet is topped with a small pile of lightly pickled, sweet cucumbers and carrots and served over some sensational chimichurri sauce. All we needed was more!

Il Massimo’s frito misto, a piping hot plate of fried shrimp, scallops, calamari, octopus, and smelts. Photo by Joan Wilder for the Boston Globe.

WHO’S IN CHARGE

It’s uplifting that the newest restaurant at Dedham’s Legacy Place is an Italian family-run spot, not a chain. Il Massimo is owned by Esther and Joseph DeQuattro, a husband-and-wife team from Providence. The couple have been in the business since opening their first restaurant, Pane e Vino, on Federal Hill in Providence in 2002. Fourteen years later, in 2016, they launched Il Massimo in the same neighborhood. Last year, Legacy Place approached the couple about opening another Il Massimo in Dedham, and they decided to go for it: “It’s only 35 minutes without traffic,” said Esther (don’t smile, Boston). On any given day, the DeQuattros will be at one or another of their three places. Executive chef Joseph, who learned to cook from his Italian grandmother and mother in Providence, oversees kitchen operations, and Esther the front of house. Running the Dedham kitchen on a day-to-day basis is chef Edgar Morales, who left his job as the chef of Il Massimo Providence to open Legacy Place.

THE LOCALE

Il Massimo at Legacy Place. Photo by Joan Wilder for the Boston Globe.

When the DeQuattros acquired the space that Met Bar & Grill vacated last summer, they took it down to the studs and spent five months renovating. The result is a spacious 200-seat restaurant with tall ceilings, chandeliers, a large glass wine wall, modern fireplaces, and several different seating environments. There are tables in dimly lit areas, wooden high tops, an elevated row of round booths along one wall, a curtained private room for 40. An L-shaped bar extends into a grouping of tables street-side in a light-filled area with white walls that opens to an enclosed, trellised patio. Depending on where you’re sitting, Il Massimo is good for a private relaxed meal, a bite after J. Crew (but before Anthropologie), drinks after work, or a private party. It has a high-energy, capable, corporate feel, but because it’s in a shopping and entertainment center, guests have carte blanche to come as they are: in sweats during a day of shopping, dressed up to do the town, or anything in between.

ON THE MENU

Il Massimo is open all day and the lunch, brunch, and dinner menus are large with lots of good choices. The restaurant also offers a prix fixe three-course lunch with many choices for $20, which is hard to beat. I’m crazy about the polpo appetizer ($14 lunch/$15 dinner): It’s a cold plate of poached octopus, sliced as thinly as prosciutto, served with raw fennel, oranges, and micro-greens. The luscious fritto misto ($16 lunch/$18 dinner) antipasto is a piping hot plate of fried shrimp, scallops, calamari, octopus (that eat like scallops), and tiny little headless smelts. The Caesar salad ($10 lunch/$12 dinner) delivers its classic goodness (and is a large plate even when ordered as part of the prix fixe lunch). Fettuccine alla Bolognese ($16 lunch/$23 dinner) has never been my favorite dish, but our friend liked his. The eggplant Parmesan ($12 lunch) has thin delicate slices of eggplant, but never mind that — order the ravioli ripieni di burrata ($16 lunch/$20 dinner)! The large ravioli ooze soft burrata cheese and are covered with a buttery stew of grape tomatoes, toasted garlic, and herbs. The branzino is an equally enticing ($18 lunch/$26 dinner) dish. The whole grilled fish (sans head) is butterflied and served with soft beluga lentils and a pile of perfect cauliflowerettes toasted to a gorgeous medium brown. What a fab new restaurant!

Il Massimo, 400 Legacy Place, Dedham, 781-493-8113, dedham.massimori.com.

Coconut shrimp

WHO’S IN CHARGE

Building a restaurant is never simple. After more than two years under construction, Mambo’s Kitchen & Bar at Nantasket Beach has finally opened. That’s a relief for owner-operator Anthony Ghosn, 33, who had hoped to open last summer.

“We had a lot of surprises during construction, down to the smallest thing,” said Ghosn, who has worked in restaurants and/or construction since graduating from Boston College.

Both he and co-owner Rabih Habchy grew up around family restaurants and have each owned various businesses over the last 10 years. Habchy still does (he owns a gas station), and Ghosn is at Mambo’s full time as its chef-owner-operator running the kitchen and overseeing everything else.

