If I could have the calamari salad at Goldfish in Ossining for dinner every night, I would. The lettuce was refreshing, the calamari had a lovely texture and the roasted tomato and roasted beet (one each, yes) were sweet and added depth. A real winner.
As you can see from my previous posts, I’m dining my way through Hudson Valley Restaurant Week, which runs through March 21 (except Saturday). You can see all the participating restaurants here at hudsonvalleyrestaurantweek.com. Dinners are $26.09 and lunches are $16.09.
Today I’m at Goldfish, the seafood restaurant in Ossining owned by the same folks that have Casa Rina in Thornwood. I’m going to write my review — but I want to hear about your experiences, too: whether here or anywhere else. So give me your reviews…. and I’ve got some incentive. I’ll give the authors of my five favorite comments 2 free tickets to our Wine&Food Festival, April 4, 5 and 6 at the DoubleTree Tarrytown.
Goldfish has one of the largest restaurant week menus I’ve seen. There are no fewer than 13 entrees and 9 appetizers or salads. I got to try 6 dishes (including desssert).
I’ve been to Goldfish before, though it’s been a while. I sat in almost the same spot at the bar. I hadn’t made a reservation (do as I say, not as I do!) and there weren’t many tables left. And I can see why. People were having a lot of fun. Susan Aguado of Cortlandt Manor, left, and Rhoda Stephens of Croton-on-Hudson —
were dining with Kathe Needle of Cortlandt Manor, left, and Estelle Linz of Cortlandt Manor:
They loved their meal. Mussels, scallops, clams, calamari, steak — they had the works. Mussels?
“Huge, soft and not chewy, with lots of garlic.” The filet mignon (served with herbed potato cake, Calabrian zucchini and mushroom sauce)? “So big I had to take home.”
Bruce and Ann Beckmann of Chappaqua had the mesclun salad (with herbed croutons and marinated tomato), the clam chowder, the seared tuna with a sesame crust, arugula potatoes, pesto and tomato vinaigrette and the filet mignon.
They liked everything, and Ann says the filet was also “too much for me.” She was taking it home.
David Seidler of Staten Island and his SO Linda David of Cortlandt were having a ball.
“Loved it!” they said. They had the Chilean Sea Bass, the mussels (“tender and really good”), the clams oreganata (not on the HVRW menu) and the chowder.
These folks are HVRW happy:
From left, Tony Antonopoulos of the Bronx, Mary DeCesare from Tarrytown and Sharon Moskowicz of Ardsley.
“This place is wonderful!” says Mary. “It’s my fifth time here.” Not only that, it was Tony’s second HVRW meal of the day. He went to Restaurant X for lunch. (He also loved it.) They had the arugula salad, the sole and the mussels (“so plump they are!”).
Elaine Seltzer of Yorktown was celebrating her birthday with her son, Scott (of Sleepy Hollow) and her husband Cliff. Happy birthday Elaine!
(By the way, Scott is the GM of the Paramount Center for the Arts and Cliff is the founder of The Mainstage.) They had the tuna (“awesome”) the scallops (“delicious”) and the mussels.
“The food was great — and we eat out a lot,” said Cliff. Cliff also recommends Hanlon’s Neighborhood Steakhouse in Mahopac and The Heights in Yorktown.
What would I recommend at Goldfish, you ask? Well for starters, the New England Clam Chowder.
Excuse the half-eaten bowl! My husband couldn’t wait until I got back from snapping photos to dig in. The soup was chockerblock full of clams, and a lovely mix of broth and cream… not too milky, not too thin. Very nice.
I also quite liked the tuna. Sesame-crusted with arugula hashed potaotes, pesto and tomato vinaigrette.
The tuna was a bit cold (though I admit, I spent a couple of minutes taking pictures of it), and though the potatoes were tasty, I expected them to be a little crispier. They were more like diner-style hash browns. There was a nice surprise under the fish: bok choy that was cooked crisp and sweet with a hint of wasabi.
Unfortunately the cod wasn’t as much of a success:
The fish was bleachy smelling and the pasta, though seasoned well (they used plenty of salt in the water) wasn’t dressed properly, as you can see. I wished I’d given this a pass in favor of the sea bass with artichokes or the scallops with asparagus (I told you there were a lot of choices!).
Let’s get back to my salad, though:
It was made with frisee, red leaf, chickory and radicchio lettuces, and the texture of the calamari was not too chewy. There was a tang from the chili dressing and the roasted tomato and beet brought sweetness. I also liked the surprise of the caramelized onions underneath.
