Manasquan Beach House

By Amanda Oglesby

Staff Writer

James Adams is in love with seafood. As the chef of Manasquan Beach House in Manasquan, (formerly O'Neill's) he thinks of cod and mahi-mahi for the Irish eatery's fish and chips. Adams, of Belmar, recently transformed the O'Neill's menu from traditional Irish-American fare to a lighter array of seafood, steaks and salads.

Before, "we concentrated on our meats and a couple Irish dishes, (but) there's not a big call for Irish food around here," Adams, 34, said. "Now I want to get more to the salads, (and) fresh seafood."

The restaurant's clientele is very seasonal, and that has affected the decision to change the menu.

"A lot of people come down from up north," he said. "This entire town, 60 percent of it is all rentals. These people come down here for good seafood. They can get a steak up in the city."

This summer, he plans to cook often with king crab, lobster, scallops, clams, mussels and all the local fish he can find, he said.

In the kitchen, Adams sears a flat-iron steak and a cut of marinated mahi-mahi on the grill. He turns each piece, their drippings adding fuel to the leaping, yellow flames.

Once cooked, he slices the rare steak into thin pieces and fans it over a bed of salad greens, dried cranberries and caramelized walnuts. Then, he sprinkles the salad with a handful of crumbled blue cheese.

"These are all quick," he said of his recipes. "Everything I do, I design so it can be made quickly."

He then slices the mahi-mahi and places the fish in tortilla shells with rice and spicy black beans. He garnishes the tacos with shredded cheddar cheese and a sour cream puree with cilantro and lime juice.

"These are two new ones I put on the menu," Adams said. "I feel like it's the direction I'd like to take this restaurant. . . Rice, fish. It's nice and healthy."

The restaurant's new menu will focus on fresh and seasonal foods, with particular attention paid to seafood.

"I'm just a huge fan of seafood: mussels, clams, lobsters, all kinds of fish, red snappers," he said.

Adams' love for seafood is matched by his adoration of Italian cooking.

"My passion is Italian," he said. "When I'm not here, I cook Italian or eat at Italian restaurants."

Two years ago, Adams spent months training in Sorrento, Italy, he said.

"It's two different worlds, the seafood here and the seafood there. It's so much different," Adams said. "There, we would pick the fish up fresh. The boats would pull up. The restaurant was on a cove, and we'd go down and they'd have the live octopus. You don't see that here."

In Sorrento, the chefs would grow and pick their own produce, cook whole fish and make their own fresh pasta, he said.

"Here, we're spoiled. We can make them fresh, but most things are done for us," he said. "It was a big difference."

Before taking over O'Neill's, Adams cooked at 2 Senza, an Italian eatery that was housed in Red Bank's Galleria before becoming a catering business.

His Italian foods now are saved for occasional specials at the restaurant. Instead, his cooking style at is inspired by seafood from regions throughout the U.S. and Mexico, he said.

"I do everything," he said. "I'll do grouper from Key West . . . I'm a huge fan of the New England area, so I'm always doing chowders, seafood bakes."

He also plans to incorporate more fresh Mexican and Baja-style foods into the menu, he said.

"There's a big call for it right now," he said. "Everyone's eating healthy, so we have to go in that direction."

Adams, originally from the Forked River section of Lacey, studied at the Ocean County Vocational Technical School in Brick and The Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

The joy of cooking is "just creating something from nothing. You just take simple ingredients and make something amazing," he said.

The rush of restaurant work also is a big attraction, he said.

"On a Friday night, when the tickets are spinning out and it's 150 degrees back there (in the kitchen) and everyone's freaking out, I love it. You never lose control. It's exciting."

Manasquan Beach House is at 390 East Main St., Manasquan. For more information, visit www.obgg.org or call 732-528-5666.

See more: Manasquan-Brielle bars, Belmar Area bars, Neighborhood bars, Sport bars