A view from Mambo’s rooftop deck

THE LOCALE

The partners snagged themselves a terrific spot at Nantasket Beach just across from the water. The property originally included a bit of undeveloped land and a derelict building on Nantasket Avenue, across from the Red Parrot.

After tearing down the building, the partners shoehorned an entirely new structure into the hillside as snugly as an oven fits into kitchen cabinets. The 40-seat main dining room and bar has a beachy-casual, yet solid, feel with its heavy wooden beams, stone floors, and wood ceiling.

Two large accordion windows span the front of the dining room and open completely so sitting inside is a lot like sitting outside. And for a better view of the ocean, there’s a great 60-seat rooftop patio. Or, there should be by the time you read this: The partners are waiting on a final inspection of the restaurant’s wheelchair lift. In winter, without the rooftop, the restaurant will shrink to a perfect size.

Mambo’s was worth the wait: It’s a great new year-round kitchen and bar as well as a new piece of restaurant real estate for the small seaside town of Hull.

ON THE MENU

On a nice day, it feels real good to sit at Mambo’s and grab a meal. It’s that kind of place. And, the kitchen obliges nicely, offering a dozen or so very good pizzas, creative sandwiches on homemade bread, a sampling of appetizers, big salads, burgers, and more.

The house-baked wraps Ghosn is making for Mambo’s sandwiches are reason enough to go there. They’re a wonderful cross between Syrian bread and pizza dough, but better. I’ve had them with several sandwiches in the past few weeks, and like them more each time, and the fillings, too.

I’d order all of these again: the Mediterranean hummus sandwich ($8); the Bluefin (tuna salad) sandwich ($8); the Greco grilled chicken sandwich ($9.50); and the grilled veggie monster with provolone cheese ($8).

The pizza list is long and they all come in two sizes. A sweet balsamic drizzle atop the Lighthouse pizza ($12/$17) is a delicious surprise; the old-fashioned cheese pizza ($8.50/$12.50) perfectly satisfying; and the Gunrock ($12/$17) the best of the three. It has long strips of sweet and hot peppers, tiny bites of sausage, and fluffy hunks of ricotta cheese.

The calamari ($11) is beautifully done: Served with a homemade remoulade, they’re light and go ever so nicely with the thick and delicious fries ($4) in the salty air. The coconut shrimp ($10) are very coconutty, but done in such a light batter, they find their way to your mouth and melt there. The garden salad ($7) I had one night was a very large bowl of a much-appreciated blend of fresh, crispy romaine, mesclun, and iceberg lettuces. Ordered with the good, grilled chicken add-on ($3), it’s a hit at $10.

The avocado Benedict at Pembroke’s Gather

IN THE KITCHEN It’s not unusual to see chef-owner Shelton Perkins wander into the dining room at Gather in Pembroke and talk with guests. The chef and his partner, Nick Wilson, are as intentional about creating a place where people can gather to slow down and share a meal as they are about good food. “Quality food, quality time” is the restaurant’s tagline. Wilson runs the front of house, and Perkins takes care of the kitchen. “We do comfort food taken up a notch,” said Perkins, whose resume includes sous-cheffing at Stephanie’s on Newbury in Boston. Gather is open from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. and both the breakfast and lunch menus are offered all the time. The restaurant also offers a prix-fixe, three-course Sunday family dinner that you need to reserve in advance, and an extensive catering menu.

THE LOCALE Gather is on Route 27 in the Bryantville area of Pembroke with its many large lakes and rural feel. The 34-seat dining room is warm and bright, welcoming with friendly servers, and has a homey yet professional feel. The partners renovated the former Mayflower Grove Grill before opening in February 2018, bringing in several farmhouse tables that get moved in and out depending on what’s happening in the restaurant. Perkins and Wilson offer pop-up cooking classes and host private events off hours. There’s counter seating, communal tables, and a row of two- and four-tops. Oh, and definitely add Gather to your list of great outdoor eating places: The front porch seats an additional 22.

