This past Friday night, I nimbly picked up a cheesecake from Eileen’s (requested by my brother), then traipsed through the Village running small errands on my way to dinner at Basta Pasta. Stupid, stupid, stupidly, I’d assumed that since it was an Asian run place (and I’d thought it to be a small, low-key, not that popular joint), that they didn’t take reservations, only it turned out, they do, and they politely informed me that they had no availabilities until 10 pm. It was 8:15. I was a bit taken aback, as I generally don’t go to places that would turn people away like that (if I do, I don’t know it because I’d already have a reservation), and wandered down the block to BLT Fish.
Also stupid, stupid, stupidly, when I attempted to whip out my camera to take a picture of the outside, I discovered that I was missing my memory card. I’d plugged it into my laptop so I could “clean” the card of all its pictures before the weekend, and proceeded to forget it in my laptop. Eep! Thankfully, ShB always carries her camera on her, and she is gracefully allowing me to use her pictures. (Go visit her site! It’s almost entirely not-food-related, but it’s all about knitting!) Thanks again!!!
I should mention that I walked into BLT Fish, reservationless, but the maitre’d was accomodating and polite. He told me the wait would be about an hour, maybe 45 minutes. It was closer to an hour and twenty minutes, but unlike the host in Basta Pasta, who’d all but laughed at me and told me without any uncertainty there would be no tables until 10 (which I find hard to believe), he seemed to really want me to stay and wait, genuinely. So I did. I went to the bar and sat down.
**I realize this is probably an odd thing for a non-whiskey drinker to notice, but while I waited for my [late] friends to arrive, my gaze fell upon their whiskey selection. I first noticed a bottle of Tallisker (one of the single malts used in Johnnie Walker Black), which I rarely see at any of the bars I go to, much less a bar that is simply part of a restaurant, not a regular bar, then glanced towards the Johnnie Walker bottles. I did a double take when I realized the two bottles displayed were not Red & Black, as is fairly normal, but rather it was Blue & Gold, the more expensive Johnnie Walker blends. Looking further showed three types of Maccallan, Glenmorangie, Glenlivet, and one more whose name escapes me currently. I’d put money on Mr. Laurent Tourondel being a whiskey man.
When we were finally seated, some of this wonderful looking breat was brought over. It smelled fantastic but honestly, it was only alright. It looked and smelled much better than it tasted- it was fairly blah and uninteresting. Except I did wonder why I didn’t taste any of the parsley? chives? basil??? of that green inside….
LL and I decided on sharing the seafood platter to start. (We’d shared the oysters back at Pearl Oyster Bar… yum.) My biggest complaint was portion size. It’s clearly meant for more than one person- let’s say 2- so the least they could do is split it more evenly. Two clams, two oysters, one Jonah crab claw, one giant shrimp, and a bunch of crappy escargots. Seriously crappy- the escargots were cold, slimy and tasteless, like they’d been boiled and forgotten for a while, then tossed on as an after-thought.
On the flip side, however, the oysters were briny and good, the Taylor Bay Scallop ceviche thing was really good, and the clams were alright. I guess I’m not a fan of crab cocktail because I like butter… garlic butter, specifically, really, with my crabs, but the crab wasn’t bad. I don’t like shrimp. Hmm, funny, I’d had a positive impression of this appetizer until just now!
We also ordered a crabcake (haha, I just realized we did this same setup at POB- LL and I ordered raw stuff to split, then all three of us split a crabcake!) for the three of us. I liked this, though it didn’t stand out particularly- it was good but not outstanding.
For our entrees, all three of us ordered from the same section of the menu: fish and chips, in varying combinations.
LL’s fried shrimp & onion strings $17
(yes, those are jalapeno peppers… reminds me of this place)
ShB’s fish and roasted potatoes $15
LL seemed to enjoy her shrimp, and her onion strings were really good. Personally, and ShB agreed with me, the fish was just one huge block of fish, which was a bit much. With so much bland, mild whitefish, the breading was thin, crispy, and only mildly greasy- normally thin breading is awesome, this was no exception as it was super crispy, not too heavy and well-seasoned, but since there was just so much fish, it wasn’t enough. I think thinner pieces of fish, or perhaps cutting it into “sticks” might work better, but what do I know? Laurent Tourondel won on Iron Chef America (though against Flay, whom I despise). In any case, other than this, the dish was good. The tartar sauce had chives in it instead of pickle relish, and it brought it to a different, slightly classier level, I felt. Yum. I couldn’t finish all of my fish, so I brought it home (along with a load of fries) and it toasted up nicely in the toaster oven for a snack the next day. The fries were only alright at the restaurant, but brought back to life, perhaps even better, with a quick toasting as well.
Yvo says: The place is super casual, and the tables are spread out pretty far. The noise level is pretty loud, in keeping with the casual theme, but some of the prices are a bit exorbitant. LL asked about the market price for lobster, and they wanted $37/lb. Umm… what? Even in the dead of not-lobster-season, that is ridiculous!!! Especially when you consider that this is for simple steaming, not anything fancy! The food was solidly good, and since we’d ordered from the cheaper part of the menu, you can get away with it being an inexpensive meal. However, checking the prices just now, the crabcake was $18- completely not worth it, and the seafood platter was something like $20+ so possibly worth it, but most likely, not. If you really just want to be able to say you’ve been to BLT-something or other, this is probably the most worth it, as my understanding is that BLT Burger (which you’d THINK is cheap, since it’s burgers) runs about $12 a burger, while on the low end for BLT Fish it’s $15 for fish&chips. Personally, I won’t be returning as the upstairs prices are more than a bit outrageous even for me.
middle of the road… go if you must, the food isn’t bad, but otherwise, pass
Swan says
Basta Pasta is quite popular. You need to call 2 weeks ahead sometimes.