out and about: fishery summer menu

harland brewing: hazy ipa

french 75

We were so excited to head to the fishery for dinner for the first time since the new chef jon bautista took over the kitchen. New to the fishery that is, not to us. Chef jon was at the helm of many of our wonderful george’s tble3 experiences, and we were so excited when he joined one of our other favorite restaurants.

We were definitely looking forward to trying some of the new menu items, along with old favorites.

First up cocktails and beers.

We are nothing if not predictable.

king salmon tartare: cucumber, dill, buttermilk, jalapeno, potato

This tartare was phenomenal. We loved the crispy potato topping verses the traditional bread, cracker, or chip. It made it so much easier to get every flavor profile in one bite, while still providing the much needed crunch.

And why, oh why, have I never thought to use buttermilk in tartare before? It added such an acidic brightness, along with a creamy element almost reminiscent of cream cheese. Which of course, pairs perfectly with salmon.

And y’all know how much I love fresh dill. Can’t get enough of it. We are seriously planning our next trip so we can have this one again.

fishery soup: market fish, mediterranean broth, za’atar spiced chickpeas

Funny story about the fishery soup. Every since jamie has been coming to the fishery with me, so roughly 2+ decades, he’s ordered the fishery soup. Every. Single. Time. No exceptions.

This time, the fishery soup wasn’t on the menu; and he low-key freaked out. People, the man loves this soup.

He asked the waiter why it wasn’t on our menu, and we were told that it must have been left off during printing, but he could still order it. No problem. Phew. Crisis averted.

Later, jamie was relaying this story to one of our favorite waiters who stopped by to chat. He told us that it was intentionally left off, and would be phased out. Something’s fishy here. Needless to say that we can’t wait to solve the soup mystery the next time we head in.

The irony? According to jamie, this was by far the best bowl of soup he’d every had in all his years eating it.

chino farms strawberry and burrata: local lettuces, nasturtium honey, fennel, shallot vinaigrette

I first had this salad as a mother’s day special, and have been dreaming about it ever since. Everything about it screamed summer, and freshness. And that nasturtium honey? So good.

I was so happy to see it take a permanent place on the menu.

local baby squid

Of course we had to try the night’s special. Local baby squid with marinated tomatoes.

I’m guessing we ate this hours after it was caught. It was that fresh. And the tomatoes were to die for.

What we really loved was the heat (thai chilis?) that snuck up at the end of each bite, and made it even better. Truly well balanced.

poke roll: shrimp tempura, avocado, cucumber; top: spicy tuna, sesame ponzu, crispy potato

We had every intention of trying the spot prawns; because if there is anything chef jon does well, it’s spot prawns. If you know, you know.

But we made the mistake of ordering the poke roll first, since we enjoyed it before. Thinking we’d still be hungry afterward. But we weren’t.

Guess that means our next dinner out will be sooner than later. Oh shucks, (said with extreme sarcasm).