ON THE MENU The menu offers all the great American breakfast dishes along with some of Perkins’s specialties, including corned beef breakfast poutine and a breakfast pot pie. There are create-your-own omelets and egg dishes with potatoes or a salad, mixed fruit, French toasts, vanilla butter for pancakes, and real maple syrup. Lunch includes two salads, a burger, and a few sandwiches. Everything can be made with gluten-free bread. The family-friendly kids’ menus are smaller and include French toast sticks and corndogs. Check out the upcoming Sunday family dinners online for each three-course menu: They range from salmon to fried chicken to brined pork chops with all the trimmings.

Lots of places overlook regular brewed coffee, but Gather’s is very good. Half and half comes in a little pitcher. Nice. The owners’ desire to create a friendly community place must be working because the woman sitting at the next table one morning couldn’t help but rave to me about the avocado Benedict ($13) and she was right. Served on a rectangular white plate, the grilled English muffins are spread with guacamole, topped with poached eggs, covered with Hollandaise, and sprinkled with goat cheese and scattered pomegranate seeds. (The seeds add an appreciable pop of flavor.) On my next visit, another woman started talking to me, this time to tell me how great the burgers were and how Gather is the best place around for breakfast and lunch. I couldn’t argue with that while devouring a plate of the something hearty ($12): a platter of scrambled eggs, great potatoes and pancakes, very nicely done bacon, and a grilled English muffin. I can also vouch for the breakfast burrito ($12): a tasty concoction of scrambled eggs, veggies or a breakfast meat, home fries and sweet potatoes encased in a flour tortilla and served in a sea of mornay sauce. To lighten things up, order it as a breakfast burrito bowl. Or, try the sweet potato and arugula salad ($10) with grilled (hormone-free) chicken added-on ($4). It’s good.

Gather, 35 School St., Pembroke, 781-754-0931, gatherandeat.com.

Joan Wilder can be reached at joan.wilder@gmail.com.

The bar at Rewild photo Maeve McAuley

IN THE KITCHEN

If you’re tired of having to repeatedly explain to people that no, even (most) pizza is not vegan, then I’ve got a place in Quincy for you. Rewild, billed as a vegan beer hall and café, serves terrific pizza with homemade plant-based cheeses that can happily satisfy even the most committed carnivore. But pizza isn’t the only thing on the menu that showcases how good nonanimal dishes can be. Thanks to chef Will Hernandez, who developed the menu with co-owners Marissa Hughes and Pat McAuley, Rewild serves totally delicious burgers, fantastic fries, and more. “I don’t feel like we’re serving a light version of anything, but more like artisanal dishes,” Hernandez said. According to the owners, the restaurant is an experiment aimed at making plant-based dining more accessible while giving vegans and their omnivorous friends a place to go for some craft beer and good food. “We’re recreating foods that are familiar, a little better for you, and definitely better for the planet,” McAuley said.

THE LOCALE

Rewild is a casual, meandering space with a long bar, high tops, window seats, and a big open rear area with picnic tables and plenty of room for bands or musicians. The place is decidedly young, but not exclusively, and attracting a crowd on late weekend nights. It’s where Fuji used to be on Hancock Street, in the heart of downtown Quincy and the area’s ever-expanding restaurant row.

Rewild’s pizza with nut cheese

ON THE MENU

Rewild is not a health food restaurant. It’s a bar where vegans can eat and their nonvegan friends can, too. The menu is small, and most dishes are aimed at satisfying a meat-centric omnivore without any pain. Most of the food is so nicely done, that it works. You can choose from among four pizzas, three burgers, a fried appetizer, a few sides, two tacos, and a couple salads which can also be ordered as wraps. In the morning, before service begins at 11 a.m., the place is also a coffee bar, with good espresso drinks and morning bagels.

The burgers here are great. The patty itself is the commercially available, high-tech Impossible Burger. The “meat” is made with proteins from wheat and potatoes, fat from coconut and soy, and flavored with a number of other processed ingredients. The burgers are so popular that they’re selling at both the White Castle and Umami Burger chains. Rewild has several versions with different toppings, and they all come with fantastic fries. The Muggle burger ($15) is served with pickled onions, greens, and an absolutely delicious house soy aioli, made with garlic, lemons, tofu, and safflower oil. A slam dunk.

I’d never had homemade vegan cheese, and didn’t know it could be so much better than the standard store-bought options. My loss. Hernandez and Hughes make terrific soy and cashew cheeses that combine with their long-rising dough to produce great pizzas. There are four types. The Margherita ($12) is just great. In fact, to me, it is tastier than the ubiquitous fresh mozzarella versions served almost everywhere. I wasn’t crazy about either taco; but know that the “pork belly” ($8) version is very filling, and the better “scallop” taco ($11) is not.

