The owners of The Mix In West End opened another establishment in Sea Bright, Dive. You may be familiar with the location since it was formerly Elements. The location has been completely revamped and is a fun, airy, beachy atmosphere perfect to hit up after the beach for happy hour or for a night out with friends. My friends and I decided to kick off the last official weekend of Summer doing just that. We arrived at Dive and we were pleasantly welcomed by the former staff from The Mix. Our server introduced herself and brought over bowls of salty, buttery delicious popcorn to nosh on while we decided on our drinks..great touch! I settled on my usual fave, a crisp cool glass of Pinot Grigio, so hard to resist on a hot Summer day. Dive offers an innovative martini menu and most drinks are infused with their own fresh fruit soaked in vodka. The list includes items like The Pumpkin Pie martini perfect for the upcoming Fall, or my fave the Pineapple martini, and also delish The Wild Berry Basket martini loaded with vodka soaked mixed berries YUM!. We all raised our cocktails and enjoyed a toast to Summers cessation, it has been a great Summer and we are sad to see it go.
It would be out of our realm if we didn't start off with a plethora of appetizers, so that's exactly what we did. We ordered the artichoke and caper hummus, my choice the Little neck Clams served in a lemon, garlic and white wine broth and the shrimp served in a francaise sauce. The apps were plentiful and delish. The clams came out simmering in a large bowl of savory broth and served with garlic bread excellent for dipping in the broth. The shrimp were jumbo in size and bathed in the rich, lemony sauce, the app would also be excellent as a dinner served over pasta. The hummus was creamy, pureed to a perfect consistency, with an added touch of tzatziki on top and served with pita points. Dive offers a menu loaded with a ton of variety. Different items such as sandwiches like fish tacos, open faced soft shell crab sandwich and a pulled pork sandwich even. They also offer a number of eccentric burger combinations like the Jersey burger with a fried egg, pork roll and American cheese or the Fancy pants burger topped with brie and Truffle oil. They also have a list of dinner items like classic chicken parm, linguine with clam sauce, or hand breaded fish and chips. There is also a children's menu for the little ones onboard.
Three of us decided to get the Crab Cake dinner which was served with a mound of waffle fries and came with the option of a half order or full order. I opted for the full order in hopes of taking home leftovers, and boy did I! The crab cakes were HUGE and loaded with crab meat, barely any breading, exactly how a crab cake should be. They came nestled atop a bed of crisp homemade Cole slaw and topped with a sweet chili mayo. They were exquisite! My friend went with the fish and chips also served with the slaw and waffle fries. The fish of the day was mahi mahi and even though it was fried it was still flaky and succulent. What really set the meal off was the malt vinegar dipping sauce that accompanied the fish. It was like nothing I have ever tasted before. It had a tanginess from the malt vinegar but mixed with a creaminess most likely from a Dijon mustard. The sauce went so great with the crispy fish, and added more character than a regular tartar..Thumbs up!
Dive is great place all around, with a number of TVs to entertain the sports fanatics, fun music pumping for the party crowd, and great food and drinks if just coming to hang out. Next time you're heading out for drinks and fun Dive on into Dive, you won't be disappointed.
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