Wildfish Seafood Grille in Newport Beach’s Bluffs Center is edging into its third month and seems to have caught on nicely with locals.
In a reverse of what has happened with so many restaurants in the past,finding them with locations and head offices in the Phoenix-Scottsdale area and then coming to Orange County,this is the first location for Wildfish, with plans to expand to Arizona.
The Wildfish concept is a tweaked spinoff of the Eddie V’s Edgewater Grille in Austin, Texas, and Scottsdale. Both have been very popular.
We peeked in the windows at noontime not long after Wildfish debuted in November (only dinner is served so we weren’t able to eat then). It looked modern and followed South County de rigueur of balancing casual modesty with just the right dash of aplomb.
Then we found a chance to dine there. Wildfish is attractive in many ways and we’ve had some really good food. Besides that, we have found the waiters greeting many customers with a “nice to see you again” comment,a very good sign that repeat business is hitting its stride.
Friendly and smiling greetings from the front desk set the stage for a nice experience. The service has been friendly and helpful during our meals. The food has been a real pleasure.
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Wildfish Seafood Grille: tweaked spinoff of Eddie V’s Edgewater Grille |
The front of the restaurant as you enter is centered with a very hospitable bar,a complete oval with nothing blocking the view. It already has made it onto my list of bars to sit and eat.
Walk beyond the bar and there’s an elevated dining area. To the left of the bar is a most attractive dining room with two rows of booths and tables in the middle.
Dark hardwood floors meld into brick walls and dark ceilings and the open kitchen.
Tables are draped in white with dressy black napkins, adding that perfect touch. Light glows from huge drum like overhead fixtures.
A covered patio has two fire pits and a private bar, a prime setting for our mostly lovable weather.
Naturally, seafood has the edge on the menu, but there are four specially aged center-cut steaks: two sizes of filet, a New York strip and a hefty 22-ounce bone-in rib eye. There’s also a veal chop and a roasted double breast of chicken for variety.
Oysters are hand-harvested from federally inspected beds in the North Pacific and North Atlantic regions and may come from only one of those areas on any given evening, or from both, depending on availability. The oysters come on a bed of ice in the requisite presentation with lemon and cocktail sauce.
Large shrimp are featured as stand-alone dishes or in combination entrees. One appetizer has them with a duo of sauces, melon and jicama slaw. On one of our evenings, a chef’s special found them with a spicy sauce as an alternative.
Jonah crab,one of the largest species of coldwater crabs from the East Coast,is available in cracked and peeled claws, in a salad, as the awesome and almost only ingredient in the crab cake, and as a stuffing inside grilled shrimp. This crab is exceedingly tasty.
There’s only one soup, a Maine lobster bisque that sounds good but I haven’t had a chance to try it. Our friends reported that they liked the hot goat cheese and wild mushroom salad, but again we haven’t gotten to everything on this menu.
We did try the salad of avocado, baby greens, dates, grapes and more with shrimp and crab and champagne vinaigrette. It was a delightful juxtaposition of flavors.
Tuna is indulged in tartare and seared versions. Using the fusion card, calamari is cooked in a wok with vegetables and cashews. Ahi tuna meets soba noodles and mushrooms in another wok entree.
Crispy shrimp mingle with a salt and pepper crunchiness and red chiles in yet another Oriental-influenced dish.
Seafood entrees (all of them, like the steaks, are a la carte) include snapper, Chilean sea bass, tuna, swordfish, Georges Bank jumbo scallops or filet of sole, lightly smoked King salmon and lobster tails.
You will find the seafood in sauces like Hong Kong style broth with spinach, with roasted macadamia nuts and wasabi-lime vinaigrette, sided by Napa cabbage and crab coleslaw and with a few very classic sauces.
At the top of our must have entree list is the Parmesan-crusted lemon sole with lemon-garlic-butter sauce. It’s quite fabulous.
Side orders come a la carte. Like many steak and seafood houses, they range from very generous portions of vegetables (snap peas, asparagus with hollandaise, Asian green beans, mushrooms and spinach) to truffled macaroni and cheese, three kinds of potatoes and crab fried rice.
Desserts to request at the time your entree is served: cinnamon-raisin bread pudding souffl & #233;, molten Godiva chocolate cake and apple cobbler, each baked to order.
Lemon meringue pie with strawberries and coconut torte particularly attract my sweet tooth. Sorbet, ice creams, fresh berries and cr & #269;me br & #369;l & #233;e round out the caloric enhancements.
You will find a pretty distinguished wine list here. The wines are mostly American with a slight sprinkle of Italian and French labels.
Wine prices begin at $25 a bottle and there’s a very good selection of wines by the glass. If you are that rare wine drinker who gravitates toward the mystic and the cultish labels, there’s a connoisseur’s list of higher end wines that will surely pique your interest.
A new adventure in dining has joined us, and it’s in an affable location.
Ben Franklin Cheers
Hear Ye! Hear Ye! I’m celebrating Benjamin Franklin’s 300th birthday next week. How about you?
I found out that Orange County’s acclaimed brewmaster, Victor Novak of TAPS Fish House & Brewery in Brea, is going to give us a special treat in honor of the occasion.
On Jan. 17, he is debuting Poor Richard’s Ale, a beer specially brewed for the occasion and formulated to resemble a quaff that Franklin might have enjoyed.
A special toast will be conducted at the bar at 1:00 p.m. on Jan. 17 by actor Brian Patrick Mulligan, a foremost Benjamin Franklin authority.
Adding to the moment, customers can pretend that they’re in City Tavern in Philadelphia, America’s oldest restaurant. The restaurant was frequented by Franklin and was both the official meeting place of the Continental Congress in 1774 and the location of the first Fourth of July celebration on July 4, 1777.
Victor is currently brewing 22 kegs of the commemorative beer and he estimates it will last for about six weeks after the Jan. 17 debut, the date of Franklin’s birth.
The Poor Richard’s Ale recipe was developed under the auspices of the Brewers Association, a national panel of award-winning brewers and those with an eye toward history. They reviewed entries in late September and chose an unfiltered beer infused with molasses and lightened with new-world corn.
The winning recipe was created using corn and molasses since both were common in ale during colonial times, according to Victor. He also noted that each of these components would have helped to reduce the colonists’ dependence on imported British ingredients, a fact that would surely have pleased Franklin.
Learning more history through this upcoming celebration talk, I found out that Franklin is widely quoted as saying, “Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.”
I missed that in my history classes in Kansas eons ago, but I suppose it wasn’t a high priority to teach the kids about the drinking preferences of our founding fathers at that time. I plan to catch up with his beer-drinking fondness and some good food at TAPS’ fun gathering.
TAPS is at the Birch Street Promenade, 101 E. Imperial Highway (at Brea Blvd.), in Brea. Phone (714) 257-0101.
In case you missed my commentary in the past on this restaurant, I am very fond of the New Orleans-style building that’s the cornerstone of the promenade renovation project and I’ve enjoyed numerous fine meals within the lovely interiors.
AT A GLANCE: WILDFISH SEAFOOD GRILLE
Address: 1370 Bison Ave.
Newport Beach
Phone: (949) 720-9925
Hours: dinner from 4:30 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday, from
5 p.m. Thursday through Saturday
Happy Hour: Monday through Friday, 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. and 9 p.m. to closing.
Prices: appetizers, soups and salads $3.95 to $14.95; entrees $18.95 to $33.95; side dishes $6.95 to $8.95; desserts $6.50 and $6.95. Happy Hour wines and signature martinis for $5, all other drinks $1 off.