The greens ($11) salad is a tasty mix of quinoa, lettuces, curried chick peas, pickled beets, and marinated tofu cubes dressed with a (too mild) green tahini sauce. The hummus bowl ($12) is actually a wonderful watercress salad, with good hummus, cucumber, parsnip, sunflower seeds, and pickled beets with a bright olive oil dressing. The buffalo wings ($12) are hunks of braised cauliflower so traditionally dressed in buffalo spice that it doesn’t matter what the “meat” is; they’re a great bar munch. Try some.

Rewild, 1546 Hancock St., Quincy, www.eatrewild.com.

Joan Wilder can be reached at joan.wilder@gmail.com.

Steel & Rye chef Brendan Joy’s resume is a who’s who of great kitchens. In Boston alone, it includes Radius, Clio, Toro, No. 9 Park, and Sportello.

Joy took the helm at Steel & Rye in 2016, replacing chef Chris Parsons, who opened the restaurant in 2012 with owners Dan Kerrigan and Milton native Bill Scannell. The massive kitchen was built for creating elaborate preparations, for the traditional preserving of seasonal commodities, and for proofing and rolling homemade pastas and breads.

“We do lots of bulk purchasing during harvest periods to preserve products for the colder seasons,” said Kerrigan.

A satellite kitchen, with a blazing wood-fired oven, is installed across the big space in a red-painted corner with high shelves that hold 50-pound sacks of flour and grains.

THE LOCALE

Steel & Rye is tucked into a hillside in Milton Village, a.k.a. Lower Falls, right on the Dorchester border. Originally built as the garage for a DeSoto car dealership, the 7,000-square-foot space is operatic in scale: You could fly stage sets up into the 30-foot rafters, raising and lowering them for scene changes.

The most pleasing part of this gorgeous restaurant is the whole right-hand side, where a long spacious bar faces a long spacious banquette of comfy tables. High windows span one wall, and all you see through them is trees. If part of what you love about dining out is being in a beautiful space, this is one to for you.

ON THE MENU

The menu is small. There are snacks, apps, pizzas, mains, and a couple of sides. For the most part, the dishes are elaborate, the result of putting each of many ingredients through labor-intensive preparations.

On only two visits, I’m not sure we ordered the best it has to offer, but we’ll be back. Do not miss Joy’s stellar seeded sourdough bread. Among the snacks, the fried olives ($5) are funny little deep-fried breaded ovals, carefully perched on nickels of peppered cream cheese. The coal-roasted oysters ($3 each) — each shell balanced on a pile of rock salt — are covered in a tasty but coarse breading.

The appetizer plate of fried clams ($8) is a small skillet of tiny, local mollusks served with a tartar sauce that makes us suddenly wonder if the condiment’s name derives from the word tart. The confit duck wings with Jamaican jerk sauce ($13) pop with the pungent flavors of freshly ground spices.

The pizzas here are great: Our margarita ($15) is perfectly charred and bubbled. The outstanding Maine halibut ($35) is exquisitely prepared and served in a beautifully composed plate: The filet is set over a small pool of straight-forward celery sauce, surrounded by roasted mussels and small creamy potatoes wearing fascinators of shiso leaves and parsley.

Never a pretty dish, the (black) squid ink campanelle ($28) has that delicate flavor of the sea infused in every frilly bell of pasta. Another of the chef’s homemade pasta dishes is the good hubbard squash gnocchi ($27), served with a light pork ragu. A side of baby Brussels sprouts ($9) comes from the wood-fired oven, all charred and delicious.

The apple upside-down cake ($10) is served in a pool of caramel sauce, with ginger ice cream and oat streusel scattered around. Wonderful.

Steel & Rye, 95 Eliot St., Milton, 617-690-2787, steelandrye.com.

Joan Wilder can be reached at joan.wilder@gmail.com.

Roasted haddock is a tender filet of haddock served in a slightly soupy sauce of Roma tomatoes and Kalamata olives over a large portion of steamed, very fresh spinach.

