FishTag- Ambitious and Delicious Fishes

Don’t get your khakis in a bunch, but the UWs side is pretty much the ‘burbs to us- residential, pretty, and slightly slower than the frenetic pace of the Big City.  Restaurants on the UWS seem to serve a purpose- to feed people- rather than excite and inspire them; a night out is built around on literal baby-bottle schedules, rather than bottle service.  Imagine my delight and surprise to discover FishTag, a Michael Psilakis gem tucked away on 79th street between Quiet and Convenient.  The location is unlikely for such an ambitious and incredible Mediterarranean fish place, and it was good enough to ALMOST make me envious of the people in the neighborhood.

This subterranean Mediterranean restaurant makes the most of an essentially awkward space; the narrow entrance features communal tables/bars for dining, and then opens up slightly to a white dining room, which brightens up enough to forget that there are no windows.  The menu system at FishTag is slightly daunting- the main menu is a mix of black and red items (black is for smaller, appetizer dishes; red is for main courses), arranged in a seemingly random order.  There are also notes about which wines go with which dishes, which are loosely grouped from lightest to heaviest.  On the back of that list are the wines- grouped from lightness to heaviest, and available in glass, half glass, half bottle, and bottle denominations, except for the sakes. There is also another menu with “appetizers” including many varieties of smoked salmon, meats and cheeses, speciality cocktails and I think another wine list.  Confused?  We were, but settled in nicely with some half glasses of wines, with which our server was generous, until we tasted enough that we were able to commit to a full glass.

Anyway, everything we ate was fresh, light, and beautifully presented.  The menu descriptions don’t really prepare for you what you will receive, and there always seems to be one item in the desciption that seems to be out of place.  Just ignore that.  The smoked trout panzanella was served with just enough smokey trout and blue cheese to add salt and depth to the beautiful tomatoes, and the croutons gave it some weight.  The octopus was cooked and seasoned perfectly, a fine example of how this ingredient is maximzed when in the hands of an expert Mediterranean chef. The prawn bruschetta was constructed very well- with all of the ingredients sitting on top of sturdy, crispy bread smeared with a red pepper feta spread.  All of the appetizers were a suitable size for sharing.

My salmon main course was a work of art- beautiful pieces of salmon on top of a colorful salad, splashed with a thicken balsamic vinegar sauce.  It tasted healthy, in the way that the Mediterranean Diet is supposed to keep you thin.  The swordfish was served on top of a bulgar salad, which was satisfying without being heavy.  We were wowed and happy at the end of the meal, satisfied without being stuffed.  We walked along in the quiet of the Upper West Side for a bit after dinner and returned downtown relaxed and happy, like returning from a trip to the Mediterranean, except without the passport stamp. (Passports not needed for the UWS, yet).