by Eat Drink Northshore – @eatdrinknorthshore_explore
Who doesn’t love Newburyport in the summer? From Plum Island to the quaint shopping in downtown, and all the local specialty restaurants. Newburyport has so much to offer. Phil and I recently found ourselves here with some close friends.
We shared a meal and did some major catching up over dessert. I’d like to breakdown our visit for you and allow you to decide when you’ll be making your reservation to Sea level Newburyport.
When Phil, Burrito, and I walked up to the restaurant, we were meet with a bustling patio and Lots of energy. Our hostess led us through the modern dining room and sat us toward the back near a large window with a beautiful view.
Phil and I love starting a good meal with a good drink and reliable apps. My go to when I’m out on the Northshore is always the Nova Cider from Far From the Tree if it’s not available, any other local brew will usually do the trick (Notch, Ipswich ale, lord hobo, etc.) Phil loves a good cocktail. He typical goes straight for the cocktail specials, and if he can’t find something he likes, he creates a custom drink with the help waitstaff or bartenders. Phil’s drink usually ends up being vodka bassed with either apple, strawberry, or vanilla notes, go figure.”
For our appetizer, we ordered the calamari. We consider ourselves calamari connoisseurs. If you follow us on Instagram or read our blog, you’ll notice lots of calamari shots. On some subconscious level, I think Phil, and I are searching the Northshore for the best calamari around. We rarely deviate from our app order if its on a restaurants menu. This restaurant had Rhode Island-style calamari.
Lightly fried calamari and cherry peppers, topped with Parmesan cheese served with marinara on the side. The ingredients tasted fresh and had a light crispy fry to them. The cherry peppers and parmesan cheese were working in harmony.
Our friends ordered nachos and were kind enough to let us sample it. Their nachos had a cheddar Monterey blend and chipotle queso, black bean corn pico de gallo, olives, jalapeños, with sour cream, and tomato avocado salsa on the side. How heavenly! We all struggled with ordering apps because everything sounded so good. I don’t think you could go wrong with anything on the apps menu. For our main course, we went a little crazy. I ordered the Baja Lightly fried cod, lettuce, pepper jack, avocado salsa, soft flour tortilla, Phil ordered the BBQ Burger Bacon, onion strings, American cheese, lettuce, tomato, fries, and because this menu is such a tease, we also ordered the Grilled Cheese. Cheese, avocado, bacon, honey, more cheese on Texas toast served with house-made chips.
Yes, HONEY! Such a great addition to this grilled cheese, the honey is a sneaky little surprise when you take your first bite. Despite the amount of food we ordered and how full we were, our meal would not have been the same without this grilled cheese. Please do yourself a favor and order it. Have it to stay or to go!
The deserts at Sea Level seem to change often but consistently knock our socks off. We have pictures of the dessert shooters we ordered, and they were a hit with everyone. Cakey, Creamy, Decandant enough said!
Newburyport is in it’s prime right now with events happening every month, restaurants changing menus, beaches filling up, and tourist out and about. Join in on the fun and make sure to try Sea Level Oyster bar.
