Island Creek Oyster Bar

Island Creek Oyster Bar
500 Commonwealth Ave, Boston, MA 02215
(617) 532-5300

While I was still traveling for work last year, my flight got in a little on a Thursday night after being delayed in Newark. My wife and I didn't want to go too far from home, so we ended up in Kenmore Square at Island Creek Oyster Bar. Island Creek, as its name would suggest, focuses heavily on seafood and features some of the deliciously briney morsels from Duxbury, MA - among other places where fabulous oysters are found.

Island Creek has a really cool room, and I absolutely love the design, theme and colors of the space. I would describe the room has having a trendy, cool coastal vibe to it, combining shades of gray with light, birch wood. The long cocktail bar and giant raw bar, featuring the day's freshest shellfish and oysters, are the centerpiece of the room.

Even arriving on the later side of the evening, the room was still relatively full with a steady energy and hum. The clientele kind of runs the gamut, but I think you'll tend to find more young professionals. We've been to Island Creek a few times, and we once saw several news anchors and reporters dining there, including Bianca de la Garza. Go figure.

One other time we grabbed food at Island Creek since it has a late night menu and at the time it was one of the only places still open serving food. While the late night menu items are good, the better food comes off the regular menu.

One of my favorite dishes has become the lobster roe noodles, which is a mainstay on the menu. It's a play on surf and turf with succulent, braised short rib paired with grilled lobster meat and pasta made from the roe of the lobster. It has other goodies in there as well like peas, sauteed oyster mushrooms and pecorino cheese. I definitely highly recommend this dish.

The other dishes on the menu come and go based on availability and freshness of the fish, but on the night we went, we had this cod dish with chorizo, clams and kale. The cod was delicious, steamed perfectly. The broth was tomato-based and reminscent of a boulabaisse.

I don't go to Island Creek that often but whenever I do, I always get a good meal. The menu changes regularly, which keeps things interesting. Island Creek also has a solid drink menu, and the bartenders are really knowledgeable and friendly. I've heard that brunch at Island Creek is amazing and would love to try that at some point - one of the executives at my wife's company goes there every Sunday.