Hunkering down with happy hour at Hearth on Mellwood Eatery

Hearth on Mellwood Eatery brings American meets Pan-Asian fare, focusing on seafood dishes.

For years, the old mid-19th century farmhouse at the corner of Mellwood Avenue and Brownsboro Road sat as a neighborhood mainstay, for a long while as L&N Wine Bar, followed by a six-year run as Bistro 1860. The building was notable for its garish yellow color.

When Bistro 1860 finally closed its doors, Chik’n & me co-owner Jason McCollum pounced, converting the restaurant into something fresh, starting with a new coat (or three) of paint that turned the building into a much more attractive off-white color.

Inside, the restaurant was transformed from a dark, moody space into a much brighter environment, one that welcomes natural light and makes the most of the three downstairs hearths, which inspired the restaurant’s name: Hearth on Mellwood Eatery.

When we went recently for happy hour noshing, we found a place we can’t wait to return to – repeatedly.

The warmth of the place hits you as soon as you walk in – white candles sit atop each hearth, while distressed wood chairs pull up to each table. The dining area is surrounded by exposed brick walls that are pushing 175 years old, and ornate antique mirrors on every wall provide a homey realness while also giving the illusion of increased space.

Happy hour at the seafood-focused Hearth starts with $1.50 oysters, of which we ordered six from the upper east coast. The medium-sized shellfish were served atop chilled stones with a salted cucumber mignonette. The medium-sized oysters were fresh and delicious with or without the garnish.

Next, we went for the mussels, which came steeped in a coconut-miso broth with chunks of pork belly, ginger, butter, basil and scallions. For just seven bucks, we got roughly 15 mussels, two huge pieces of whole grain bread from Blue Dog Bakery and plenty of pork belly bites to munch between mussels.

The mussels were perfectly cooked and utterly delicious. Of course, half the pleasure of eating mussels – at least when done this well – is sopping up the broth with the provided bread.

From there we finished up our meal with seared octopus ($10), which consists of a sizable helping of cured octopus tentacles, gently seared and served over a white bean puree and salted plum honey, with a garnish of fried eggplant.

You probably know that octopus tends to be on the chewy side, but we were delighted by this take on the dish. Sure, it wasn’t fork tender or anything, but we also didn’t wear out our jaws chewing it – it was a nice, firm consistency with a gentle snap, clean flavor and just a hint of the salt from curing. The bean puree served as something akin to a light honey mustard and was a delicious accompaniment.

We’re looking forward to exploring more of the menu, such as entrees like Chilean sea bass, berbere seafood stew, miso tuna and pork tenderloin katsu. Entrees range from $16-$30, while there also are a variety of wines, beers and cocktails. Hours are Tuesday through Thursday, 4-9 p.m., and Friday through Saturday, 4-10 p.m. But as we found out, the most important hours at Hearth are between 4 and 6 p.m. when those happy hour specials are available.