Last week I had a lunch (with a stunningly beautiful Director of PR for a restaurant group) at Ed's Chowder House (formerly Center Cut), a new seafood restaurant in the Empire Hotel. Ed's is brought to us by Jeffrey Chodorow's China Grill Management empire and consulting chef Ed Brown.

It's a beautiful, clean space, with high ceilings, that had a Southampton feel to it.

We started with a chowder sampler ($12), a selection of oysters ($2.75 each), and the tuna sliders ($5 each).

The three chowders were a sweet corn, a New England style clam, and a Manhattan style blue crab. They were all fine, the highlight for me was the sweet corn, which was sweet and had a little kick to it as well.

The oysters were extremely fresh and delicious! It felt like they just came off the boat!

The tuna sliders were also nice, and the addition of a chipotle mayo gave a nice to kick to them as well.

For our main course we had the lobster roll ($24) and the Chatham cod ($24).

The lobster roll was silky, fresh, and truly wonderful! The mayo was light which I liked, and the roll was sweet and perfect.

The Chatham cod came with a potato chip crust, spinach, and a mustard sauce. The fish was perfectly cooked and tasted extremely fresh. The potato chip crust gave a great crunch and added a beautiful texture complement to the tender fish. The mustard sauce was soothing and balanced out the dish perfectly. It was a great fish dish.

We also had a side of seasoned fries ($6) and a jalapeno corn gratin ($6). The fries were surprisingly awesome, and the corn gratin was addictive and great!

Of course after all this seafood we had to save a little room for dessert, so we ordered the chocolate donut holes with kahlua creme ($8) which were a sweet ending to a fine meal.

So for a fine seafood experience for lunch or dinner, definitely stop by Ed's Chowder House.

Ed's Chowder House
44 W. 63rd St. (bet. Broadway and Columbus- in the Empire Hotel)
New York, NY 10023
212-956-1288