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Here on Long Island, there’s always a debate, who has the best lobster roll? You’re missing your restaurant experience but you’re not quite ready to go back indoors yet, come check this one out. New Wave Seafood here in Wantagh, they’ve got it all figured out.
Welcome To New Wave Seafood
Welcome back once again to another episode of If You Live Here right here on Long Island. I’m your host Dean Miller, and thank you so much for tuning in. We are doing another spotlight on another one of these fantastic places that has figured out how to create kick-ass take-out product.
One Of My Favorite Spots… Since Forever
One of my favorite spots since the day we moved to town, New Wave Seafood right here in Wantagh.
You’d be amazed, you walk in, you see a fish market and they have absolutely fantastic products in the fish market. And one day I walked in, I looked and I peeked through the door and I said, “Oh my God, they got a full service restaurant in this place.”
Blown away by it.
Fantastic people, great family. We can’t wait to get into the restaurant with them to sit down and talk about their story and who they are. And you walk in the place, it tells the entire story of the family. It’s just beautiful.
And they’re such kindhearted, wonderful people. And on top of that, the products they put on a plate, absolutely mind blowing. So let’s dive in real quick and take a look.
Our Food Order
We ordered a couple of things that my family and I love on a regular basis.
Now, you know I got a little one at home, 11 years old, my daughter, she’s a picky eater, but she loves fried pickles. Believe it or not, a seafood restaurant with fried pickles, with this kicking bayou sauce, absolutely outstanding stuff. It’ll give you a little fire. It’ll give you a lot of sweet, a little bit of that dill and that wonderful crunch. Beautiful order. You can take the jumbo pickle here. You can take the tiny, extra crispy one there, give it a little dip, a little taste, sweet sour, crunchy, little peppery, fantastic stuff.
My Sicilian Grandmother
Now, growing up in a house surrounded by a lot of Italians, I’m a quarter Italian, so I’m not full bled, but I got that grandmother who came from Sicily, the woman knew how to burn water.
She was the only Sicilian woman in the history of the world I think that didn’t know how to cook, but I was blessed. Her three daughters, fantastic cooks every single one of them. That’s where I learned how to cook was watching them in the kitchen for years.
Ahh… Stuffed Mushrooms To Die For
One of the things I loved as I got a little bit older was stuffed mushrooms. And it’s an old world Italian thing, but what I love, what New Wave does here, they take the stuffed mushroom and they stuff it with that crab meat and the breading. And it’s got that old school, Italian kitchen flavor to it with kind of that new world seafood blend to it.
They’re absolutely fantastic. They come four to an order in the takeout version, and as you could see, substantial. And they are absolutely beautiful. And we cut into this bad boy right here. And you just look at that, and it’s just pure goodness right there.
It just makes you want to smile when you eat that. So I’m not going to be a total animal and stuff the whole thing in my mouth, but don’t be surprised, I’ve done it before. But the flavor in this stuff, it’s a perfect cook. The mushroom is just, it’s got that soft, beautiful texture to it with a great stuffing. They got a little seafood, kind of like a hint of Old Bay in there. Then you take that Italian influence with the garlic and the parsley, just makes you want to jump up and give somebody a hug. It is absolutely incredible stuff.
You definitely, if you love mushrooms, old world, new world, doesn’t matter, you got to go check these things out. They’re broiled beautifully. Got a nice little crunch on top.
The Great Long Island Debate… The Lobster Roll
Living on an Island, you’re surrounded by seafood. Long Island’s got some great seafood here. We’ve got some of the best suppliers of product and the highest of quality coming up and down the East Coast.
But here on Long Island, there’s always a debate who has the best lobster roll. You go online to any foodie group, anywhere tied to New York and Long Island, you will see blood-threatening battles on who has the best lobster roll. And it makes me laugh. It’s unique to everybody. Everybody’s got their own favorites, but New Wave Actually just redid their lobster roll, slight little tweaks to it.
They’ve got a warm lobster roll, which is my personal preference. They do the cold roll as well. But take a look at this thing. It’s enormous. And if we pick it apart, the quality of meat in here, you can see there’s knuckle, there’s tail. It’s not overloaded with the claw, which is what a lot of people get turned off by. They like that solid meat. But what they’ve done put this thing together here just blew my mind when I tried it the first time. And look at the size of that. I mean, that is substantial at its best.
You pick it up before you even bite it and you get that aroma. It just hits you right away, makes you feel like you’re on the beach.
And one of the things I love about New Wave is the way they package everything up. It makes for the perfect to-go picnic basket kind of thing.
Do you want to go down to the boardwalk, chill out, watch the waves, watch the fishermen or go sit on the sand?
This stuff is packed up beautifully to take to-go with you. You sit down, it’s self-contained. You can put it on a plate neat, like an aristocrat, or you can be gavone and just eat it right out of the box. Either way, you’re going to love it. One of my more favorite lobster rolls that I’ve tried recently, and it definitely needs to be on your top 10 list of things to try out as well.
But Wait… There’s More
Now let’s move on to the main course.
My personal favorite plate from New Wave Seafood is the broiled seafarer’s platter. It is a beautiful filet of Sole, lightly breaded, oregano light breadcrumb, shrimp and the tiny, little bay scallops. Now, bay scallops are one of those things. This is actually two pieces stuck together. They broil it, it’s like a nicer Riganátha. I absolutely love them. I think they’re sweet. When they’re cooked properly, they’ve got a great texture to them.
And again, you almost get that Italian influence with you right away. It’s a beautiful blend of old world Italian, East Coast American, put everything together. You can get it with two sides. We’ve got some green beans and some fries here. I love the coleslaw they make with it. It’s just a beautiful product.
The Pick Up
And when I was picking this up today, I got a few minutes to spend with one of the owners chitchatting through our face masks.
They’re storytellers.
They’re kind people.
They employ local kids.
This is just me being me. I love doing this.
So once again, thank you so much for tuning in to another episode of If You Live Here, the Long Island version, the Nassau County version, and today focusing on the Wantagh version.
Wrapping Up New Wave Seafood
New Wave Seafood in Wantagh is a total home run!
Highly recommended. Give them a try.
Did we pique your interest in what Nassau County’s South Shore has to offer? For the best house listings in Wantagh, NY and other Long Island communities, contact us today.
