after dinner sneeze

Sunday dinners work like this: for $35, you get 5 courses, no choices (they can entertain some dietary restrictions), and that’s it.  There are two seatings, and they’re typically booked a few weeks in advance.  But I tell you this here and now: this is the absolute best way to eat at Little Fish and one of the best deals in all of Philadelphia.  Do it.  We usually go to the later seating so we can bide our time, but if you go to the early one, you can catch a glimpse out the window (and get actually reasonable lighting for photos of food and wine!).  We brought along 4 bottles of wine that night – one of which was a 2011 Alexana Revana Vineyard pinot noir (arguably the wine of the night …)

Course #1: salad with rhubarb: Little Fish’s first course always rides the line between “simple” and “fancy”.  There really isn’t a lot of extra super-cool stuff in the salad.  No weird things foraged by an anarchist farmer.  No super-exotic fruits.  No special plating.  Just a clump of fresh, bright greens and a touch of ?pickled? rhubarb, some nuts, a light toss, and bam – first course done!  Our palates were energized and ready to go!

The second course of hamachi, radish, and cashews was so beautifully balanced that my mouth simply could not believe it.  Well – I take that back – that ?buttermilk? smear was a bit overwhelming, but I just cut back on it and the other flavors came out like a rays of sun through clouds.  The salinity of the fish, the meatiness of the nuts, the unique crunch and flavor of radish – ah, beautiful.

Welcome to v’s and my favorite dish: speck, scallop, and ramp purée.  This scallop was so beautifully seared that v and I could do no more than sit back and wonder exactly how a mortal man accomplishes such a feat.  We didn’t ponder for too long, though, as before we knew it, the scallop was gone.  Once again – the balance between the seafood and the speck and hauntingly smooth ramp flavor was a beautiful thing.

g and a’s favorite was the swordfish with spinach purée, fava beans, and asparagus.  Maybe I just don’t appreciate swordfish – if I wanted something that was this meaty, I’d just eat cow or pig!  But g and a enjoyed how the denser, richer texture stood up to the dense, rich puree and sauce.  Personally, I woulda gone for another scallop, but whatever!

This was perhaps Little Fish’s weakest dessert ever.  Which is shocking because it’s strawberry shortcake!  I guess I was expecting more.  The cake was a little on the dry side – and I half-expected there to be some sort of small twist – maybe a ribbon of cinnamon in the cake or a dash of mint or basil in the whipped cream.  Nevertheless, it was a comforting ending to a wonderful meal (g loves strawberry shortcake!)  When all was said and done, we had enjoyed 5 courses and 3 good bottles of wine (and 1 disappointment – that stupid rose from Moore Brothers that was hawked as “the finest rose in Provence” – what a load of crap).  What a wonderful Sunday night!