Dining Review: Beech in Jamestown
With a storybook patio and neighborhood feel, this Jamestown classic sticks to the basics even with chef Michael Schlow at the helm.
Chittara lobster and shrimp fra diavalo.
Beech has long been the most enviable piece of real estate on Jamestown’s Narragansett Avenue, even way back when it was Trattoria Simpatico. Three stories high, with a multi-tiered patio that wraps around a bar and under a pergola, it’s a veritable metropolis in a small town that worships the water.
Atlantic salmon. Photography by Angel Tucker
Despite a steady queue for any of the dozens of seats in the sun, and a micro-sized parking lot, the romance of the restaurant remains as strong as ever. Well into the fall, Hawaiian shirts, Polo flag sweaters and Lilly Pulitzer sheaths surround the bar and fill the tables long past sunset. The numerous dining rooms are all, in some way, an homage to early Americana, with wooden beams and center staircases, surrounded by splashes of tile, paint and wallpaper that evoke the sea. It’s no matter that cars are parked a quarter-mile away; the slow amble past small shops and through the ocean breeze is part of the experience.
With the restaurant now several years under the ownership of the Conanicut Restaurant Group (a collection of Jamestown locals, including chef Kevin Gaudreau), chef Michael Schlow has joined the Beech team to hone the culinary identity of a nearly iconic space. If Schlow’s name doesn’t ring a bell, you’re probably not commuting to Boston, where he began building an empire that now extends through Washington, D.C., and Michigan, with nearly two dozen openings to his name. His concepts have run the gamut from toweringly elevated to familiarly rustic, and where Beech would end up on the spectrum was anyone’s guess until this past spring.
As it turns out, the menu — executed by Beech’s longtime chef Eric Warren — is not overtly ambitious. It’s a collection of New England and broadly American food with a handful of Mediterranean influences at the perimeter.
The interior of Beech. Photography by Angel Tucker
The Schlow burger. Photography by Angel Tucker
In some sense, it’s a surprising move. When you have a captive audience, there’s always room for creative expression, or the dishes that might define a kitchen in a single bite. But Schlow has opted to keep the menu broad and widely recognizable. Appetizers are primarily seafood and classic in preparation. Chilled jumbo shrimp ($24) are served with cocktail sauce and aioli, while calamari is paired with banana peppers and tomato aioli ($19). Mussels ($22), steeped in garlic, white wine and tomato, as well as burrata and tomato salad ($19) are both old-school bistro dishes that come with a built-in fan base.
In fact, there is a European bistro element to the food — beef tartare with baguette slices is punctuated with truffle and Dijon ($26). But the space is so unlike a bistro — in this case, outdoor dining is separated from the street instead of looking out onto it and the numerous interior dining rooms are bright and airy. If a European bistro draws diners to each other under the cloak of romantic lighting, Beech’s aesthetic — even inside — maintains an expansive, seafaring perspective rooted in a distinctly American aesthetic.
But because the menu wants to appeal to everyone, dishes toggle between intensity and mildness. Tart and bright tuna tartare is served with spicy ponzu and crunchy cucumbers ($25) and the daily ceviche is “cooked” in lime, chilies and cilantro.
Steak tartare. Photography by Angel Tucker
Crispy calamari. Photography by Angel Tucker
There’s only one classically simple sandwich on the dinner menu and that’s the Schlow burger ($24) which, based on name alone, may be the closest thing to a trademark at Beech. It is a great burger: soft bun, crispy onions, sharp cheddar, horseradish-black pepper sauce and the ideal drippy patty. Is the restaurant a burger joint or is it fine dining? It can be both. Half the entrees are over $30 and, with a steak frites dish at $59, there’s a push and pull in the message.
If there’s a liminal state, it lies with pasta, which runs the gamut from highbrow — a spicy lobster and shrimp on chitarra for $45 — to simple. The most basic is a rigatoni alla vodka ($29). Your best bet for larger dishes leans toward fish, which uniformly offers the most flavor. Tuna is served rare, with an amalgam of white beans, broccoli rabe and roasted tomatoes ($42). Topped with Calabrian chili vinaigrette, it pulls from local and faraway influences, hitting a balance that’s intriguing without being enigmatic. Swordfish comes with caponata ($42), salmon with a bright, sweet corn puree ($39), while cod is kept in its most recognizable form: coated in butter and Ritz cracker crumbs ($38).
Desserts are also by the book: tortes in both chocolate and lemon, as well as a creme brulee. Bread pudding ($14) — not soaked in custard but cohesive and laced with chocolate — is a good order. And though a scoop of gelato ($8) seems all too basic, grab the honeycomb if it’s available, because it’s divine.
Giant shrimp cocktail. Photography by Angel Tucker
The truth remains, however, that Beech’s constant crowd longs more for a seat under the stars than a life-changing meal. Maybe that’s the reason the makeover goes back to basics instead of pushing boundaries. With an audience that runs from college students to grandparents (and all ages in between), the safest way to innovate is at the bar. Iced spritzes in goblets dominate the warmer months, but the rotating cocktails offer another reason to sit on a barstool for as long as they let you. Maker’s Mark is blended with blackberry, hibiscus-infused Ghost tequila is softened by Cointreau and mango, but best may be the Japanese whisky mixed with yuzu and shiso. (Worth noting that the beer list reads exponentially more all-American, while the wine is split between California and Europe.)
None of the options are a hard sell under the late summer sun as it sets over a property that everyone wants as their own. And, of course, one of the nicest things about Beech, that doesn’t appear anywhere in print, is that it emits a neighborly air, even if people drive an hour before adopting their Jamestown identity. That may be the reason that a burger and beer taste so elevated here — in a seat under the pergola in your house for the season.
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Mussels “mueniere.” Photography by Angel Tucker
BEECH
13 Narragansett Ave., Jamestown, 560-4051, beechjt.com
Open for dinner seven days a week. Reservations recommended. Wheelchair accessibility depends on the dining room. Largely street parking.
CUISINE: New England mood with an Italian interlude.
CAPACITY: Two hundred.
VIBE: Part European al fresco, part Nantucket summer.
PRICES: Appetizers: $16–$79 (for a raw bar platter); entrees: $24–$59; dessert: $8–$14.
KAREN’S PICKS: Cocktails, seafood, the Schlow burger.
