Courtesy of ai3
Courtesy of ai3
Doug Turbush—the founder and executive chef at East Cobb’s Seed Kitchen & Bar and Stem Wine Bar—is opening Drift Fish House & Oyster Bar next year, February 1, 2016, at the Avenue. Drift will have a wood-burning oven, a raw bar, and a beverage program focused on wine, as well as punch on tap.
“I ran Bluepointe for six years and worked there for eight—seafood is one of my strengths so this was a natural progression for us,” Turbush says. “We kept asking ourselves what a fish house really means. [We decided] it’s casual with some prime seafood offerings. We go to great lengths to source quality seafood on a daily basis.”
Turbush spent the last year traveling all over getting inspiration for his next restaurant, from Charleston and Boston to San Francisco, Puerto Rico and Thailand.
Seed chef de cuisine Brendan Keenan is working with Turbush on the menu, with Chris McNeil designing the bar program. Drift will offer a rotating selection of six to eight oysters, plus shellfish towers, cocktails, crudo, and ceviche. There may be wood-roasted Sapelo clams, barbecued Georgia shrimp with grilled bread, fried oysters Rockefeller, and buttered Maine lobster rolls. Other menu items may include Johnnycakes with smoked trout and caviar, fried catfish tacos on homemade masa tortillas, and Po boys. For entrees, expect grilled Acadian redfish with Thai flavors, monkfish osso bucco, and skate wing with cauliflower puree, caper-raisin emulsion, and brown butter brioche croutons. Carnivores will be able to choose from a selection of steaks.
“We’re not going to have a ton of fried seafood and fisherman’s platters. We want to keep it fun and chef-driven,” Turbush says.
The 5,260-square-foot space is his largest yet. It’ll have an eight-seat, zinc-top oyster bar next to an open kitchen, a semi-private eight-seat wine room, and an indoor-outdoor bar leading to a big patio. Designed by ai3, Drift will be decorated with teak, flowing blue fabric, light fixtures made from Thai fishing baskets, and a 12-foot chalkboard featuring the specials.
