Generous helpings on the high seas

Leave it to The Oceanaire to reinvent lunch. Of course, if you’ve supped at this curvaceous, art-deco restaurant smack in the middle of the city, you know just how they can make even a weekday dinner a consummate culinary experience. You’ve seen all of the supplementary touches. A crudité platter awaits when you arrive, complete with olives, caper berries and tangy sweet pickled herring. A crusty half-loaf of chewy, earthy sourdough bread sits upturned on the table beside a little ramekin of luscious whipped butter. Condiment bottles crowd the tabletop, anticipating each diner’s saucy whims.

Not to mention the atmosphere, which rivals any in the city. Rich, dark woods, white linens and cool chrome accents delight the eyes almost as much as the expert treatment of the seafood delights the palate. When one friend dined here a few weeks after it opened in 2003, he called me on his cell phone, nearly swooning. “You’ve got to come here,” he said. “They’ve got ice in the urinals.”

But now, having perfected dinner (and bathroom décor), The Oceanaire is sending the message that you needn’t eat takeout at your desk for lunch or set aside several hours for a noontime repast. You also don’t have to break the bank. On the contrary, you can enjoy a delicious trio of well-chosen, compatible and artfully prepared dishes in a little under an hour — or more, if you want to linger — for just $17.95. When was the last time you ate your lunch in “courses”? (No, fries don’t count as a course.)

From Chef Ryan T. Nelson’s seasonal lunch menu, diners can choose one of three starters, including calamari, asparagus soup or a pair of fresh oysters. The asparagus soup is a luxurious, pristine treatment of this spring jewel. No chicken stock or heavy cream mars the fresh, vegetal flavor of asparagus. Equally fresh are the oysters, and you can choose which ones you want — one from the East Coast and one from the West. After a quick schooling on the differences from our waitress, this starter was as much a lesson in shellfish “terroir” as it was an appetizer. A Sister’s Point oyster from Washington hinted at fruits — melon, to be specific; a Nova Scotian Cape Breton bristled like a sip of seawater. Both were delicious.

Second courses include a fin and shell crab rouille, a Costa Rican mahi mahi or a chopped salad. “Black and bleu” seemed aggressive treatment for any fish, but it worked well on the mahi mahi, giving the mild fish a spicy crust with a rich finish of bleu cheese. A bed of sweet caramelized onions made a tasty, light foundation for the flaky fish. The salad was a bit like a smaller version of the colossal rock shrimp cobb salad, certainly one of the largest in the city. But this one was big enough, and a generous amount of shrimp and a Greek vinaigrette made it a hearty, healthy lunch.

A final course offers just two selections tinged with whimsy — and chocolate. An outsize chocolate chip cookie with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream was a kindergartner’s dream. Only slightly more adult was a parfait cup of chocolate mousse crowned with a tennis ball-sized scoop of ultra-thick whipped cream. Get ready to lick your spoon. If three courses seems too much, you can get a Chef’s Daily Plate for $15.95 or one of six tasty sandwiches — even an Indiana tenderloin.

Just to show how generous a place it is, The Oceanaire is sponsoring a special five-course dinner benefiting Riley Children’s Foundation this Sunday at 5 p.m. Perhaps more magnanimous, maybe dangerous, is that they’re opening their kitchen to five of Indy’s culinary geniuses. But these creative chefs apparently get along quite well, and they’ve allied to create what promises to be a culinary moment in Indianapolis. A sneak peak at the menu revealed some apt dishes from the participating chefs.

Tony Hanslits, newly at Malibu on Maryland, is contributing a Mediterranean springtime soup of artichokes and asparagus. Seasonally and locally obsessed Regina Mehallick of R Bistro will mix a salad of Hoosier ingredients, including organic eggs and a tarragon dressing. H20 Sushi and Elements owner Greg Hardesty will offer the heartiest fare: roasted king salmon with gnocchi and lobster chervil sauce. Chef Ryan will go off-menu with Alaskan halibut cheeks, gilding this sweet delicacy, often compared to sea scallops, with Oregon truffles, fava beans and pea tendrils. Rising stars Deidra Henry and Marc Urwand get to spruce up the divine bread pudding at Taste Café and Marketplace with bittersweet chocolate, pears, pistachio and caramel.

Those early enough to get a reservation will understand what a gift these chefs and their food are to the Indianapolis community — and what it says about The Oceanaire for bringing them together in the name of a good cause.