Saturday, February 12, 2011

Fresh Fish in Nashville, Believe it or Not

My craving for fresh seafood, at least other than catfish, has been a challenge to satisfy since our move to the Great Middle South.  However, one of my friends informed me of the Fish & Company opening up in the heart of Nashville so on the next venture out with some friends, we headed out for what was expected to be an adventure.  Needless to say, I made reservations for a Saturday night, reviewed the website in detail and read all the reviews I could find.  Not disheartened and no sign of the ubiquitous catfish lurking somewhere on the menu, off we went.  Now first things first.  Its address.  Fish & Co recently moved over to 12 South---the Gulch---- and although the new address is on the website, I guess management never expected anyone ot read the "About Us" page.  Well I did and promptly noted their address on Adelicia  Street---just across from the Boundry and Giovanni's.  Nope.  Not There.  They moved about a week ago and their web guy didn't think it was important to note the change on ALL of their web pages.  Now just a tad annoyed, we ventured over to 12th and got there 5 minutes late for our reservations rather than 10 minutes early as planned.  The manager greeted us professionally and kindly but informed us that they are in a new location (we know that now!!!) and the heat didn't work yet.  Normally in Nashville that would not be a problem.  However, the jet stream recently paid the middle south an extended visit and the outside temperature was int he 30s and although not a written policy a jacket was certainly required at this restaurant that evening.  Next the menu is presented and looks nothing like the menu posted on the website.The digital  raw bar menu boasted Top Necks, Littlenecks and Cherry Stone Clams, oysters sourced from the Gulf of Mexico, Maryland, Virginia, Connecticut and Prince Edward Island, Canada as well as fish selections ranging from crab, to grouper to trout to low country fare.  Well not tonight.  The menu was certainly a scaled down version offering maybe 1/3 of the digitally posted offerings. Again it was explained that the restaurant is in anew location and was not up to full speed yet.  All I really cared about was that they had a raw bar of fresh mollusks.  They did, although no clams were available that evening.  I went with an array of oysters (for an appetizer and dinner) from BC (Fanny Bay), the Gulf (Apalachicola) and Massachusetts (Blue Point).  All were fantastic. Sweet and salty and as fresh as the shellfish I used to harvest myself as a Rhode Islander. My better half went with Sea scallops that she boasted were as good as we get "at home"---meaning RI.  The manager comped us She Crab Soup, I guess as an apology that they elected not to note their recent move on all of the web pages. Again, I have seldom had such a rich  and tasty crab soup.  Our friends went with trout and exclaimed its virtues.  My suggestion is to order the potatoes roasted in duck fat as a side with whatever you order.( Pommes de Terre Sarladaise for you Francophiles).  All in all a great restaurant and I hope they never give into temptation and put catfish on the menu.