While vacationing in Ocean City, NJ, Rhonda and I nipped out for dinner at Peter Shields after splitting a bottle of rosé at the nearby Willow Creek Winery. While the winery is a little overbaked and expensive, Peter Shields was short, one of the best restaurants I’ve been to in a while.
We started off sharing a yellowtail crudo, one of my favorite fish from our local sushi haunt; this dish arrived garnished with cucumber and watermelon, a heretofore untasted mélange of flavors for this diner. We also split blue point oysters on the half shell, which were plump and briny, and always a favorite of both of ours when we have them. (And we’ve had them!)
I ordered a bone-in pork chop, which our server, Chris, was quick to point out was a pounded and fried dish; this was not necessarily my preference nor the dish I’d imagined in my mind based on the menu, but I readily agreed to this preparation. It was, in turn, excellent. The pork was pounded flat and dredged in breadcrumbs, and pan fried until crispy, with no residual oil on the surface. Topped Milanese style with greens and tomatoes would have been satisfying, but the lily was gilded with some chunks of meat and mozzarella. It was excellent and I’d order it again in a heartbeat.
Rhonda was craving a steak, and she got the filet. It was perfectly cooked to medium rare, as requested, and beautifully served, with mushroom ravioli to boot.
For dessert, they offered a steamed caramel cake à la mode, which we split and adored. The dessert was swimming in a pool of molten caramel and was delicious and the perfect size to split. It was a whimsical nod to the classic caramel sundae, with the cake dressing the dish up to something elegant.
Peter Shields is a BYOB, but you can order bottles from the nearby Cape May Winery, which they should advertise more; we stopped at a liquor store along the way (and admittedly saved a buck), but I probably would have sprung for a bottle of Cape May in order to try another local wine.
(This is a slightly rewritten version of my Yelp review.)