Dinner at Passion Fish – April 5, 2015

The downtown area of Pacific Grove is so quaint and sweet. If you didn’t know it was there, you would miss it. It is very worth the trip regardless. Passion Fish is located at the end of the Light House downtown area. It is by far the best seafood you will ever eat. It is very specific, no frills, just plain, great inventive fish. All sustainable with the best organic ingredients you can find.

Starters:

Striped Bass Crudo, Pomegranate-ginger granite and seaweed ponzu. The Striped Bass has many delicate, fantastic, and fresh flavors. The pomegranate – ginger granite is the best thing on the plate; it adds so much flavor.

Fried oysters with kimchee salad, ham, and mint. Very different and you got to love kimchee if you going to try this dish.

Ricotta-bee pollen gnocchi, tomato brown butter. Kind of interesting, but to me it tasted too much like bee pollen.

Asparagus Fries with Caesar dipping sauce. This is something that is healthy and a great alternative to French fries.

Salads:

Baked Gorgonzola with curried greens, golden chutney and spiced pecans. If you like Indian food and curry, you will go crazy for this salad.

Dungeness crab salad with avocado and spicy ginger vinaigrette. The crab is right out of the ocean, and the avocado is the perfect accompaniment. Just the kind of salad I would crave and have to order every time.

Entrees:

Sea Scallops with tomato-truffle butter and savory rice pudding. I always order the scallops when I get the chance. These bad boys were huge and the best thing was the savory rice pudding in the middle.

Sturgeon with warm preserved lemon-white bean salad, and spicy herb relish. This is a very thick and oily fish. I loved the treatment and would recommend this one for fish lovers.

Wine:

Unti Vermentino, Dry Creek Valley ’13. This wine is a must with the crab salad, very floral and effervescent.

Tyler Chardonnay, Santa Barbara ’12. Each sip changed when I paired it with the amazing sea scallops.

Passion Fish philosophy on wine:

Their close-to-retail prices are comparable to your best neighborhood wine shop. While the general restaurant practice is to mark up wine by 200-300%, they choose to keep theirs at a 50-80% markup. They are crazy about wine, and great food deserves great wine at a reasonable price. They hope this will excite their customers to try something new, unique and off the beaten path. Their wines don’t have a lot of chemicals; they have a Great wine list.

Jannae Lizzan is the wine director and she prides herself on using wineries that are doing their part to practice any form of sustainable wine production. She believes in recognizing these wineries because farming sustainably on land directly affects the sustainability of our oceans.

There’s not a lot more I can say, it’s just that good, come and try it.

Passion Fish
831.655.3311
701 Lighthouse Ave
Pacific Grove, CA. 93950
Dinner nightly from 5pm
www.passionfish.net.

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