Photography by Kevin A. Roberts
Sautéed scallops, parsnip purée, butternut squash, and wild mushrooms, topped with cranberry gastrique
Rockweed: Scraggly skeins of it serve as a bed for a dozen varieties of oysters offered at the marble raw bar. And though all of those oysters are tempting—Wellfleets, Tekiu Points, Bras d’Ors—that seaweed, flown in fresh with the daily-delivered fish, is a clue: This place takes seafood seriously.
The setting is stylish, with lots of chrome and dark wood, making for an equally luxurious counterpart to numeric twin 801 Chophouse, located across the street. Décor is minimal, mostly interesting prints of various fishy parts.
The chef is from New England, a sizable advantage in a seafood eatery; he proves his bona fides with an appetizer of fried clams. Among the saddest impoverishments west of the Atlantic is St. Louis’ lack of Ipswich clams. You’ll find the real thing at 801 Fish: plump bellies dressed in a gloriously golden breading.
Scallop buttons are sautéed and nestled in a cloud of parsnip purée, butternut squash, and wild mushrooms and spritzed with cranberry gastrique—a near-perfect assembly of texture and taste.
The striped bass is particularly delightful here. The sweet white flesh is seared, and the fish is laid on a risotto studded with wild mushrooms and shavings of asparagus and Parmesan and finished with a mist of truffle oil. Even more extravagant: a whole roasted branzino accompanied by fingerling potatoes and roasted pears in a lemon butter sauce.
Sweet, pudgy littleneck clams enliven a linguini with cream sauce that’s restrained, with just a touch of garlic and red pepper flakes, in a dish that would pass muster at our city’s best Italian joints. The same could be said of a risotto loaded with chopped lobster. (Oh, speaking of which: The lobster bisque is a must.)
A la carte sides are mostly steakhouse standards. Old Bay–seasoned fries are tasty but limp. Instead, consider a gratin of grilled jalapeño and sweet potatoes or hushpuppies with a maple-butter dip.
And for dessert? There are worse ways to finish a dinner than with a roasted fig–studded toffee pudding with a side of vanilla ice cream.
You might expect the wine list to be extensive and expensive—and it is, with an excellent selection for every fish on the menu. The wine cellar “wall” is a handsome atmospheric addition.
801 Fish is among the priciest eateries in town, a destination at which to celebrate special events or to test the limits of an expense account. It’s also a top-level seafood restaurant and a welcome one.
The Bottom Line: As the name implies, you’ll find lots of fish, beautifully prepared and elegantly presented.
