Wendy Logan

Shrimp and oysters come from both coasts to 1020 Post

1020 Post Oyster Bar and Bistro
1020 Post Rd., Darien. (203) 655-1020, www.tentwentypost.com

If you can get past the haughtier-than-thou crowd at Darien's buzzing new 1020 Post Oyster Bar and Bistro, the place is, overall, a success.

I suppose I should cut the astonishingly rude clientele a break. They are probably still mourning the loss of their beloved, decades-old mainstay, The Black Goose, which closed last year. With the otherwise limited dining options available in town, perhaps they're just re-adjusting to a new hangout, one with a friendlier welcome and enough room for out-of-towners.

It's all about the seafood at 1020, which is more brasserie than bistro. Open seven days a week for lunch and dinner, the spacious room is elegant without being stuffy. Chef Roland Coulombe's French accented menu, though emphasizing the sea, is vast enough to feature a diversity of price points and everything from sandwiches to salads to Bouillabaise to duck confit to steak frites. It even has an entire section devoted to mussels.

If you love a great raw bar, you're in for a treat. On each of several visits to the beautifully designed space, the selections from the "Chilled and Raw" portion of the menu were clear standouts. The little necks ($1.25 each) were perfectly chilled and briney. The jumbo shrimp were just that: huge, plump, pink and fresh as can be, well worth the $3.50 each we paid for them.

For oysters, 1020 offers six selections, three from the East Coast and three from the West ($2.75 each). On one visit, we sampled the Deep Bay (small and sea-salty), Otter Cove (sweeter, with a faint scent of the ocean) and Kumamoto (creamy and subtle) varieties, all from western waters. Though we crunched on a fleck of sand from one or two, these oysters were clearly as fresh as they come.

Deep in an oyster love-fest, we decided to try other offerings that featured the beautiful bivalves. Oven-roasted oysters served with morels and asparagus (six for $15) were an inspired combination, the earthy French mushroom jewels infusing the oysters with depth and the crunch of asparagus offering a lovely texture balance. The pan-fried version however, over-breaded and goopy, soaked — literally — in an andouille creole butter, missed the mark for us. Even the tart dressing on the accompanying greens was unable to cut through the soggy heaviness of the dish.

Switching gears, we selected a flat bread with caramelized onions, Gruyère cheese and cremini mushrooms. With a glass of the right wine, (1020 offers 11 by the glass, plus several pink and bubbly selections; I chose a Bastianich Rose from Italy at $10), this dish, also $10, was the perfect appetizer for two. The bread itself, not overly thin, was just slightly crisped on the bottom but still chewy, providing the consummate base for this French version of a small, square pizza. The onions, caramelized to a sweet perfection, were dotted with the woodsy mushrooms, bathed in a generous amount of melted Gruyère and topped with a sprig of fresh thyme.

Hooked now on savory bread and pastry options, we had high hopes for the oven roasted tomato, basil and goat cheese tart served with greens, but were disappointed to find an overly eggy taste and texture that completely trumped the flavor of the goat cheese. The smattering of bland mushrooms cried out for salt and the excessively sweet salad dressing didn't do much to rescue this poor tart.

Thankfully, the entrees picked up where the raw bar and the flatbread left off. From the "Simply Fish" section of the menu, one can choose yellowfin tuna, Idaho rainbow trout, sea scallops, U-10 shrimp or Atlantic salmon ($25-29), grilled or pan-fried and served with a choice of three sauces. Admittedly not a big fan of the ever-hyped salmon, I was fairly stunned at a grilled, decidedly not-fishy version accompanied by a tasty and light soy-ginger jus, mashed potatoes and grilled asparagus. The salmon was cooked to my exact specifications, just to medium, and the dish was well-balanced and satisfying.

A roasted half chicken rubbed with herbs came with a crispy skin, haricots vert, salty lardons and herb jus. The super-juicy chicken ($22) was an exceptional representation of one of the mainstays of French bistro fare.We also sampled a more American chicken dish, the pot pie, for $19. Served with a green salad, this one came with an herb-flecked and dense top-crust blanketing the little casserole dish. Underneath, a creamy-light Béchamel base laden with lean chicken chunks and the requisite accompanying veggies offered the comfort factor we sought.

The menu here is so vast that we never made it to the dessert selections. But suffice it to say that a diversity of pastries and classic French sweets are likely a safe bet at 1020 Post. I'm putting them on my list of other things to try here, along with the steak paillard salad with arugula, caramelized onions, and Roquefort ($16), at least one of the six mussel dishes ($11-17), the cheeseburger sliders ($11), the braised short ribs with mashed potatoes ($25) and the one-pound lobster macaroni and cheese ($24).

For those, and the promise of an outdoor patio slated for summer, I'll continue to brave the Darien crowd.