Mount Adams Fish House

Wednesday 16 April

This evening we went to the Cincinnati Art Museum to see their Rembrandt show.
After all, we couldn't miss a local show that actually made it into the Art Newspaper. It was only a roomful, with three loaned paintings and a good group of etchings and works by others, but it gave us much food for thought.

Then we needed food for stomach, and the closest restaurants are in the trendy neighborhood of Mount Adams. We chose the Mount Adams Fish House, where we hadn't been since a pleasant dinner with Jerry and Kay some years ago; we gather it's changed management since then. It added a sushi bar, but it's still small and pleasant, with attentive service.

We started with a bottle of excellent Frie Brothers Russian River Valley Sauvignon Blanc - it seems like places that grow good Pinot Noir grapes also grow good Sauvignon Blanc, as we observed in New Zealand.

For starters, we had a platter of pan-fried Virginia oysters on a heap of spicy tomato-sizzled red bell peppers. The oysters were nice and succulent, too.

Our planked sea bass came out on a real cedar plank, a firm but tender fish. It was served with asparagus spears and roasted winter squash (a little too enthusiastically roasted).

Our other main was a special of sablefish, which we'd only previously had smoked. This was fresh, cut into a diamond pattern, and grilled a little rare, and came with a baked potato stuffed with grilled onions and gorgonzola cheese.

All in all, a nice evening on the town.