Fish

280 Bleecker St, Btwn Jones St & 7th Ave, 212.727.2879

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Cost per person: $40
"YGWYPF" factor: 9.0/10 (you get what you pay for)
Food: 9/10
ambiance: 7/10

One can argue that my happiness factor was elated by the screening of Howl's Moving Castle, or maybe just plain hunger playing tricks. Then again, I can say, maybe not.

The fact remains- this is the most amazing seafood I've had around. Yes, it's way better than Thalassa - and, to boot, has a price point that I am more comfortable with (it still pinches, though - but then no one said seafood was cheap!). This came up as a one-liner recommendation from the Manhattan Users Guide newsletter a couple of days back - unlike other recommendations that pass right though me, the name - and the cuisine - stuck to my head. Since we were in the area, of sorts, to view the movie at Sunshine, we thought - well, why not!

From that point on - it was amazing. Well, no - my memory is definitely playing tricks here - it was amazing only after the food was served. The bread was a little interesting - there were these sweet cakes with little bits of Jalapeno peppers. But once the food was served - it was time for silence, appreciation, and a lot of eating.

We went for the Paella (not listed on Menupages) and the Pot O' Bass Chilean sea bass, potato, tomato, onion, white wine sauce). The Paella was the best I've had, the rice just perfect, spicy but not hot, with a generous serving of shrimp, clams, mussels, calamari, and a lobster tail. The Pot O'Bass comes as a broth - of which I can only speak in supelatives. A soup of white wine, lemon, onions and potatoes never tasted this good - and the fish was, well, smoother than butter, softer than marshmallows, and yummier than most things.

One of the recommended items here, which we skipped, is the Raw Bar Special 6 oysters and a beer or house wine (available all day, every day) - at $8 for a glass of wine/beer and 6 oysters, it's definitely a good value. Maybe next time I walk into here, I'll head for the raw bar.