I had the pleasure of going out to eat with a friend before a concert last night, and luckily we have a number of different choices for fine dining restaurants in the area. There has been a successful restaurateur who is responsible for the likes of 3 or 4 of this establishments, if not more. That being said, my friend had a strong hankering for the cornerstone restaurant, Jumpin' Jays Fish Cafe.
Jumpin' Jays, as it's known locally, stands proudly anchoring the corner of downtown Portsmouth, NH on Congress Street. It is always a bustling scene, generally requiring reservations, so we were pleased to get seats at the bar without any wait. I had been at the restaurant many years before, soon after opening, and don't have a strong recollection of my experience. I was willing to assume that was because the meal and occasion was punctuated with a friends' pregnancy announcement.
Anyhoo... the menu was mostly unassuming with classic appetizers such as mussels and calamari, but with sauces and accents which indicated some unique cooking techniques and flavor combinations. Plenty of salads and a choose your own fish/sauce combination. The Jay specialities also sounded delicious, but as I've heard from some people I've spoken with since, nothing that is so remarkable as to not be able to be made at home. I am not however someone who fries my food so I graviated right to the calamari appetizer which is flash fried and servied with a fire roasted tomato sauce complimented with a jalapeno vinagrette. YES PLEASE!!! I added a caesar salad for greens :) My dinner partner had a scallop dish served with and orange glaze.
Tangentially I think it is important to note that good food has to both taste good and feel good. By this, I mean that the texture of the meal has to suit the flavor but also the food that is being prepared. You don't want pasty mashed potatoes for examples, or charred steak. And the key to fish in general, as well as most foods, is to make sure that they are not overcooked. Fish tends to dry out and become crunchy, seafood gets rubbery, and this is often where general dislikes occur, when people dislike the texture (or how something feels) not the flavor.
So, in that frame of reference, I am sad to report that both of the seafood dishes were overcooked for the most part. I tried a scallop and while the chef was able to achieve the unique character of scallops through caramelization, they proceeded to be overcooked and weren't fork tender. Overcooked shellfish or seafood can have a rubbery texture which is how I can say most people are accustomed to having calamari though this is INCORRECT. The flavor of the light breading and the sauce were great but the calamari was tough and rubbery. I was tricked when I was little into thinking I was eating onion rings once which is how my mom got me to eat calamari in the first place. That should be the texture you want to achieve in frying squid - smooth, supple, NOT chewy. I must say that some of the tentacles were well cooked but you can't say a dish is successful if only a bite or two are good.
So, the lesson I want people to walk away from here is that you can have a good meal that tastes good but it's a GREAT meal that feels good. And this meal left me feeling well, like I was eating rubber bands. So, I won't be jumpin' back in line to visit that restaurant.
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