First visit to The Optimist

I had long been looking forward to going to The Optimist, the latest of Ford Fry's restaurants. Some of the staff from 246 had moved so I wanted to see them, too. Perhaps too late, I remembered that we like to wait at least six months before going to a new restaurant.

We showed up early for dinner and sat at the bar. Over the night, the bar would stay pretty busy. The bar manager, Michael, took good care of us. Among the things he made me, one was a Sazerac, his favorite, and a delicious version of it.

To start, a dozen oysters. They only carry East Coast oysters here and had ones from Connecticut and Maine. I'm wary of any Connecticut oysters -- I tend to find them insipid -- so we went with just the Maines. They were good and briny as they should be.

Next I got the jonah claws, which were described as sweeter than stone crab claws and with a longer season. While they were pretty good, I prefer stone crab for sure. It took a long time to work my way through this 1/2 lb of crab.

Josh got the octopus. It was spicy with Calabrian chiles. He liked it. The texture was great.

We kept hearing how awesome the shrimp a la plancha was. Chiles d'arbol, limes, toast at the bottom to soak it all up. They were delicious. Definitely worth all the mess. And shrimp heads, yay!

The hushpuppies were also not to be missed, we were told. They come beignet-style with confectioner's sugar on them. Frankly, confectioner's sugar was over the top but they were definitely beignet-y.

For my soup, I got the frothy she crab soup which was much lighter than those I've had before and actually reminded me more of oysters than crab. It was pretty tasty, but I'm not sure if I would get it again.

The shrimp toast that came with it was unremarkable. It was heavily soaked in oil. The shrimp mixture itself was okay, but not great.

Josh got the gumbo. Sadly, it was scorched, and he didn't eat it.

For my main, I got the duck fat-poached swordfish, served with green papaya, crispy country ham, peanuts. This was the weirdest dish I've had in a long time. Swordfish is a meaty, rich fish, yet it was poached in duck fat and, to me, was complete overkill. It gave the meat a slightly odd flavor. The green papaya seemed to have a fish sauce-sauce with it? It tasted like sauerkraut. The peanuts were a nice balance but the country ham? Crazy salty. I did not like this dish. It gave me a sour feeling for the night.

Josh got the speckled trout, served with charred okra, pepper jelly. He said it was cooked perfectly and enjoyed it.

So perhaps I ordered incorrectly. I really wanted the whole black bass, but knowing how much black bass costs, could not bring myself to pay $34 for it. I bet it would have been good though.

We'll go back. And I'll order with more care.