Catch Modern Seafood
6623 Market Street
Wilmington NC
910.799.3847
Lunch: Mon-Sat 11-3pm /Dinner: Mon & Tues... 5:30-10pm, Wed-CLOSED (3/10), Thurs-Sat 5:30-10pm, Closed on Sundays. 6623 Market Street #799-3847
Update: 4/29/10:
Catch gets a nod from well-respected cookbook author Jean Anderson.
We have been waiting for this a long time, people. Catch is by far my favorite lunch place downtown, and Keith Rhodes has been working on opening the Market Street location for dinner for quite a while. So when he announced its opening, I couldn't make reservations fast enough.
My husband and I went with his parents. There was a reasonable crowd, given the crappy weather - it had been pouring rain off and on all day, and that tends to keep people at home. The new place looks great. I know that Keith and his friends and family did most of the work themselves, and they can definitely pat themselves on the back. It's lovely. Not overdone at all. Sparse and elegant, and they scored those GORGEOUS light fixtures from Tayste downtown that closed a couple of years ago. They look like clear glass grape clusters and I love them. They up the level of decor significantly.
Before I get to the food, I'm just going to mention that the service was great, but they're still getting their chops. There was a little bit of confusion with service - it seemed like there was a little bit of "Where's the ____????" going on with the staff, but they were pleasant and cheerful, and all very excited about the opening, so who cares about a couple of minor hiccups? Everyone who works there seems to be invested in the success of the restaurant, which is so nice to see. And the food was worth it, at any rate.
The wine list was balanced, without offering too much or too little, and the prices were pretty standard. Phillip and I ordered apps and a salad and a main course, which we normally don't do, but I wanted to try a large variety of Keith's food and we were also starving. Plus, we shared, of course.
I ordered one of the appetizer specials - a crostini with crab, and it was perfect. One of my common complaints about crostini is that the bread is too toasted and just tears up your mouth without providing much flavor. Not Keith's. The bread was a thinly sliced baguette, lightly toasted so that it was crisp, but not hard, and chewy in the middle. It was topped with a crab salad that was mostly fresh, delicous crab, and not a lot of goop. Phillip ordered the pork lettuce wraps - generous portions of barbecued pork, wrapped in soft butter lettuce.
They all ordered the sweet potato salad for their salad course, which I would suspect is Keith's most popular salad. If you haven't had it at his downtown location, try it here. It's wonderful. Chunks of roasted sweet potatoes on fresh greens with dried cranberries that aren't too tart. I had a salad with shitake mushrooms and an asian dressing that was tasty, but kind of wished I'd had the sweet potato one instead.
For mains, Phillip had the tuna, which was seared rare, thinly sliced over buckwheat noodles and wilted spinach. The noodles and spinach were dressed in a mildly sweet/tangy sauce, but nothing to overpower the flavor of the tuna. My mother-in-law had the walnut tempura shrimp, served over ribbons of cooked zucchini - oh MAN, that shrimp was good! Crispy, sweet, full of flavor, and perfectly done inside and fresh. My father-in-law ordered the catfish, which was cooked in a pretty hot spice rub and supposed to be served over grits, but Keith ran out of grits and asked if he could serve it with the truffled mac and cheese instead. Since my father-in-law dislikes grits anyway, that was fine by him. He did think the catfish was a little too hot for his tastes, and after a bite, I agreed - for me. If you like spicy, you'll love it. It was just a little too much for us. I ordered the duck, which was served with Keith's barbecue sauce and the truffled mac and cheese. FINALLY a decent barbecue sauce in Eastern NC! You'll have to excuse us all - this family is from Memphis and the nearby area, and the sauce there is not just seasoned vinegar. We're trying to learn to like it, but it's such a nice surprise to be served real Memphis sauce, whether Keith realizes that's what he's making or not. The mac and cheese was mild and creamy and a perfect foil to the tangy sauce on the duck.
One of the things I've always loved about Catch is the portion size. You can order like a pig (like P. and I did) but not have to eat like one. The amount of food is reasonable, and you leave feeling satisfied, but not stuffed.
We're all so happy for Keith that he's launched his dinner location, and will definitely be back. For now, his downtown location is closed, but his plan is to put it back online with a new menu sometime this summer, so stay tuned!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
We had a disappointing experience at Catch on Market after being a fan of the Princess Street location. They lost our reservation, were out of the only non-seafood entry at 7 p.m. and took over 45 minutes to serve dinner. We were surprised at the price of the glass of wine at $9 with barely a touch of pour in the glass and the extra charge for the bread, especially with the delay in serving dinner.
Tried Catch on Market about two weeks after opening. Very disappointing! I guess it's different if you aren't a known regular or restaurant reviewer when you go there. The bar did not have 3 premium but standard liquors we ordered, no apologies. The server was not very friendly, and seemed to be pleased to tell us, 'No,' which she did several times. They have a hard 'no substitutions' rule that seemed strange to us (won't swap an already-prepared side?), but I guess they are trying to get a few things right. But it was presented in a haughty manner, along with the absence of salt and pepper, no bread (even when we asked), and a general attitude of 'we know better than you.' The wine pour for $10 was the smallest I've seen at any restaurant, ever. Another 'gotcha' is that they will automatically add a 20% tip to parties of 5 or more. Seems like a low number. BTW, the food was good, but not great;certainly not a top seafood experience. We'll give it 6 months and try it again. Hopefully they'll have smoothed things out and dropped the attitude.
Not sure if this was the implication on the last post or not, but I want to be perfectly clear that I am NOT a "restaurant reviewer". Nor am I interpreted as such by restaurant owners or workers, who don't know me from Adam's house cat, with the exception of Marc and Sara at Marc's on Market. I'm just a regular schmo, blogging and passing along my personal take on eats in Wilmington.
I totally agree with blogger about being a known reviewer or regular, especially if you have something to do with the Wilm Star News where it is well known that their writers unfairly promote certain chefs and restaurants over and over to keep them in the public spotlight. For instance, L.B. recently wrote about a new restaurant near Catch, but couldn't do this without first promoting Catch. I'm not trying to "dis" Catch...just happens to be one heavily promoted with a lot of bias. The food has good flavor and is presented well, but is well overpriced for what you get. You end up paying for hype and the decoration of the plates which is more impressive than the meal and service, then you leave hungry.
I wasn't trying to imply that professional restaurant reviewers do or don't get special treatment in local restaurants - only that I am definitely not one.
Seems there have been several disappointed diners at Catch, but I still stand by my original review. I still love Catch, and always feel like we get our money's worth there.
Post a Comment