IN THE KITCHEN

You can spot new chef-owner Brian Hennebury at work in the small open kitchen of 5 South Main in Cohasset for breakfast, lunch — and now, dinner, too. Fresh off a nine-year stint as executive chef of Hingham’s upscale Tosca, the Rockland resident bought this gem of an eatery from Jennifer Warshaw in March. Longtime fans of the restaurant’s popular brunch and lunch menus have nothing to worry about. “I’ve tweaked some of the dishes, but my attitude is why fix it if it isn’t broken,” said Hennebury. The big news here is that the chef has opened for dinner and, in August, secured a beer-and-wine license.

THE LOCALE

Cohasset fits the definition of a quaint New England town, and 5 South Main is in the heart of the village, just beneath the oversized bell tower of St. Stephen’s church. The restaurant seats 28 people, and another eight outside. It’s a cozy, pleasing space, with a half wall providing some angled corners for tables. You can also sit in the sun at two streetside window booths. Hennebury had been searching for a location to open his first place and, like so many, couldn’t resist the charm of this spot.

ON THE MENU Dinner — with its starters, salads, pastas, and a half-dozen entrees — lets its new chef shine. “I don’t like big menus,” Hennebury said. “With a smaller menu you can focus on keeping things fresh and made to order.” Offering pasta dishes in either starter or entrée sizes expands options and so do the protein add-ons (lemon rosemary chicken, pesto shrimp, and flat iron steak) offered with the four salads. Sitting outside one night, we start with lobster sliders ($16). Sandwiched between buttered and grilled brioche buns — a wondrous reminder of the magic of simple ingredients — the pair are overstuffed with a summery lobster salad lightly dressed with lemon aioli. Among the mains, the roasted haddock ($23) is a welcome and uncommon preparation. A tender filet of haddock is served in a slightly soupy sauce of Roma tomatoes and Kalamata olives over a large portion of steamed, very fresh spinach. I could eat it every day. Hennebury described his cuisine as casual bistro with an Italian accent, and his Bolognese says ciao. The dinner portion ($22) is a big bowl of al dente rigatoni, in a clingy ragu, topped with dollops of whipped ricotta. Even better though — actually outstanding — is his cacio e pepe ($12), the deceptively simple cheese-and-pepper dish sometimes used to measure a chef’s skills. We order it as an appetizer, and the kitchen nicely divides even that smaller portion into two beautiful bowls. Creamy yet light, the bucatini again al dente, the dish is absolutely fantastic. Another evening, we enjoy the roasted organic chicken ($21). Served with light mashed potatoes and fresh asparagus, it’s a good dish. The pesto roasted shrimp ($22), over fresh cavatelli and roasted peppers, can’t erase a longing for more cacio e pepe.

Hennebury is about to roll out a new fall menu, which should be exciting as his creativity expands in his own kitchen. I love small neighborhood places, like this one, when a great chef-owner is behind the line.

5 South Main, 5 South Main St., Cohasset, 781-383-3555, 5southmain.com.

Joan Wilder can be reached at joan.wilder@gmail.com.

Oysterman’s fried oyster appetiser

IN THE KITCHEN As I bite into a fried oyster on my first visit to The Oysterman, my mood lifts. The dish is good and good-looking, too, with yellow, cornmeal-coated oysters set atop pink pickled onions, green lettuce, lime wedges, and dots of an orange aioli. The plate sends a message: Someone cares in the kitchen.

That someone is a team of chefs who work with owners Dermot Loftus and Chris Schweiger. “We’re not creative geniuses,” Loftus said. “I’ve been 30 years in the business and know what people like to eat. We have a scratch kitchen and a great team and we serve good quality food in a pub atmosphere.”

Loftus, who owned the Porter Cafe in West Roxbury before selling it last year, fell in love with all the oyster farming in Duxbury, thus the restaurant’s name. Schweiger, too, came up through the restaurant ranks — he worked at Lydia Shire’s Scampo in Boston — while earning a master’s degree at Boston University (ask him about the trombone).

The patio at the Oysterman in Duxbury’s Millbrook Noah Johannis

THE LOCALE Duxbury is rural and the new buildings, renovated structures, businesses, and restaurants on the corner of St. George Street and Railroad Avenue, a.k.a. Millbrook Station, is a welcome new destination.

