BLT Fish

Our second outing to BLT Fish was like going to a completely different restaurant.  We sat upstairs in the more intimate setting vs. downstairs in the "shack".  I like them both.  Different menus, different vibe but both have good food.

We started out in a table that was right when you walked in from the elevator. Didn’t love the location. They happily moved us when someone else got up.  It was worth the move.  The entire vibe of our meal changed.  We sat at one of the long banquettes on the side.  We could peak into the open kitchen in the back.  The lighting changed too.  All and all, the move was the right one.  As you can see from the picture, the space is beautiful, modern and simple. 

Round warm spicy cheese rolls come out first served with salted butter to start.  Wow.  Great tasting.  Nice kick off.  It was hard not to just keeping eating one after another but luckily they only serve one to a customer. 

I wasn’t the wine orderer but we had 2 excellent red wines from the Santa Barbara region.  Big, spicy, red and delicious. 

We began with a mixture of appetizers.  2 people ordered the spicy tuna dish.  A square mound of chopped tuna tartare that is spicy and served with small greens, avacado and a tiny  scoop of caviar on top.  Really well done.  Fresh and tasty.  Someone else had the grilled ocotpus salad which I didn’t try but I liked the way it was served.  The octopus was cut up in chunks through out the salad.  I had the Hama oysters. I think that is what they were called.  Big and yummy from the Northwest served with the mignoette or classic tomato horseradish sauce.

For dinner we split 2 fish between the four of us.  Crispy Cantonese whole fish.  They fillet the fish for you.  Not to heavy on the fry.  Light and crispy with a simple soy based sauced surrounding the fish.  We also had the baked Black Sea bass with 2 sauces.  Lemongrass curry and soy citrus wasabi.  I really liked the taste of the curry.  It was not too heavy handed.  This fish was ok not great.  A bit bland hence the sauce but the presentation wasn’t that great either.  Disappointed on fish number 2.  We also ordered some vegetables on the side.  Roasted fennel and boy chok.  The fennel was a tad overcooked and the cheese bread crumb topping didn’t really pop the flavor.  The boy chok was boring and pretty tasteless.

We all split one dessert.  Rocky road cake.  Layers of cream and chocolate cake with tiny marshmallows on top.  Good but not an omigod.

All and all, the company was fantastic.  The vibe in there is really nice.  The food is simple. Doesn’t rock your world but I wouldn’t refuse to return. I’d go back but I think I might be tempted to reserve a table at the Shack downstairs again and see how that goes.