Por Frank Sabatini Jr.
Only the highfalutin restaurants of Las Vegas can match the opulent selection of oysters available at Parrilla de agua’s raw bar. Yet even those might not carry up to 22 different varieties on any given day. Ditto for the Red King crabs weighing up to 10 pounds and served whole at a cost of about $400. If your next dinner outing isn’t wrapped around a special occasion, then an impromptu dip into this newest seafood haunt will turn it into one.
Water Grill is owned by the long-established King’s Seafood Company, which operates about a dozen King’s Fish Houses throughout the West as well as Lou & Mickey’s in the Gaslamp District.
In this latest venture, the company took over the two-level warehouse occupied previously by the Palm Restaurant and sunk a few million dollars into its warm-industrial redesign.
The space is radically transformed now that its towering, arched-wood ceiling is exposed amid an evenhanded mix of wood, steel and glass flowing throughout both floors. Several nautical touches are folded into the scheme, including a tasteful cluster of buoy-shaped glass lights dangling on thick ropes from high above.
Equally luxurious is the raw bar displaying a cache of oysters culled from Pacific, Atlantic and Baja waters. They’re all available singly, or by the half or full dozen.
From the six we chose, the beausoleil from Nova Scotia resulted in that magical “oyster moment” you experience when slurping down something this succulent and refreshing. The Rappahannock from Virginia was the briniest, while another from Washington State’s Totten Inlet finished with a desirable flavor of melon. As of matter of taste, we basically stuck to the cold-water varieties, which required little or no mignonette sauce or freshly grated horseradish served with them.
We added to our ice platter a couple of freshly shucked Peruvian bay scallops resting in their beautiful purple shells with dribbles of citrus pesto. The sauce unfortunately overpowered the scallops’ prized, sweet flavor. It was too sharp. A drop of lemon juice in each would have been good enough.
Alaskan-trawled Red King crab is available also as chilled “nuggets” instead of in their pricey, whole form. A half-pound afforded us eight leg pieces with their shells on. They were cleanly cut as to allow the meat inside to slide out easily with a little help from our seafood forks — pure deliciousness without the fuss.
From the appetizer list, we were sold on the jumbo lump blue crab cake when learning that the meat is shelled to order. Our waiter also told us that nearly 25 different spices go into it. Much to our satisfaction, the crabmeat was indeed fresh and sweet and left unaffected by the promised panel of spices. The bonus with this sizable puck of crab was a tangle of perfectly sour pickled onions and celery root served alongside.
Another starter, called uni toast, involved a trio of crispy brioche, each adorned with a teeny piece of the fish and each accented by different garnishments, such as wasabi-infused roe, daikon radishes and sweet soy sauce with green onions. I began and ended at the latter, feeling that the added flavor components jangled the intense oceanic flavor of the uni. My companion thought otherwise and gladly polished off the remainder of this petite-sized appetizer.
The house bread laced with Asiago cheese that we noshed on between courses is difficult to push away. Served in heated loaf form and supplied by Etxea Bakery in Los Angeles, it’s one of those tangy double-yum breads where you don’t have to think too hard about the cheese in order to actually taste it.
Prices begin dramatically climbing at the entrée list, and especially within the selection of whole fish sold by the pound, such as New Zealand pink bream, Brittany Dover sole, wild North American lobster and Santa Barbara spot prawns (brought in before the oil spill). There are also a few prime steaks in the offing, though appearing as footnotes on the largely pescatarian menu.
My companion chose the Chilean sea bass sporting a delicate pan-sear and sitting in a puddle of browned-butter sauce. Flakey and tender, the filet was exquisitely prepared and complimented by pillowy ricotta gnudi, which really do melt in your mouth when constructed this skillfully.
From the “first of the season” category, I opted for wild Columbia King River salmon, served over a bed of English peas. The set also included leafy lemon grass used for amplifying the lemon nage sauce sitting underneath, which comprises broth, white wine and herbs tied together by a dab of butter.
The medium-cooked salmon filet absorbed the aromas of every element on the plate, but without upstaging the super-fresh flavor of fish. With roasted heirloom tomatoes in the mix, it was the earthiest-tasting preparation of salmon I’ve ever encountered.
An a la carte side of mac n’ cheese was pleasant and creamy, but lacking the awe factor we expected when first learning that it’s made with aged white cheddar, fontina, manchego, and yes, Velveeta cheeses. An order of chary broccolini with Chinese sausage and balsamic drizzles was decidedly more engaging.
Our dessert was stronger in alcohol than a couple of red and white wines we tried from the 13-page vino list. Hiding beneath the chocolate-speckled rice pudding was a puddle of strong cherry liqueur harboring liquor-soaked cherries. Forget the raisins in other recipes. Boozy fruit works far better.
Water Grill is equipped with two large bars, one on each floor, allowing you to lounge comfortably over drinks while grazing on casual fare such as salads, burgers and sandwiches. But if you’re dropping in for the full dinner experience, expect to shell out more dough while succumbing to a barrage of premium seafood choices matched, if not rivaling, only a couple other restaurants in San Diego County.
—Frank Sabatini Jr. es el autor de “Secret San Diego” (ECW Press), y comenzó su carrera como escritor local hace más de dos décadas como miembro del personal del ex San Diego Tribune. Puedes localizarlo en [email protected].
