Restaurant Review:

After the third post my friend had put on her Facebook page, which described the latest and greatest piece of Wildfish’s fantastic menu we were eating, I realized she was using the site not as a social marketing tool, but as a way to make all of her friends jealous.

Seeing some of the comments later, she achieved that goal. The remarks from friends ranged from feigned indignation to mock threats.

I probably would have been typing right along with them if she hadn’t invited me along for dinner.

Though Wildfish was part of a chain, you would hardly know it by the care and meticulous attention Executive Chefs Arturo Briones and John Carver have paid to the menu.

The attention to detail was refreshing. I noticed from the appetizers to the desserts a genuine effort to make each dish unique in some way.

That was evident in the first dish of the night, the crispy cashew calamari. Most calamari is fried and served by itself with lemon and low-grade tartar sauce. This was cooked in a wok, placed on a bed of Asian slaw, mixed with shredded carrots, daikon, cashews and white crispy noodles.

There was a touch of red pepper to give the dish a little spice, as well as a sweet-and-spicy sauce to dip in and though I liked the sauce, for me it was unnecessary.

I felt the same way about the chive remoulade that came with the crab cakes. The crab cakes looked like a macaroon cookie, though this was more coveted to me than any dessert.

The all-lump crab cake had a nice consistency throughout and the chive remoulade was good, but again the dish stood well on its own. I was feeling guilty leaving such a quality sauce alone and found myself sneaking dabs of it on the bread that was served.

At the suggestion of our host, who was infinitely more acquainted with the menu than the two of us, the three of us sampled the soft-shell crab and lobster bisque.

My prior encounters with soft-shell crab did not go so well, but this blue crab was nice and crunchy without being chewy.

The bisque was incredible. It was so creamy and the cognac identifiable, but the several large pieces of Maine lobster were what won me over. The amounts of lobster were more than generous and I was getting meat in every third spoonful.