Pesce Blue is my model for a great dining experience and I'm finally getting around to reviewing it since Cliffe Arrand took it over almost two years ago. I don't know what took me so long. I keep yakking about it to everyone as one of my favorites so it's time to let the world know how I feel. The evening goes like this —I have a peach cosmo, all chilly liquid fresh fruit snap with a vodka kick and a blackberry garnish soaking it all up. I order my meal from the gracious, classy staff who keep an appropriately professional distance. And yet, there's still the warm personal touch I crave from owner Arrand who greets, tells stories, knows everyone, gushes about his latest house made prosciutto, waxes poetic about the great bread selection, talking "shop" with an infectious enthusiasm. Cliffe's Mom, Susan, is often there as well, helping to run the dining room. The décor is great too, a hip urban oasis in the midst of the usual mood from New England rustic wood, complete with pulsing music—even in the bathrooms—and modern art. Concrete, flickering votives, high industrial ceilings — I'm not in Kansas anymore.
Nope. I'm not. Thanks to the fantastic cuisine of Chef James Walter, self-taught (meaning no culinary school) and incredibly talented, I'm in Milan sampling antipasti made with ingredients fresh from a family farm. I'm in Venice dining on a creamy risotto made with local shrimp, smoked right outside. I'm in Umbria tossing my fresh egg into thin linguini noodles with fava beans and cream, smoked salmon and pancetta, creating my own carbonara. I'm transported.
To best take advantage of this great food, start with the antipasti menu. This is not your familiar antipasti with pepperoncini, chunks of salami and provolone, some sliced tomatoes—you know the drill. Here, the extensive small plates menu is divided up into a few categories with dishes ranging from $3-8. Try a few or four or six and share. It's all about the sharing. Verdura (vegetables) include white beans tossed with tangy lemon and vivid parsley or ripe local greenhouse tomatoes drizzled with aged balsamic vinegar. In the Pesce category you might find a mild smoked salmon with sweet herbs or sweet and salty white anchovies.
Thin slices of housemade duck prosciutto lie on a bright white plate to eat plain or with olive oil on a hunk of fresh Tuscan style bread or try the small veal meatballs with garlic oil from the Carne selection. They've recently added a section of street food with deep fried puffs of pastry filled with gooey mozzarella served with a vibrant red sauce or spheres of creamy pureed potato also fried and served with aioli for dipping. A bunch of those small dishes and some wine and I'm all set. The menu changes with what's in season so my short attention span is just fine.
But wait, there's more. Go on to salads, pastas and main courses in any combination you wish. The spring salad of pea tendrils and local mixed greens is tossed with a creamy truffle dressing, underneath which hides sweet smoky grilled white asparagus, slivers of sharp pecorino cheese and pickled morel mushrooms, topped with a soft-centered boiled egg to chop into it, a variation on a Caesar that works ($10.50). Yellowfin tuna tartar is smooth and tender with bites of pickled apple, tart capers, and hints of fennel in a vinaigrette, a creative and delicious combination texture and taste ($13).
Pastas can be ordered in full or half portions (mercifully). A crumbly house made lamb sausage Bolognese is rustic, but made more elegant by virtue of the delicate home made pappardelle pasta and creamy ricotta to mix in ($13/$19.50). Mint and pine nut gnocchi is also all handmade, tossed with plump English peas, Maine shrimp, cream and preserved lemon, all vibrant ingredients ingeniously constructed into flavorful decadence($15/$20).
"Pesce" of course means fish, so main courses bring our local seafood in to play. Pan roasted local cod comes with oil cured olives, red onion and lemon butter as well as a light cous cous, the cod flaky and substantial, soaking in the tastes of the Mediterranean ($25). The risotto al pescatore changes daily and we recently tried the risotto mixed with fresh herbs and white wine and topped with lobster claws ($19). But meats are good as well, especially a rack of lamb with balsamic braised spring garlic and roasted Yukon gold potatoes, the meat infused with garlic and rosemary and tender as can be ($28.50).
There's also a great new dessert menu here that fits right into Chef Walter's cuisine. Panna cotta is rich creamy custard with hints of juniper in a scented stone fruit mélange and a chocolate tart is two slices of meltingly smooth dark and white chocolates served with an orange salad with licorice flavors from anise ($8). A cookie plate with biscotti, lemon semolina cookies and a few more delights is a good sharing plate with coffee at the end of the meal.
Pesce Blue is an artfully balanced experience on all levels. Service is smooth and relaxed, the vibe is modern, with a citified décor that, granted, might not appeal to everyone but which certainly brings up the lively quotient. And Chef James Walter sparks the culinary imagination with delicious down-to-earth yet at the same time elegant cuisine, combining familiar vibrant ingredients in the most delightful ways.
Rachel Forrest is a former restaurant owner who lives in Portsmouth. Her column appears Wednesdays in Go &Do. Her restaurant review column, Dining Out, appears Thursdays in Spotlight magazine. Hear her on Wine Me Dine Me Fridays at 6 p.m. on WSCA-FM 106.1. She can be reached by e-mail at rforrest@seacoastonline.com.
Dining Out: Pesce Blue
103 Congress St., Portsmouth, 430-7766, http://www.pesceblue.comhours/: Dinner nightly from 5 p.m.; Lunch Monday-Friday noon- 2 p.m. Sunday brunch 10 a.m-2 p.m..
Food **** and a half. Cuisine as it should be, with local seasonal ingredients thoughtfully and simply transformed into delicious dishes.
Service ****. While the staff will get to know you, they tend to recede and tend to their tasks making it obvious who the "front man" is. Cliffe Arrand works the room with easy charm and enthusiasm.
Ambiance **** and a half. I'm partial to modern décor so Pesce's urban, modern atmosphere appeals to me and here it's done well. It's a great change of pace from New England rustic.
Overall **** and a half. An artfully balanced experience of cuisine, service and vibe.
If you like modern Italian cuisine, you might also like:
Ristorante Massimo
59 Penhallow St., Portsmouth, 436-4000, http://www.ristorantemassimo.com/
A more traditional setting for some refined Italian cuisine.
Villa Fresca
150 Lafayette Road, Rye, 319-1045, http://www.villafrescaristorante.com/
Brand new and delightfully creative.
