Just Open: The Gretz, Enmore

Enmore Road just keeps on being awesome. Husband and wife team Greg Llewellyn and Naomi Hart have opened The Gretz, a seafood-focused bar a couple of blocks up from their fried chicken and po' boy hot-spot, Hartsyard.

"Greg has been talking about opening a bar about a week after we opened Hartsyard and I just kept pushing back," Hart says. "After we had a baby and wrote a cookbook, I ran out of excuses and had to give in!"

The New York-style bar has a slight nautical theme, with nets and oars and splashes of ocean blue that suit a menu including hot oysters with smoked butter, sea urchin on toast, scotch olives with manchego cheese, tostones (fried plantain) with snapper ceviche, and giardiniera (pickled vegetables) served with what Hart says is essentially a fancy french onion dip.

There's also clams casino, a classic dish from New England in the US. The Gretz version is served on baked stones and uses Cloudy Bay clams in the half-shell topped with bacon, bread crumbs, chili, parmesan, and bacon and clam butter.

The bar's name has its roots in Gretz Beer, a brewing company started by Llewellyn's maternal great-great-grandfather in Philadelphia. Sadly, there's no Gretz draft as the brewery was bought out in 1954, but local brewers Young Henry's, The Grifter and Yulli's are available on tap instead.

The wine list is composed of light drops you can drink just as easily with or without snacks and there's a small but strong list of cocktails that should provide solace for any seafarers who have lost their vessel's moorings.

Original creations will set you back $19 a pop and include the "coffee and cigarettes" with Johnny Walker Black, Mr Black coffee liqueur, Antica Formula and chocolate bitters, and something called "naked and famous" featuring Vida mezcal, Yellow Chartreuse, Aperol and passionfruit.

Classics are no problem either. "We've got fantastic, incredibly knowledgeable bar staff who are able to turn out anything you like," Hart says.

125 Enmore Road, Enmore, (02) 8068 1473, Tues-Fri 4pm-late, Sat 2pm-late