theseconddinner

Somewhere I got the incorrect notion that Fishing With Dynamite was a casual spot. While it was so crowded and glitzy that I nearly fled, I survived the “uncool kid at the Bar Mitzvah” alienation and enjoyed some outstanding food.

I followed the instructions of the hostess and lingered near the bar where someone was expected to leave soon. This took some time and I had to decline the chance to buy a drink three times. In a strange turn of events,  I was asked if I wanted to get takeout, declined, changed my mind, and was told that they don’t really do takeout.

Peruvian scallops

Fortunately, the seafood was worth the wait. The oysters and their accompaniments were excellent (full disclosure – I don’t know which ones they were but one of the Washington varieties.) But for uniqueness, I’d rank the Peruvian scallops even higher. These dreamy mollusks are oceanic perfection.

The menu is split between “old school” and “new school,” the latter veering in an Asian fusion direction. From the old school side, I got a main course of Mediterranean white seabass.  From the menu’s listing of components like “sherry gastrique,” it sounds complex and maybe even outlandish, but the perfect fish didn’t need any trickery. The parsnip puree and the hazelnut are nearby to lend a hand but not to get in the way.

Mediterranean white seabass

My non-technical term for the preparation would be “almost fried,” given the crunchy skin. At dessert time, I skipped key lime pie and opted for the more exotic offering of maple pudding with rosemary sandies.

maple pudding

The meat-eating person on our crew had to explain to the vegetarian partner that there were probably no salads here, kind of a “we’ll make it quick, take some pictures and you can get a salad later” deal.

Veggie burger

It turns out you don’t need to eat burgers to enjoy Bert’s Burger Bowl. The zingy green chile combined with cheese, mustard and pickles is so compelling that you could get by even without the burger (or with the vegetable variant available here.) That said, this is a fine, juicy burger. On the side, you’ll find the onion rings more compelling than fries.

Burger

Layer of chile and cheese on veggie burger.

Finally, while we recognize that it’s more productive to work on one’s own review than to gripe about others, this is one instance where Yelp should not be trusted, with an inexplicable three-out-of-five for Bert’s.

Over Easy brings innovation to two sectors that often stick to the traditional – eggs, as the title indicates, and less obviously, beverages. It’s hard for us to resist namesake items so we went with the Over Easy. Per the menu, this is “toasted brioche with sautéed spinach, fried egg and natural jus with bacon & scallions.” The waiter said we could choose whatever egg preparation we liked but that over easy or over medium were recommended; we got the latter.

Now it’s not like you need a PhD to combine bacon, scallions, spinach and egg. This could be done by you or maybe even me. But Over Easy dreamed it up and the result is salty nirvana.

We also got an omelette with American cheese, asparagus and mushrooms. The vegetables were fresh with a good crunch in the asparagus.

Now about those drinks – no need for the usual orange juice here. You’re better off selecting, as we did, the iced coffee augmented with cinnamon, cardamom, sweetened condensed milk and mint, and the strawberry lemonade with rosemary.

If we get a chance to get back here, we’d like to check out the French toast we saw on Guy Fieri’s show, and perhaps something from the long list of benedicts. One caveat: they close at 2pm.

How much do we like The Cove? It’s our “theme picture.” This is as good as fried fish gets, and it partially disproves our fears that delightfully scenic restaurants don’t always excel at the food.

The bad news, dear reader(s), is that we don’t come to you as experts on the entire menu on The Cove. We got the Great Lakes combo the first time and now it’s difficult to get anything, unless we move to Leland. In fact, we even had the mistaken notion that The Cove wasn’t open for lunch – it is, but the combo isn’t available at lunch.

The dish provides the formidable fried trio of perch, walleye and whitefish. If you must get one of these get the walleye, for meaty, Midwestern perfection, but you really should get the combo.

While the fish is the star here, the accompanying vegetables have been appealing too. The asparagus on a previous visit and the string beans on the last trip taste like they were just picked down the road.

Adding to the “pure Michigan” atmosphere is the setting, a wooden building near the water and the old-timey buildings of Fishtown.

What’s this southern barbecue joint doing across the road from Lake Erie?

