pesce mediterranean bistro

I can’t believe I didn’t blog this place before.

Sometime over the summer (I think — it’s been a while), Snow and I had dinner at Pesce Mediterranean Bistro, which is tragically and criminally without a website. Snow is one of my favorite dining partners, because we both enjoy sampling as much of the menu as possible, and have similar (but not identical) tastes. Pesce’s extensive selection fit our style well, and that summer evening we constructed a meal entirely of appetizers and maybe a salad. Our server, Lenny, was not only accomodating but encouraging of this strategy, and helped us decide when we weren’t sure what we should order next. Everything we tried was delectable. Everything, and especially the seafood, was phenomenally fresh, and the flavor pairings — which came in both the traditional and innovative varieties — were well matched. It was one of the top dining experiences of my life.

Earlier this week, Snow and I made plans to have lunch together today. We exchanged several emails and had a long serious conversation about where to dine. There were many good suggestions made. We kept saying, “If we could know that Lenny would be our server, we’d go back to Pesce.” Finally we called Pesce and ascertained that Lenny was working, and that he could wait on us. And we were off.

Pesce’s lunch menu doesn’t have the extensive selection of appetizers the dinner menu does, but we were able to construct a wonderful shared meal anyway. We started with soup ($3 for a cup, $5 for a bowl) — some kind of lobster bisque for Snow, and a smoked butternut squash with goat cheese and toasted pumpkin seeds soup for me. Mine had more cream and less squash than I expected, but the taste still met my high expectations.

After the soup, we shared a baby spinach salad with crumbled blue cheese, candied walnuts, and some kind of vinaigrette ($6, I think). Lenny recommended it, and we were once again glad we took his advice. It was a little heavy on the dressing, but somehow, I didn’t mind because the flavors worked so well together. And I have been known to send back salads with too much dressing.

Our original plan had been to share a pasta dish and an entree, for maximum sampling pleasure, but about halfway through the linguine with clams, mussels, scallop, shrimp, and salmon ($9), I knew that there was no way I could enjoy another course. I ended up giving Snow part of mine, so full was I. The pasta also came with a cream sauce I could have done without (maybe a lighter version of it would have been better), but I was just as impressed with the flavor and succulence of the seafood as I was over the summer, and I was sorry to realize that I was growing full.

Not too full, though, for the dessert Lenny recommended. Unfortunately, after we’d ordered it, he came back to say that cheesecake he’d raved about was gone, and he wasn’t sure if the stuff that replaced it was as good. So, he said, just in case, this piece was on the house. I don’t know what the cheesecake he’d had tasted like, but what he gave us was very good. Not exceptional, but very good. Even better, though, were the blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries that accompanied it. Berries like that are hard to find in the summer; to have them in December was beyond my wildest dreams.

You should try it. Here are the details:

Pesce Mediterranean Bistro is on Eisenhower Blvd. I have no idea what their hours are, but they’re open for lunch and dinner. Our meal (2 soups, a salad, a pasta dish) was $22.26 and plenty large enough to feed both of us (even though I’d had only a piece of toast for breakfast and Snow’s not a small guy). It’s more expensive at dinner, of course, but still very reasonable. The atmosphere is casual but nice. Everyone’s extraordinarily friendly. And oh yeah, they have a bar, and a nice wine selection.

Lenny’s there Thursday nights, and…I forget what he said about the rest of the weekend. But I imagine the food’s great even when he’s not there.