05.14.08
Review of BLT Fish Shack (downstairs), Saturday April 2008
21 W.17th & 5th/6th Ave., 212-691-8888
Great for: lobster, basic seafood
I like the juxtaposition of a super-casual fish shack on the ground floor and a seafood temple one level up. I’ve been to both; the “temple” is better, but the shack is really fun too. This time we got there early, around 6:30, and were lucky enough to snap up the last available table.
I started off with the special appetizer of fried Ipswich clams and their sauce trio of Meyer lemon mayonnaise, wasabi aioli and tartar. They were surprisingly tasty, though not the clam strips I for some reason expected. The round clam bodies made it unfortunately obvious that I was eating mollusks, but they were good anyway. The Boyfriend’s jumbo shrimp cocktail had nice giant shrimp with vinegary cocktail sauce. His reaction to “How are they?” was a decided nodding “Mmmmmmm.” After tasting them, I concurred.
My fish, shrimp and onion strings (instead of fries) combo with cream-stuffed jalapeños was pretty good. I liked the sauces, the flaky fish, and the plump shrimp – just the batter was medium thick and kind of soft, so not really my style. I prefer my batter very thin and crispy. B’s 1.5 pound steamed lobster, on the other hand, was one of the best either of us have ever tasted. It was juicy and tender and scrumptious all on its own. B kept making yummy noises until I got annoyed, but I forgave him once I tried some. It was worth the $45 price tag. The accompanying roasted potato was also very good, though the non-existent corn on the cob was a little annoying. It turns out they’d run out, as our waiter never saw fit to inform us until we asked him where it was.
To finish, we had a slice of key lime pie. It was so good! It was white, as I’ve heard good key lime should be, and creamy loveliness. That may have been the first time I liked pie. We were too full or we might have ordered another slice.
The orange creamsicle cocktail was not as artificial as I’d hoped – it tasted like fresh orange juice, which I hate, so it probably wasn’t the best choice for me. It was still pretty good though. Drink it quickly, as it’s made with oj and heavy cream and I think those things separate after a while. I liked the red cherry and vanilla gin fizz better. It’s less sweet than you’d think it would be.
The hostesses were quite hot and very friendly. Our waiter, however, was dopey and inattentive. At first we thought maybe he didn’t understand English very well, but he seemed to speak it just fine. He was really slow about checking on us, so we kept ourselves occupied by studying our helpful lobster-eating tutorial placemats. They were also full of useful facts. Overall, we had a pretty good experience, and hopefully we’ll get a smarter waiter next time.
Rating: 7.5 / 10
Our cost: $138 (2 cocktails, $45 lobster) + 20 for being a dummy
Noise level: party, but not too crazy
Chance of walking in: mid-to-low in the Fish Shack, low upstairs as I recall.
