Archive for April, 2010

What a Catch!

It’s a few minutes before 4 p.m.—on a rainy Saturday afternoon—when we walk into BlackSalt Fish Market & Restaurant, in the Palisades. It’s quiet, save for the fish monger and some bustle at the back bar. So this is what all the fuss is about (and those hours spent on the phone wrangling dinner reservations for my former boss), I’m thinking, after examining the fish carcasses on ice and prepared foods/dressings/sauces that bedeck the counter and fridges in the market. We make our way to the bar, where we discover we’ve arrived “just in time for happy hour.” Or, we can wait an hour for dinner service, with its menu of toe-curling prices. Hmm…which will Emily choose?

Oh, the joy of an unexpected dozen raw oysters, for $1 each! I’m giddy, as I use the tiny seafood fork to dab horseradish, vinegar, lemon, and cocktail sauce on a cold and slippery mollusk, taking a few three chews before I slide it down my throat. Follow this with a nice swish of bubbly (only $5) and I exhale with that satisfaction of discovering a great, great thing.

The happy hour menu is enthralling…and cheap. We order with abandon, which makes the experience not-so cheap when we pay our bill. No worries. The oysters are the highlight, for me at least, but the rest is memorable: fresh, jumbo Gulf shrimp for $1 a piece; Rhode Island calamari with chipotle remoulade ($7) that employs an almost perfect combo of smoky creaminess, crispness, and chewiness — without any attribute overwhelming the whole. And I can’t stop stuffing my mouth with finger-fulls of the thinly-shaved BlackSalt and vinegar chips ($3).

I only taste the Provencal seafood stew (market catch, mussels, shrimp, and saffron; $9), but it seems like a great bargain, piled high with fresh seafood; my friend seems to love it, practically cleaning the bowl. The drinks aren’t a bargain as happy hours go ($5 drafts; $7 martinis), but that 16 oz Allagash White tastes pretty darn good when sipping in tandem with bites of calamari. We also splurge on the key lime pie, an $11 indulgence that somehow seems okay in our drunk-on-fresh-seafood opinion…and it is awfully good.  Bottomline: Order lots of food and savor those drinks. We’ll be back, when a car allows it.