Bombora, a Latin-Asian Gem on the Ocean City Boardwalk

Dining on the boardwalk.

Earlier this summer I was invited by Bombora in Ocean City, MD to join them as their guest for the evening to check out and blog about their new restaurant on the downtown boardwalk.  After an August weekend spent in Rehoboth and Dewey beaches, I made the drive down south to take them up on their offer.

Blue crab guacamole with plantain chips.

Bombora offers a touch of affordable and modern class to a destination that skew heavily towards the more old-fashioned side of the spectrum, a touch of elegance in a sea of tackiness and chaos.  White awnings and gas lamps, wooden ostriches guarding the entrance, and the font on the sign of the Beach Plaza Hotel which the restaurant anchors all speak more to Miami chic and Art Deco aesthetics than OC gaudiness.

Even the bread plate is thoughtful.

The menu, Latin-Asian fusion created by chef Arturo Paz, falls in line with the South Beach ethos.  The fusion concept has seen its day.  But it’s cutting edge for Ocean City, where prime rib, fried seafood platters, crab bushels, and the Jonah & the Whale dinner buffet rain supreme.

Flatbreads add a nice diversion

Emphasizing seafood as a menu that fronts the ocean should, Bombora offers small plates and a small selection of flatbreads in the $8-$11 range, entrees mostly in the low $20s, an a la carte breakfast, and a daily happy hour with $3 drinks and half price small plates offered in the elegant bar and lounge or the oceanfront porch.  A woman, leaving the 4-7pm portion, confirms with her server that it starts up again from 9-12.

A Trio of ceviches

Blue crab guacamole is an obvious attention grabber and if you miss it on the menu, you’ll notice the sundae cup it’s served in being brought to another table, with plantain chips spilling over the dish like bananas would from a split.  The mound of crab meat over a scoop of guacamole is a winner.  A tuna tartar seems like it will be overwhelmed by the wonton chips they’re served with, the presentation evoking a Japanese pagoda.  But the Thai green curry sauce the fish is prepared with shines through, making a very powerful canapé.  A trio of ceviches is highlighted by a sweet marinade for the grouper.  A tower of vine ripe tomatoes and buffalo mozzarella is stacked like a house of dominos, is the most fascinating way I’ve ever seen this commonplace yet always pleasing dish put together.

Our waiter, passionate himself about fine dining in OC with dreams of opening his own tapas and martini bar some day, raves about the shitaki pot stickers and calamari two ways (both of them asian ways) and explains that the crab cake sliders are done with a Puerto Rican flair in the spirit of the chef.

Salmon tops a carrot-ginger emulsion.

A whole fried yellowtail snapper on the large plates portion of the menu is another attention grabber, the whole fish, head on, crispy and twisted around a large plate ready to be torn apart.  Skirt steak, marinated in the juice of sour oranges and served with a chimichurri has a great char grilled taste to it.  A pan seared salmon pairs well with a carrot ginger emulsion, though the fish was cooked a little more than I would like.  A sautéed shrimp fettucine, priced to sell at a very reasonable $16, is also recommended.

Sour orange marinated skirt steak (appetizer portion).

Most of the cocktails, including some with interesting twists on how to use Jameson whiskey, are on the very sweet side.  The wine list is a better place to focus with bottles buyable for as low as $20.  Coffee to close out the meal is served in a French press, a nice touch.

The whole package makes for a worthwhile meal at prices that would be much higher if the restaurant were in Washington, a local crabshack, or the even the massive Phillips Seafood restaurants on the island.  In fact, though you would never be able to tell if you didn’t know, Phillips owns and operates Bombora and the Beach Plaza Hotel, a couple of boutique enterprises among a small handful in the chain’s portfolio.  The space used to be a Phillips restaurant on the boardwalk.  Paz came in to revamp the restaurant and upgrade the accommodations.

The result is a dining experience  that does not feel at all corporate.  And there is lots of taste and value to be had.  Plus the place is on the boardwalk.  At 13^th street, it’s a little further north than the chaotic heart of the downtown span.  Walk past the t-shirt shops water ice stands, and oddities museums.  Ignore the girl to your right handing out flyers for the souvenier store below.  And you'll find a gem of an option for Ocean City whether for an elegant yet affordable meal, $20 bottle of wine, or $3 beer and small plates on the boardwalk patio.  Or perhaps all three.