A new fast-casual restaurant brings specialty seafood to Allston

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As we stare down a few dark and chilly months, I’m absolutely hungry for summer trips to the beach and slipping on flip-flops to wander to a casual clam shack for some grub. While we wait for the warmth to return, a visit to Allston’s new fast-casual restaurant, Holdfast Specialty Seafood Co., feels like a welcome dose of summer. The 20-seat spot — from chefs Nathan Gould and Tyler Paolini with business partner and longtime friend Jesse Kim — opened in early November, and is already making waves.

“A lot of these clam shacks that you visit, and they’re great, but they’re simple, traditional,” Gould said. “They’re using pre-made dredges, frozen or pre-shucked meats, not stuff that’s super fresh. And while it’s great and iconic, we felt like we could elevate it.”

At Holdfast, they offer a slim, approachable menu of New England seafood classics that are at once familiar and imaginative, like fresh oysters and fried seafood rolls. Like a proper, laid-back clam shack, diners can order up a roll and expect it served on an old-school tray within four or five minutes. Here, though, the quick service is a sleight of hand, drawing on the owners’ technique-heavy, fine-dining background and hours of behind-the-scenes prep. Never mind bland mayo and canned remoulade when you can find lobster bisque butter and ponzu aioli in rolls.

Paolini and Gould are no small fish in the Boston food scene. Both worked at lauded Japanese omakase spot O Ya — Paolini was a sous chef, and Gould was chef de cuisine for about nine years — before becoming private chefs. Cooking for clients all over the Cape and Islands this past summer (where they also sampled food from plenty of clam shacks) became a way for them to test out dishes. When one of their clients went out raking for clams and brought back two whole bushels of littlenecks, the duo shucked up a storm and tested out different rolls. From concept to opening the doors of the gleaming-white tiled spot with its room-wrapping bar and eight-seat black walnut communal table, the whole process took about four and a half months. The breakneck pace even inspired the name “Holdfast,” which is a nautical term for anchoring down during a storm. “Opening a spot that quickly,” Paolini said with a laugh, “we knew a storm was coming.”

The menu, though, feels like smooth sailing. The relaxed concept is a chance for them to roll out a tight menu without the pressure of a high-touch, fine-dining spot, as Gould explained. The menu is split up into “raw” and “handheld” sections. For raw preparations, the duo shucks oysters from artisanal farm Merry Oysters in Duxbury, paired with a citrus and spicy shallot mignonette, and tap into their O Ya experience for the seasonal crudo. On the opening menu, find a yellow tail crudo served with smoked olive oil, grapefruit ponzu, nori and shiso. Pair it with Osetra caviar, served with kettle chips and smoked sour cream — an unexpected offering for a fast-casual spot, yes, but there “if someone wants to ball out a little bit,” Paolini added. A beer and wine program is on the way within a month or so, but in the meantime, they're finding that people come in for crudo and half a dozen oysters before they even get a roll.

On the handheld side, choose between six sandwiches, including a falafel that nods to Paolini's time as executive sous chef at Middle Eastern-inspired Sarma. The OG clam roll sees fried whole-belly clams on a brown buttered bun with house-made pickle remoulade, chives and lemon. The other seafood rolls, meanwhile, nod to more distant shores. Take the oyster roll, which features a Japanese chili aioli and pickled onions, warmed by toasty notes from the brown-buttered roll.

With so many fried goodies on the menu, it’s no surprise that the chefs were laser-focused on knocking the batter out of the park. “There’s nothing worse than a fried clam or fried oyster that sogs out on you,” Paolini said. (Or, even more heartbreaking: bite into fried shrimp and the meat slides right out, leaving an empty shell of batter). “So we messed around with a couple different flours and starches and seasonings, and found this really nice ratio of things that’s going to stay crispy longer.” They make a master dredge of three different flours, then switch things up a bit for each sandwich. The shrimp roll, for example, sees kettle chips added to the mix for an extra crunchy bite. Served on a bun with its edges perfectly crispy thanks to the caramelized green herb butter, the crunchy shrimp roll might be the most creative spin on a New England favorite, brightened by a ponzu aioli and topped by Thai basil and serrano chili.

Of course, opening a seafood restaurant in Boston and not having a lobster roll on the menu is basically a cardinal sin. Holdfast skips the debate about whether cold or hot rolls are better and offers both. “We're making a lobster stock, reducing it, adding aromatics, and we're turning it into essentially a bisque reduction,” Gould said. That bisque reduction gets made into a beurre blanc for the hot lobster rolls, and mixed into an aioli for the cold version, which is livened by a hint of citrus.

Even though they just opened, Holdfast is already mapping out waters beyond the opening menu. When I popped in before Thanksgiving, they offered a special smoked local mackerel toast and an oyster chowder. Additions like Hamachi crudo and uni are on the way, too. What absolutely must stay on the menu, however, are the stellar fries. With three versions (sea salt, salt and vinegar, and the Old Bay-like crab seasoned), the beauties are served up with yellow house aioli called “otter sauce.” Gould and Paolini are staying mum on the recipe, but you can pick up hints of citrus, garlic and dijon in the surprisingly light and addictive sauce. And the fries themselves? Perfectly crispy thanks to a rice-flour coating. I just wanted to drop anchor and keep scarfing them down until the summer.