Despite the geography, this is real deal, not just in the pork offerings but in the smalltown charm. Go for a combo – get what you like but you must get ribs for glazed, smoky bliss. In our last visit the runner-up meat was pulled pork.

There was a split vote on the perch, with the non-meat-eating component of The Second Dinner staff hugely enthusiastic while the other one wasn’t dissuaded from a meat focus.

As for the sides, beans got an excellent assist from their old friend pork, but mac-and-cheese wasn’t different enough than any other mac-and-cheese. There was strong support for the sweet potato fries, cole slaw and hush puppies.

The service was outstanding, with these out-of-towners getting a neighborly welcome from a waitress who eloquently answered our questions about the menu.

At the cheerfully raucous Randazzo’s, the crowds can look intimidating but move relatively fast, a process that you can help if you quickly decide what to get (hint – probably the chicken.)

Multiple visits provided a chance to dig through the menu. The combo seemed liked the Brooklyn thing to do – listed at the top of the menu, it features scungilli, mussels,

shrimp and calamari. There’s a choice of “Famous Hot or Medium Sauce.” You want hot. Actually, we haven’t tried the medium since the hot is spectacular.

Part by part, the mussels were o.k., the shrimp was first-rate and the scungilli and calamari were good, yet not game-changers on their own, since it’s the sauce that makes you remember this place. On that note, the giant appetizer of fried zucchini was shockingly good, in its role as a conduit for that sauce.

We won’t ask if the raw clams were harvested in the water across Emmons Avenue, but they were delightfully oceanic and fresh. And why not start with some soup? We ordered spicy crab corn chowder primary as a cure for a cold and wound up impressed by the creamy kick and respectable crab count. Therefore even those in perfect nasal health should check it out. The Manhattan clam chowder was another winner.

Mr. Francis is one of the most surprisngly unheralded places we’ve ever encountered. You won’t find this takeout-only barbecue spot in Fodor’s or even Chowhound.

If you’re not in St. Martinville (and we’re guessing not many of our 23 readers are), you’ll be driving rural roads at night to get here. The closest tourist-type areas are Lafayette, New Iberia and Breaux Bridge. While it opens at 5, the ribs weren’t available for a few more hours, at least on the first visit. Also note that it’s closed Mondays and Tuesdays. The crowd is on the raucous side, and we’re not sure if the large police presence on all three trips was a good thing or a bad thing.

None of these things are as important as the ribs. There are some other items on the menu like turkey wings. On our first visit we got the sausage, which was good. But…the ribs. A substantial order of the chopped-up ribs, plus a decent amount of fries, was $8.50. The sauce is very good but not game-changing. I guess the trick here is the preparation. There’s more of a direct heat feeling on these ribs than the usual, so get a real fire taste with this succulent pork.  The outstanding charring is a great counterpoint to the sauce.

While the ribs are the reason to make the long drive out to Mr. Francis,  it turns out the fries are quite good, too. There’s just a bit of some extra seasoning – paprika?

We’re breaking from format with a three-for-one deal because there was just too much great food in Lake Placid to exclude the silver and bronze medalists.

Paradox Lodge was the champion here, with spectacular French-influenced fare and a unique setting. The cassoulet had a sauce that started out subtly and grew increasingly addictive and it didn’t skimp on the meats – duck, sausage, pork and lamb. Fair warning: this was a special so you may not encounter it. The salmon entree, presented on a bed of rice and with ample vegetables, was perhaps the best we’ve ever had.

The smoked trout appetizer was much bigger and more complex than we expected. The menu description of horseradish cream sauce didn’t disclose the delightful additions of fruity elements that we think were raspberry and orange. As for the fish itself, the unusual strategy of hot rather than cold presentation did a fine job in bringing out the flavor.

It was outstanding.

Most shocking though, was the brilliant work with vegetables. Great meat and fish aren’t that surprising but Brussels sprouts? This much-maligned item has rarely been more fresh. The vegetables that accompanied the main courses, which weren’t even advertised in the menu, arrived with a dazzling array of colors. The plate featured asparagus, pureed peas and sweet potatoes, green beans and carrots. We were outed as root vegetable amateurs – one item looked like a potato and tasted like a better version of a turnip. We learned it was a golden beet. Canned Del Monte this wasn’t.

