Tag Archives: aioli

F-I-S-H Restaurant + Bar

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Fall restaurant week is happening and I couldn’t be more excited. I LOVE restaurant week – going out to fancy dinners for $30?! I always try to take advantage of a new place during this time to see if it’s really worth going back to. This “week”s restaurant was a new place called F-I-S-H in downtown Stamford. They opened a couple months ago, but I had been hesitant to try it – just from driving by, it looked pricey. I’m very excited to report this restaurant was much better, cheaper, and friendlier than I expected!

THE SKINNY ON THE DRINKS

Although we had reservations, we decided to head to the bar for a pre-dinner drink. The place wasn’t crowded yet and the hostess was more than ok with us delaying a bit. The bartenders helped us right away and made excellent drinks. I had The Skinny (Grey Goose, lemon juice, and club soda) and my husband had a glass of Macallan. I mean, they even had the sphere ice cubes meant to be used when drinking whiskey! We’ve never been to place with this attention to detail with their drinks… The bar didn’t seem to get too crowded, but then again it was a Tuesday night. The crowd that was there was filled with young professionals, so that says something about good, affordable prices.

CHOOSE YOUR OWN ENDING

We then moseyed our way to dinner where the hostess let us pick a seat next to the outside. The waiter came by shortly after – he was quick, efficient, and friendly. The manager occasionally checked in on us as well, and genuinely seemed interested, he didn’t treat us as just a “drive by”. After looking at the menu, we decided to forgo the restaurant week prix fix because it all looked THAT GOOD. We ordered oysters and calamari as an app and they were extremely fresh, “close-your-eyes-and-imagine-being-in-a-tropic-location” fresh. The calamari was served with a lemon aioli that was the perfect creamy texture, while the oysters’ sauce gave a bit of a bite. The app was pretty filling so we decided to share scallops as a main meal, but not just any scallops…

The cool thing that really makes them worth a blog shout out is the way F-I-S-H serves their dinners, it’s a bit of a “mix-and-match”/”choose-your-own”. They start with a “naked fish” base – scallops, salmon, halibut, you name it, then you choose weather you want it seared or grilled.  Don’t stop there! You then get to choose which sauce you want on it – butter and lemon sauce, scampi, tomato and olives, or red coconut curry. AND, as if you don’t have enough to choose from, you can “enhance” your meal with craw fish or lump crab meat Bearnaise sauces. Whew!

We went a little off the beaten path and had the seared scallops, with lemon and capers, AND crab meat Bearnaise sauce.  They were nice enough to put the Bearnaise on the side so we could dip. With all of that going on, we were not disappointed. It was practically a party in our mouth with all of those flavors! Enough so, that we were too full to even attempt dessert. Didn’t want to ruin a good thing.

If you couldn’t tell, we really weren’t disappointed. It was such an easy time. And the fact that we could “customize” everything made us want to go back and try different concoctions! We will definitely be back. If you’re ever in the area, be sure to stop in!

FISH Restaurant

Happy Eating, XO.

Home-made EASY Tapa

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So apparently the Italians aren’t the only ones that do cheese sticks. One night when I was in Madrid last month, the kitchen was closed at this local bar and the owner said he would whip us up yummy Venezuelan tapas. (Tapas literally just mean small plates). So much to our surprise these tapas were pretty much the Latin version of a cheese stick that they served with this slap your mama good aioli. I swear we crushed them in under 5 minutes so ofcourse I had to come home and try & replicate them immediately.

  • Store bought string cheese (4 sticks since you will be cutting them in half for 8 servings. I say use a mozz and don’t get fancy with any Colby Jack)
  • Store bought garlic flavored crescent rolls (don’t do the regular, these are more buttery & flavorful)

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Literally use the same method from the pizza roll ups, but just with the cheese and dough. Also make sure that the cheese is sealed in by the dough and nothing can ooze out when baking. The pizza roll ups were more free to form whereas in this recipe you want the cheese locked inside the dough. Bake at 350 degrees for 5-10 min. (until golden not brown). Let them cool for 3-5 min before serving.

Aioli (I think this is how its made, no clue since the guy barely spoke English, but it tasted like this so I cant be that far off)

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  • 1/4 cup of plain yogurt (don’t do greek, its too thick & tangy)
  • 1 tbsp. of mayo
  • 1 tbsp. of crushed garlic
  • 1 shallot (dice it a bit so it breaks down easier in the processor or blender)
  • pinch of salt, black pepper, and dried parsley

Blend in food processor & serve chilled.

photo 3

Happy Eating, XO.