FOLIO
Words By Su Ertekin-Taner
I was certainly feeling like an Anton Ego (the food critic in the movie Ratatouille, for those that don’t recognize the character by name) when I walked into Neptune Beach’s AB Kitchen this afternoon, especially after the publication of my last food review. I laid my careful gaze on every corner of the very recently opened (circa December 2022) restaurant. AB Kitchen’s atmosphere and dining experience satisfied not only my attentive eyes, but also my eager taste buds.
For the visual readers and the visual eaters: Located just a couple hundred steps from the beaches, AB Kitchen embraces the beach atmosphere and I mean really tightly clutches it like a pet owner might clutch their pet after a long work day away from home; it’s as if the exterior beach aura wafted into the building and imposed itself on the interior design. The large artworks of beach scenes scattered throughout the venue, the lone surfboard on the entrance wall, the wicker light fixtures that imitate beach chairs, the sailor’s rope wrapped around a supporting beam all capitalize off of the restaurant’s location.
Yet, the layout and the colors of AB Kitchen more completely capture the ocean’s ambience. The open concept design mimics the free, expansive ocean, the white ceilings and wall mirrors further open up the space, the navy blue hue of the booths and mosaic tiles found throughout the venue reflects the ocean’s color back to its viewers and the ecru-sandy walls call back to just that, sand. Of course, the outdoor seating with a convenient view of palm trees and the sometimes-glaring-sometimes-mild Florida sun also adds to the beachy bohemian atmosphere.
Not to mention AB Kitchen bears the mark of a young restaurant: its characteristic cleanliness and simplicity. This quality makes AB Kitchen’s interior easily visually digestible (pun intended) and appealing, gives the feel that the restaurant isn’t cramped even when it might be crowded and implies that every art piece and color has a purpose.
For the taste-dominated consumers: The thematic unity between the restaurant and the nearby ocean continues with AB Kitchen’s cuisine. The restaurant brings the ocean’s flavors to the table, literally: wild caught shrimp, yellowfin tuna, octopus, snow crab, seared scallop, salmon and the like grace the pages of the lunch and dinner menu and at a reasonable price no less.
But AB Kitchen broadens its flavor profile and indeed pioneers profiles, if I dare become so alliterative, creating a carefully curated upscale but relatively inexpensive menu (except for certain seafood items).
For this particular lunch, I tried the wild mushroom flatbread, a dish which marries roasted mushrooms with caramelized onions, goat cheese, arugula and balsamic vinegar. I also tried a bit of the $9 AB Chopped, a featured salad that mixes spinach, apples, dried cranberries, pecans, and goat cheese in a rosemary bacon vinaigrette and in doing so, gives a zesty flair to a basic spinach salad.
The roasted beet and burrata appetizer–which continues our theme of alliteration–the honey thyme roasted carrots and the feta chicken meatballs are also noteworthy meals. These dishes and all of AB Kitchen’s dishes are fashioned in thought-out proportions: each menu item–even the appetizers–is filling and could stand on its own. Overall, AB Kitchen dabbles in many flavors and yet, its menu remains cohesive in its focus on innovation and healthy, honest, hearty foods.
Irrefutably, AB Kitchen has established itself as a place of culinary excellence in its first five months of operation. Its timeless and youthful beach-inspired decor and inventive flavors make for a visual and gustatory heaven. Of course, I could praise AB Kitchen’s setting and menu more but I’m sure, dear readers, your mouths are already watering and your pupils are already dilating. In dining at AB Kitchen, you would join a steady stream of customers, some willing to wait in long lines to taste AB’s cuisine, whose presence speaks louder than any one review can.
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