Text 29790, 66 rader
Skriven 2012-09-21 16:53:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: meal w/ brother 280
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A meal with my brother. His boss's favorite place* is Grillfish,
which finds itself in the first floor of an office building
downtown. Jonathan requested that we meet at 5, after his
dentist appointment, so I said sure, okay, what do I know. I
did some reading on the Internet, forewarned being forearmed,
and found that there was a happy hour from 4-7 with oysters
at $1.25, among other things; so I showed up a bit early and
ordered a half dozen to see, and, lo and behold, they were,
although from farther south than I like, fresh, large, and
quite palatable. Plus although there were 6 shells, there
were 7 oysters, something that is difficult, perhaps impossible,
to do by accident. A glass of I think authentically Italian
Pinot Grigio was cheap, $4.25, and not cloying. My brother
came in and watched me repeat the order, as the oysters had
impressed, and the wine not a ripoff. It wasn't quite 5 yet,
and as dentist's orders were not to eat or drink anything for
an hour after the office visit, he had nothing, not even his
usual Coke so watched me slurp down my second order (only 6
this time). Around 5 we abandoned the bar for the table that
was awaiting us. A solicitous waiter who kept Jonathan's
water glass filled. Good Italianate bread accompanied by both
butter and a pretty potent tapenade. I got the mixed grill as
rare as possible, hoping to catch a break as the menu said
that they cooked their fish medium-rare unless requested;
this came as two skewers each strung with 3/4-1 oz of shrimp,
scallop, salmon, and swordfish; all were what I'd call medium
to medium-well but at least still moist and tender. The sword
bits included the brown part and the salmon seemed to be
collar meat - almost throwaway cuts in the US but actually among
the best for grilling and eating if fresh, as they are pretty
fatty. Shrimp probably frozen Gulf and wholly uninteresting.
Scallops okay, scalloppy tasting and even a little sweet.
The plate was finished with a serving of way too salty and
somewhat overcooked not very jasminy "jasmine" rice and a
cuplet of sweet onion sauce, which was brown-sugar garlic
butter with onion in it. A local pale ale went pretty well.
Jonathan said something uncomplimentary implying that I might
get bombed out of my mind, his words, and I told him, quite
mildly, that I almost never got bombed and certainly couldn't
on two glasses of wine and a beer. One irritating thing about
him is that he wants attention, and the only way he knows to
do that is to be disputatious. Not a fine way to make friends
and influence people (I have suggested among other things
over the past 30 years that he take a Dale Carnegie course).
He had the broiled rainbow trout, which was pretty big and
looked enormous butterflied on the plate, along with some
kind of potato substance I think (I don't notice these things
unless I actually eat them) and two additional sides at about
$5 each. He gobbled everything down quickly but did cede me
a bite of fish (it was okay, nothing better) in exchange for
a taste of my fish. Between us we dropped close to a Benjy,
but I think I got a far better deal (paying for sides is
seldom a cost-effective proposition).

* His boss now is enamored of Mei Wah next door so has
ficklely abandoned Grillfish. I have always been a proponent
of Mei Wah (there is one nearer the house, up in Friendship
Heights, which I used to go to with the next-door neighbor,
but this is the "take visiting celebrities to the fancier
one" one); but Jonathan doesn't prefer Chinese food, women,
or culture, so he says, something to do with avoiding his
family (glad he's acknowledging this finally). Also, I point
out, self-loathing, which he vigorously denies.
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