Oh, and a by-the-by: with the bread comes a very nice black bean-hummus dip. Very good.
Here’s one of the owners, Tommy Stratis. A very congenial guy:
The dining room:
Desserts? Impressive. The lemon sauce on the ricotta fritters made the dish:
And I fell in love with the butterscotch pot de creme:
It was creamy, rich, sugary and caramel-y. It was a little runny, but I quite liked that.
It’s fun to go to Goldfish — really. People know each other. They say hi. They welcome strangers. I didn’t have quite as amazing a dining experience as at my other HVRW restaurants so far, but I walked away wishing there was a Goldfish in my neighborhood, and that’s a good thing.
Goldfish, 6 Rockledge Ave., Ossining. 914-762-0051. goldfishdining.com
ADD: Goldfish Menu. Click to view.
5 Comments
So what did you think of Goldfish — or any other HVRW restaurant?
Tell me here in the comments field. I’ll choose my five favorite comments and give the authors each a free pair of tickets to the Greater New York Wine&Food Festival on April 4, 5, and 6 at the DoubleTree Hotel Tarrytown.
We went to Lantern last Sunday, unfortunately they didn’t honor the restaurant week special due to the St. Pat’s parade. We stayed anyway and I had the prime rib which was pretty good and John had chicken cordon bleu, not so good. It seemed to be frozen and his baked potato had seen better days. We may give them another shot if we’re in the area. I’m looking forward to our next ventures, Goldfish on Friday and Bird and Bottle next week.
When the Hudson Valley Restaurant Week presented itself, I decided my mother and I would have to take the time to try something new at a price point better suited for our budget. We spent time exploring the participating restaurants. We checked to see who did lunch, who recommended reservations and, most importantly, who had the menu that caused our mouths to water the most. After perusing a number of websites we decided the menu for Il Sorriso was too tempting to pass up. We decided to take the trip down to Irvington for lunch. (Il Sorriso does not participate in the lunch portion of Restaurant Week, though our stomachs seemed to overlook that detail.)
Luckily for us only one table was taken when we arrived and we were sat at one of the best tables in the place, right in front of a large window that looked out to the Hudson. The dining room had a nice atmosphere with a Tuscan style motif on the walls and cathedral ceiling. Since we were one of only two tables, the room was naturally quiet and peaceful. Our waiter promptly came over and asked if we should like anything to drink and drew our attention to the Specials, recommending the fillet mignon and the pork chops. The kind and attentive service ended there for us.
After having chosen tap water with lemon over the offered bottle of Pellegrino, opting not to indulge in a glass of wine at 1 pm and deciding on the lunch panini over the recommended specials we were overlooked the remainder of our lunch. When the sandwiches arrived, twenty minutes later, they were offered to our table without wishes of an enjoyable meal or ketchup for the French fries.
The newly occupied table in the corner had the good grace of ordering wine and large entrees and were therefore afforded the courtesy of a meal served in a timely fashion as well as kind words from our mutual waiter. I grabbed the opportunity of his being within close range to ask for ketchup as well as refills of our free tap water. When he returned without a response my mother made an attempt at diplomacy by informing the waiter that the meal was delicious, a compliment to which the man made no response.
From that point in the meal it was quite clear that we were thought to be cheap, uncultured and undesirable, a point that was driven home by the attention which was shown to our fellow patrons. When we asked what the sauce was that accompanied the bread we were surprised to hear it was comprised mostly of onions, to which we were informed that it did taste more oniony today than usual. (Please do excuse our amateur palates.) And our decision to pass on dessert was the coup de grace for the man who had deigned to wait on us.
While I would not consider myself a foodie, a trendsetter or an expert on taste we are not novices to the world of fine cuisine. We have eaten at many of what are considered the better restaurants in Westchester and New York City. I am truly offended at the poor treatment my mother and I received, treatment that can only seem to be based on the amount we intended to spend. I do not think it is unreasonable to ask to be treated with the respect and attention, whether I am ordering rack of lamb or black bean soup. Ordering sparkling water, wine and dessert should not be the prerequisites for good service. Perhaps if we had splurged on an early afternoon cocktail or felt lunch was the time for beef we would have encountered a more pleasant waiter and enjoyed our time at a new place, but alas, my stomach does not decide its meals on the attitude of others.
Kate, did you ask what time they served their HVRW dinner menu? If you check last year’s blog, you will find that Liz ate there and found that they did not start serving it until 8pm. This sounds like a place that just doesn’t appear customers who are not big spenders.
Oops, I meant “appreciate”.