“Freshness”
is an easy word to throw around, particularly when offering one’s
opinion of what makes seafood great. Of course you want freshness,
and you want your fish or whatever creature of the sea suits your
fancy cooked by a competent chef, and perhaps in an interesting way.
All of this came together at Pier W in Cleveland, where I had to
practically be dragged, kicking and screaming, by my girlfriend. Not
the restaurant, but rather the city – I thought Cleveland hadn’t
changed since its early days as a rough, tough, olde school beer
brewing town of ruffians and n’er do wells.
But
fortunately I was proven wrong, which is something I love. I think
it’s great to be humbled and reminded that your opinions are just
that: opinions, and quite often they’re wrong.
It fires synapses in an aging brain that are good to
fire… in additional to humility it opens your mind to new ideas,
like that Cleveland is a town of some outstanding, highly Zagat’s
rated restaurants, and what terrific fresh seafood is meant to taste
like.
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| Fried Calamari |
The fried calamari appetizer came with
two sauces, one resembling duck sauce, the other resembling Thousand
Island dressing, the first sweet and spicy, the other creamy with a
bit of spice, too. The squid was lightly breaded and barely browned,
briefly fried to show off, well… its freshness. It practically
melted in your mouth it was so soft and delicate. I’ve traveled to
Greece in search of the best calamari, and of course, I found it
there, but this was up on a scale with the best I’ve had in New
York at my favorite family restaurant in the Greek area of Astoria,
Queens, or the Turkish spot on the Upper West Side, Turquaz.
Our hosts suggested we take their two
youngest and my incredibly little boy, who is a notoriously picky
eater, generally only allowing himself a palate of five different
foods on any given week – most of them in the pancake family. The
pediatrician said to humor him, since he didn’t eat during the two
day standoff when I only put vegetables on his plate, so I let him
have what he wants, so long as dessert only comes after some actual
food.
Anyhow, my point was meant to be that
despite their Zagat’s rating of 25 for food, and $25-30 entrees,
they had a terrific kid’s menu with an item (grilled extra sharp
cheese) that appealed to my 6-year-old. The fries were pretty
terrific, too.
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| Grilled Scallops |
As another pleasant surprise for people who have trouble picking one
entrée, Pier W offered several other entrees, such as , crab stuffed
shrimp as small side dishes (3 pieces) for $12. I added those to my
grilled scallops in an interesting sauce. After first I misread the
menu, thinking this entrée inexplicably came with a vanilla mango
sorbet, until reading more closely and realizing that was the scallop
sauce. And it was amazing, sweet and fruity, and a wonderful
complement to the (again – unebelievably fresh) scallops. What I
enjoyed most was the taste of the ocean, rather than fish. The shrimp
seemed almost bland with the crab meat stuffing and little else,
except that it tasted like sea, instead of shrimp. I felt transported
to a boat on the ocean, as if a cook was sautéing up some of our
fresh catch before we got back to shore. It was, as my grandma
Sylvia used to say, Good Clean Food.
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