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The title to this post must have raised a few eyebrows, I would imagine. Passion Fish is a lovely restaurant in Reston, Virginia that we were invited to this evening by my husband’s newest friend Charlene. I had never met her before, just knew her from all of the telephone conversations that my husband has with her since she was introduced to him within their business circle of colleagues. The construction world is amazingly small; there are six degrees that separate everyone from someone that you know.
I can see why my husband calls her his friend; she is genuine, very, very smart, very savvy and very good company and conversationalist. The hours sped by very quickly this evening; before we knew it, it was past 9:30, I could have sworn that it was only 7:00, that was how quickly the evening went.
The restaurant specialized in seafood; raw bar, sushi and cuisine as well. My husband and I shared two appetizers while we were waiting; we got there quite early; the Loco roll, a spicy tuna, shrimp and avocado roll with a spicy aioli mayonnaise on top ad Vietnamese spring rolls. These two were quite good, but when Charlene arrived, she ordered the Kung Pao Calamari and that was delicious; a spicy interpretation of fried calamari and it was very well executed and presented. The main courses were very good as well; I had the Ciopinno, an Italian fish stew and my husband and Charlene each had the tempura batter soft shell crab. We were actually pretty quiet around this time, savoring our meal as we all should no matter where we are, it is infinitely better for the digestion.
The star of the restaurant show for me was dessert; they had Key Lime tart and meringue; I had never had Key Lime pie before, despite having heard of it for eons. You have to be careful because there are some places that do not do the right thing and substitute regular limes in place of the real mccoy, the actual Key Lime. This is a crucial distinction because the Key Lime is smoother than the regular lime, you would never make guacamole with Key Limes because you wouldn’t get the tartness needed to cut the fat of the avocado, but it is decidedly the smooth and delicate citrusy taste of the Key Lime that you want in your tart. My tart was so light, just sweet enough with the taste of Key Lime enveloping my taste buds. It was a dessert that I had waited way too long for, but never again. The next time that I see Key Lime tart on the menu, if I have room, that is definitely the dessert that I will be savoring once again.
Charlene ordered the Chocolate Mousse Crumble; I have to say that I had been intrigued by her dessert before I had seen the Key Lime tart; anything with chocolate always grabs my attention. Her dessert had the chocolate mousse hiding inside a ball of hardshell chocolate atop a raspberry coulis and a praline creme anglaise. Charlene said that her’s was delicious and then she did something that put me in awe of her; she left the dessert half eaten, she had eaten just enough to satisfy her desire and not a bite more. Tell me that isn’t amazing, I thought that it was amazing. Here are the pictures of our desserts:
Aren’t they small pieces of culinary art? I thought so.
We had a great evening with Charlene and I hope that we get to do this again soon.
laurieanichols 