“When we first walked down here, it was just a few dilapidated buildings,” Schweiger said. But thanks to developer Michael Juliano and more than a dozen local business people, the corner is filled with unique shops in buildings with a cohesive but not cookie-cutter style.

The Oysterman is outfitted in reclaimed wood, a marble bar, black leather banquettes, industrial metal chairs — high and low — and a pristine stainless steel raw bar that’s all ice and white subway tiles. There’s also a great, fenced-in patio with plenty of tables, a comfy sofa, and canvas sail shades.

ON THE MENU My first time at the Oysterman (on that one winter day we had in late August), I ate for comfort on the patio with a heater on. A week later, in the sweltering heat, I ate for Tom Brady. Well, not exactly Brady, but for someone wanting to eat lower on the carb and fried side. While the menu is big on comfort foods, its raw bar, hummus, salads, and grilled fish are nice options when you want to be good.

“We tried to have something for everyone,” said Schweiger.

After those first oysters ($15), we had the steak egg rolls ($12). These hearty little pockets are packed with braised meat and melted cheese and served with a creamy dip that’s an upgrade on traditional duck sauce. The gorgeous shrimp and lobster scampi ($29) is a large bowl of shrimp and lobster meat over pasta in a delicious garlic wine sauce. The shrimp are perfectly cooked and all that wonderful lobster just a bit overdone.

The Oysterman’s fish and chips ($17) do its Irish owner (Loftus) proud and the popular Buffalo cauliflower ($9) converted my cauliflower-hating friend, with its flowerets deep-fried in a Buffalo-seasoned batter. The balsamic glaze drizzled over the lovely pan-seared salmon ($20 lunch/$25 dinner) isn’t mailed in: it’s pungent and sweet. The filet is served atop an arancini-like patty and fresh string beans. Linguini again, this time with clams ($19), is another delicious pasta dish.

The Oysterman doesn’t serve dessert, so why not walk around the corner and have a cookie at Loftus and Schweiger’s beautiful, brand new cafe, The Anchor (if it’s daytime; it closes before dinner). Or stroll through the landscaped pathway out back and have an ice cream at Farfar’s across the street. Everybody does.

The Oysterman, 30 Railroad Ave., Duxbury, 781-934-2900, www.anchorandoysterman.com.

Joan Wilder can be reached at joan.wilder@gmail.com.

The bar at HK Too

WHO’S IN CHARGE Jane and Jeff Wicks, owners of our favorite summer shack, Hull’s Kitchen, have stretched out and replicated themselves two doors up the beach in a space three times the size and named HK Too.

After working with their son Ben for 12 years at the original place, Jane and Jeff have moved to HK Too, and Ben is running Hull’s Kitchen. This is a verifiable mom-and-pop place, with Jeff cooking and Jane managing the front of house.

Opening a restaurant was the couple’s longtime dream and they’ve grown their business, year by year, into what’s now two very popular spots serving consistently good, simply prepared fresh food in, as Jane says, “a laid-back, open air environment.”

THE LOCALE It takes a lot to stand out on the Nantasket Strip — that uneven string of honky-tonk summer stands and bars, amusement park remnants, arcades, and restaurants. But HK Too manages to both stand out and fit in with its tropically colored wooden fencing, bar, and umbrellas.

ON THE MENU The two restaurants have almost identical menus. Our longtime go-to — when the season hits and the restaurant opens — has been the fish tacos ($4.75). They’re deep fried in a very light batter, served in a soft corn taco over grated cabbage, and topped with crema, guacamole, and a wedge of lime.

Anything fish is good here: Fish and chips ($15.50) is a nice portion of the same lightly battered fish over shoestring fries. The lobster roll (market price/$19 now) is freshly shucked meat in a light mayo salad with celery and red onion in a lettuce-lined bun.

HK Too’s mahi mahi special

The mahi mahi plate ($18), a frequent special, is a terrific piece of grilled filet over a salad covered with that summer quartet: fresh cukes, cherry tomatoes, ripe avocado, and red onion. The house salad dressings are extremely light, which I like much better than gobs of commercial stuff. (Ask for a wedge of lemon. Perfect.)