While we generally consider the food itself rather than ambiance – you can’t eat a chair – we should point out the exceptional Adirondack vibe. It looked like a house and was adorned with odds-and-ends like tree-stump furniture.

Next up was Taste Bistro at Mirror Lake Inn, a romantic, elegant spot by the lake, but more importantly, one that offers creative renditions of the classics. As an example, the baked macaroni and cheese features black truffles and “farm cheeses” – now, even though “farm” may be an imprecise modifier, the result is addictive. Cheese also excels in the unbaked form, in a cheese plate that offers local varieties like “cave-aged cow’s milk.”

The redemption of the Brussels sprout continues here, with a nicely charred, sea-salt laden specimen. The trio of wild game sliders is strongly recommended, with the best being the powerfully juicy duck, which offers a tantalizing contrast to its fruity topping  (apricot, we think.) In the only downside of the evening, the fries that came with the sandwiches tasted like, well, any other fries. The most distinct part of the creme brulee trio was a zingy ginger version.

We also checked out Great Adirondack Steak & Seafood, which is more of a “big tent” spot than the two aforementioned upscale locations.

It had a delightfully woodsy mountain feeling, and the vastness of its menu could be trying to those who don’t like making decisions.

French Onion soup was a very good selection here; trout dip was tasty but didn’t blaze any new trails in the genre.

The ribeye was huge and excellently cooked, with a nice char on the outside and juicy on the inside, but missed perfection since it maybe could have used a tiny bit more seasoning.

The battered haddock was tasty and the cole slaw and sweet potato fries that came with it were excellent.

We also enjoyed the enticing licorice notes in the root beer brewed onsite.

The sleeper hit, though, was the apple dessert. The cored apple was stuffed with maple syrup, walnuts and raisins.

We were big fans of Cranbury Station and sad to see it apparently disappeared, but then the newcomer called Station Bar And Grill on the same site claimed it had the same menu with better ingredients so we gave it a chance, and after one visit at least, it seems pretty much like Cranbury Station.

We started out with warm poofy bread. The salad was decent and the bean and ham soup was pleasant but could have had more of a ham presence.

Fish-and-chips had substantial fries and four large pieces of fish (scrod). The fish had a nice flavor though the coating was a bit soft, so you may be better off with our longtime favorite, the fried seafood combo. This includes very good flounder, some clam strips and a large crab cake that was tasty, even if the crab-to-cake ratio wasn’t up to Maryland standards.

The best of the quartet was the fried shrimp. While this crustacean often gets the “fried whatever” treatment, the Station has a nice preparation that doesn’t hide the essential shrimpiness. As in the earlier version of the restaurant, there was a pleasant surprise of unbilled steamed vegetables with the seafood combo, but this time around there was an improvement via a higher garlic content.

The menu seems longer, ranging from diner-type items to fancier-sounding specials like pork osso bucco, so we’ll be back soon to test things out some more. We are also curious about what is offered on “Spanish night.” They also have pasta night and seafood night.

Even your touristy joints are pretty good in Key West, as competition will knock out anyone turning in supbar grouper or key lime pie, but try to find some time for slightly off-the-radar classics like Eaton Street Fish Market.

Cero Sandwich

The market’s location on a residential block suggests this is serious fish for locals, but if you’re lingering on Duval or chasing margaritas and sunsets, it’s a moderate walk or short cab ride to Eaton Street, which is just a store with a few seats.

Cero Sandwich

We had to go for a fish we never heard of, which in this case was cero. The pinkish-hued fish was taken out out the refrigerated case and fried, where it became part of an excellent sandwich. Our culture doesn’t provide the variety of adjectives for fish description that are available to wine enthusiasts, so we’ll just call it superbly oceanic. Sadly we had to make a strategic decision to skip the smoked fish dip, which has been well-reviewed elsewhere – even we have limits so we got the sandwich plus the conch ceviche. The ceviche was brilliant citrus-y. Conch is sometimes more fun in theory than practice, but the accompaniments worked perfectly with this mollusk.

We don’t get to Key West often enough (o.k., just once in our lifetimes), so maybe our readers can let us know what we missed by skipping the dip.