On The Waterfront

Globally accented seafood meets picturesque coastal setting at Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s latest.

- Adam Platt

SURE, THERE ARE A few things that might cause a bilious skeptic to raise an eyebrow (or two), and maybe even emit a sad, resigned sigh, when planning a first visit to Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s ambitious new downtown seafood restaurant, the Fulton. Like many large-scale projects around Manhattan these days, the 200-plus-seat restaurant is situated in a new real-estate development, in this case at the end of the refurbished Pier 17 down by the old South Street Seaport. There will be a food hall in this boxy, somewhat antiseptic mall-like structure one day, along with other enticements (yes, Mr. Chang will be opening a restaurant too), but right now the entrance is a little hard to locate (it’s obscured by various construction projects, not to mention that rumbling Mad Max flyway known as the FDR Drive), and when you arrive for dinner, you might find yourself wandering up and down escalators, like I did, through crowds of dazed-looking thrill-seekers and tourists, before you sit down to eat.