When I heard that GW Fins was renovating, I was thrilled. I have always loved their food but have never really felt the same about the physical space. The renovation was overdue and very welcome. It doesn’t take much to get me to Fins, and the update cinched it. We went to the freshly spruced-up GW Fins for dinner after they had barely reopened.
The closure was only ten days because the change is minimal. The beams and floors remained and the booths were reupholstered in a sea blue. The murals were changed and the overall look is darker, like the deep blue sea. Dramatic.
We started with the biscuits. It’s a unique feature at Fins for someone to walk around with a cookie sheet full of these delectable treats. They are ever so slightly sweet and crunchy in top, And warm enough to melt the soft butter. Delectable!
Since it was the last week of COOLinary and the menu was great, we stayed with that. The first course was lobster bisque for me and tuna tartare for Tom. For entrees, we chose the Fried Softshell Crab and the Prosciutto-crusted Drum. Desserts were a Tart Cherry Cake and a shortbread cookie with peaches and butter pecan ice cream. We also ordered a few extras: Oysters Bánh Mi, and a side of collards and dirty rice.
The oysters came first. It was a slice of bread slathered with a Vietnamese sauce and topped with crispy oysters and a smattering of chopped cilantro, jalapeño, and carrots.
This was exactly as billed, with the pungent flavors of Vietnam. The sauce was characteristically sticky and the vegetables crunchy. And of course, the oysters were almost perfect, but surprisingly, not greaseless.
My lobster bisque was perfection. It was lusciously creamy with the telltale lobster color, bits of lobster offering texture throughout. It wasn’t a lot of lobster, but I didn’t need any actual meat. The essence was all I wanted from a soup like this. Divine.
Tom’s tuna tartare was a lovely presentation and a bit different. The tuna was set inside a pastry cup. There were three of these and they came with a gastrique of three sauces. Tom loved this.
I don’t think he was as fond of his entree as usual, and I could see why. It was billed as Prosciutto-crusted Drum, and somehow I imagined a dust of prosciutto. It was wrapped in prosciutto and perched atop mashed potatoes. It was the largest piece of drum I have ever seen. In hindsight, I wish I had ordered scallops which Tom adores, but it came with pasta, which he maybe wouldn’t have liked. He liked this well enough.
My softshell was fantastic. It came with a slice of corn spoon bread, which seemed more like a hoecake to
me, and piled on that was a terrific fresh succotash with sliced pickled okra. I am seeing pickled okra sliced in dishes all over, and I couldn’t be more delighted by this. The softshell was smallish but fried beautifully, and the presentation was lovely. A corn butter underneath provided a welcome sauce. This was just what I wanted.
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I also got some jambalaya with collard greens as an extra side. Jambalaya is a favorite food, and whenever I see it on a menu, which is rare, (especially in a place like this,) I have to get it. It was not the best I've had, but it worked. The same is true for the collard greens, which were a little too stringy for me.
For dessert, I had the Tart Cherry Cake which was a pretty little thing, topped with a dollop of whipped cream with a sprig of mint poking out. It was a dense cake with a dome of sliced almonds without a pronounced cherry flavor, but the gastrique adorning the edge of the plate was vibrant with fruit flavor.
Tom had a shortbread with peaches and butter pecan ice cream. He was crazy about this.
I was so glad to have an “excuse” to return to GW Fins. It has been an excellent restaurant since the day the doors opened 23 years ago. It remains every bit as good as the days of the colorful Chef Tenney Flynn, now happily retired in the Caribbean. And it is one of our very favorites, a sentiment shared by almost every other local diner.
