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COOKING?
As Adam Ellis describes it, his Bradenton Beach restaurant
Blue Marlin Seafood has the feel of “a seafood house in
coastal Maine.” The vibe is distinctly nautical, with navy
and white walls adorned with oars and shing poles, starsh and
sh mounts — including blue marlin, of course.
Antique ship-lantern light xtures and a curved, prow-shaped
bar, give the impression of being on a boat. The small, beautifully
restored cottage, built in 1928, has its original wainscoting
and wood oors. Its tables and benches are constructed from
recycled dock wood.
In the three-table “Black and White Room” hangs more than
80 framed black-and-white photos of anglers posing with their
catches. The subjects are mainly family members and friends
of Ellis and his wife Marianne, whose family, the Normans, are
longtime Bradenton Beach residents. While the property had
been in Marianne’s family for years, the Ellises opened their
restaurant in 2011, naming it after their son Marlin, a senior at
Manatee High School.
The place is cozy, welcoming patrons to pull up a (reclaimed
wood) seat at the bar, or settle into a cushioned booth with a mug
of steaming chowder. However, Blue Marlin’s “Cortez Chowder”
is unlike any you’d nd in Maine, as it features local grouper
cheeks and Gulf shrimp in a tomato saffron broth.
The seafood in the soup is as fresh as it can possibly be, as Ellis
hand-selects his grouper, shrimp, hogsh, snapper and cobia
at the A.P. Bell Fish Company, located ve minutes away in the
commercial shing village of Cortez. Any seafood consumed at
Blue Marlin was likely caught that day, a matter of miles off-shore.
“Everything here is number one, the closest we can buy and,
number two, the best we can get,” Ellis said. If there ever comes a
day when the Cortez shing eet fails to bring in a haul? Ellis would
have to come up with some pretty creative dishes to replace the
three-quarters of the menu items featuring fresh local seafood. To
say the menu’s seasonal, would be an understatement.
THE FRESHEST FISH
While some might describe the style of the Blue Marlin as rustic,
the food is anything but. There are high-end offerings, inventive
avor fusions, as well as seafood house staples with a twist.
A typical meal could start with the Cortez Smoked Fish (when
available), or the Southern Scallops, which are seared and served
over barbecued pulled pork, onion jam and cabbage. Oysters
and clams are usually on the app menu, too.