DC Restaurant Review: Hook

It is not often that the meal lives up to the hype of a new restaurant but Hook did. A fish restaurant that uses sustainable fish stock and has three of DC's rising star chefs in Georgetown is a sure formula of success.

The restaurant in the heart of Georgetown is right across the street from J. Crew and the patronage definitely reflects it. Blond girls in dresses, dudes in Nantucket red pants, the restaurant has pictures from Ecco Environment on the wall, pictures you would find in National Geographic, and the interior is stark white with a hint of Mos Eisley Cantina. The background music had a distict nautical theme, basically it was Wes Anderson's Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. While a great place for a date, the potential for a group of friends to have a good time is extremely high. The wait staff, two per table were attentative and fun. There is no parking and no valet and trying to park in Georgetown at night or on the weekend for infrequent visitors will be troubling.

The food is arranged in crudos ("raw" in Italian), appetizers, entrees and desserts.

Crudos are raw cuts of fish slightly seasoned and placed in bite sized portion to give the patron a true sense of the fish. I have been craving poke (cubed raw tuna with some soy, sesame oil, cilantro) for a while so I was fairly charged up for it. There were 8 crudos on the menu I had the tuna tartar, the wahoo in orange ann basil and the barracudda in sea salt and olive oil for $8. Our crudo was paired with a sparkiling white from Italy which actually didnt enhance the flavor of the fish as mush as it upsaled our bill, another $8. All three were tasty but it was hard to get past the sashimi-ness of this course. I think a poke would have been great with this course.

At the appetizers we had a light and crisp white from France: we had the ham tasting, beet salad with blue cheese, asapargus salad with mozzeralla and freshly grilled calalmari and bread. A note on the bread on the website the pastry chef baosts that she cooks all bread in house which I find hard to beleive because the bread I had tasted very similarily to the uptown bakery bread but what do I know. The bread did come with this garlic butter that I initially found in Spain 14 years ago that totally blew me away. i could have had that butter all nigth and been happy. The hams a pruscutto and a virginai ham sliced thin and chunky respectivley was an off beat appetizer but well worth it. The saltiness off set by a sweet biscuit and a grainy spicy mustard was a good way to get yor stomach ready for the fish and more importanrtly for non fish eateries to fill full. I kicked my ass and I feared that my entree might not get touched. The beet salad was a surprise covered in a creamy blue cheese the salad was surprisingly not overwhelmed by one flavor. In fact the two complimentated each other nicely. The asparagus salad was slightly grilled but still crisp and th emozzerella was creamyy but firm. The calamari was excellent...I am going to spain in a few months and a relish the thought of having all the freshly grilled calamari. Overall a great way to start.

Entrees: sable fish with a garlic aioli, roasted potato with an apple relish; halibut with a roasted bean puree and fried lemons, and blue fish olive oild and sea salt on a parsnip cake. Wow the sable fish (more cod like) was light and whimsy but you could distinguish between the aoili, the fish and apple dressing and the combination was such a mix of tastes and textures it really made the dish varied, complex and damn good. The blue fish is typically a fish that is caught and thrown back but here it is grilled skin on to perfection. The flesh is very meaty in texture so grilling these fillets were perfect and the overall taste was fresh and hearty. I didnt get to try the halibut but I ate all of the fried lemons because fried lemons rule!!!

Dessert I had madeliennes, small fench buttery cookies and then a trio of starwberries. the fresh strawberries were a smash hit. It came in a straberry and Zabagiolne, Starwberry champagne ginger smotthie shooter, and a strawberry crumble..awesome! And guss what they can actually make a cup of coffee.