The fried clams in the clam roll special ($18) this summer are extra large — with bellies, of course — and it’s nice to be able to get a small portion (not a whole meal) of these intense mollusks. Several of us are suckers for scallops, and always order the chopped salad ($14) with the add-on scallops (only four, $12), which ends up being irresistible but not quite filling enough. The same salad with steak is delish and more filling, or if you’re up for meat, try the steak tacos ($4.50). They’re covered with tomato salsa and guacamole. Really good.

Tacos also come in chicken, scallop, shrimp, and portobello mushroom versions. Hummus ($5.50) is a great vegan deal (I love being able to get good hummus at a clam shack), and the roasted brussels sprouts ($7) are an unexpected and delicious appetizer or side. Love them. So, too, the grilled sweet potatoes ($4.50).

Definitely go for the fried zucchini ($9) if it’s on the specials menu: It’s delicious with a biting horseradish dip. Several sandwiches also hit the spot: turkey, chicken, pulled pork, that kind of thing. It’s a very creative menu for a seaside shack, with all the favorites you’d expect along with others you wouldn’t. How very Nantasket Beach!

Bar at El Sarape, photo Jessica Adame

IN THE KITCHEN

I’ve wanted the recipe for El Sarape’s cilantro sauce for ages, but whenever I’ve asked, all I’ve gotten is a smile. Javier Adame, who owns the restaurant with his brother Guillermo, learned it from his mother growing up in Saltillo, Mexico. On Oct. 6, the Braintree restaurant will celebrate 30 years in business, and Javier has been in the kitchen the whole time, turning out consistently good authentic Mexican fare. I’ve eaten there for 20 years and have never had a bad dish, nor have I ever heard anyone say anything but good things about the restaurant. “We always say our food is like Grandma’s in the kitchen cooking,” said Jessica Adame, Guillermo’s daughter. But Javier’s influences don’t end with his mother. He’s learned his craft by traveling throughout Mexico’s Gulf coast and northern regions, and says his food is what you get there in finer restaurants.

THE LOCALE El Sarape’s simple storefront space is still in its original location in Weymouth Landing, although you might not think so because of the massive demolition that’s surrounded the small building over the last couple years. After 20 months of construction, Landing 53, a 172-unit apartment building, finally opened in January, putting an end to the upheaval it brought to the restaurant. “I’m still getting calls from customers thinking we’ve moved,” said Jessica. “Our regulars kept us alive during the construction. They came in two or three times a week because they were afraid we’d close.” This spring, the Adames did a small renovation themselves, extending their popular bar and redecorating the interior.

Enchilada verde, photo Joan Wilder

ON THE MENU Whenever I go to El Sarape, I’m almost always after the pescado cilantro ($17.95) because I like it so much. Every single time it’s exactly the same satisfying dish. (Consistency is a high mark for a restaurant to achieve.) A filet of white fish is sauced with the aforementioned slightly tart tomatillo-based cilantro sauce and sided with the restaurant’s simple black beans and rice. The kitchen is good at all the standards you’d expect– tacos, burritos, fajitas, enchiladas — but also turns out unique dishes. The carnitas appetizer is a bowl of tender pork bites marinated in a rich, smoky orange chipotle sauce that can double as an additional dip for the chips (and salsa) that come with every meal. El Sarape makes three or four different red sauces and the same number of green ones. I love that they are almost all saucy, yet not oily. (“We do a lot with vegetables,” said Jessica.) The pollo y arroz ($4.50), chicken rice soup, has a lovely, light broth, and I like the restaurant’s mild black beans, but its bean soup ($4.25) is too plain for me. Of course, you could perk the soup up eating it with the very good guacamole ($7.50). The enchiladas verde ($14.25) is three tasty chicken enchiladas smothered with a green tomato sauce and cheese. Once a weekend special, the popular rib eye steak ($22.45) is now on the menu. There’s a family-style feel to this dish: It’s two large slices of grilled steak stuffed with onions, wilted spinach, bacon, and mushrooms. Very good. I like the pescado relleno ($21.95) even better. Another stuffed dish, this one has a chili poblano sauce topped with cheese and filled with shrimp, mushrooms, spinach, and onions. One of our friends, who liked the coconut flan ($6.25) thinks that a well-done dessert is the sign of a good Mexican restaurant. True or not, I already knew that about El Sarape.

El Sarape, 5 Commercial St., Braintree, 781-843-8005, www.elsarape.com.

Joan Wilder can be reached at joan.wilder@gmail.com