Big Fish on the Riverfront

Grilled salmon filet wtih saffron rice and a goat-cheese salad with toasted pecans. (Credit: Jessica Bratton)

It's a good thing when a little bit of the beach makes its way upstate, especially if it's a restaurant with a solid rep. Beach presence around these parts helps remind us of warm summer nights that will hopefully get us through the upcoming cold season.

The newest beach outpost to hit Wilmington is the Big Fish Grill, a Highway One staple for the last dozen years that made its migration from Sussex County to New Castle County this summer, finding a home on the Riverfront next door to Iron Hill.

For those who have dined at the smaller Rehoboth location, the new spot at South Madison really puts the "big" in Big Fish. Enormous sea-faring replicas of sharks and rays hang from the cavernous 14-foot ceilings, giving the 350-seat eatery an aquarium-like feel.

Upon entering, even the host area is rather large, with benches set up for the dinner crowd on a wait. On the particular Monday we arrived for dinner, we were seated immediately in a roomy booth that could easily fit six.

Our server greeted us with a smile, offering a beverage to start while setting down their amuse of sorts, a basket with crackers, homemade cocktail sauce and a tuna salad spread made with relish, mayo and salt and pepper.

While sipping on a bottle of Sierra Nevada ($4.50; no draft beers available), we looked over their main menu, which featured fried seafood entrées, grilled items and appetizers. We also consulted the Big Fish Board, a rotating list of seafood specials.

To start things off we went for the soup and salad, selecting a bowl of the lobster bisque ($5.75), a gamboge-colored soup topped with chives, and the fresh goat cheese salad ($5.95) with romaine lettuce, field greens, olives, toasted pecans and raspberry vinaigrette.

The soup's orange hue was a result of the red peppers, which I could feel tickling the back of my throat with each spoonful. The salad sitting across from me was colorful and crisp, tossed in a balanced raspberry vin that was neither too acidic or tart, syrupy or sweet.

Although the bisque was somewhat thin at first, after a few stirs with the soup spoon, chunks of lobster came sprouting up. While working on the starters, we gobbled up the mid-course of fried tilapia fingers ($6.95), served with a homemade tartar sauce.

The fish fingers aren't weighed down with a thick batter, but instead dipped in buttermilk and seasoned flour and then flash fried. The result was tender-to-the-touch strips of farm-raised tilapia that flaked apart with each bite.

We chose our entrées from the Big Fish Board, which included the grilled salmon filet ($17.95) over saffron rice with dijon cream, and the baked shrimp ($24.95) stuffed with crab imperial and topped with lobster sauce.

The eight-ounce salmon filet almost covered the plate from end to end, with a fluffy bed of saffron rice below. Drizzled in a criss-cross manner across the fish was a sweet but light honey mustard and tart but light lemon cream.

As for the jumbo shrimp, five came out in their own skillet, swimming in the lobster sauce mentioned on the menu. The crab imperial stuffing had been topped with cornflake crumbs, which gave a nice crunch.

While the seafood dinner was solid, Big Fish is also looking to counter one of the greater Wilmington area's lack of brunch options with their own, starting this past weekend. Look for local sausages and scrapple, seafood omelettes, steak and eggs as well as bellinis and mimosas on Sundays from 11:30 a.m. until 4 p.m.

Happy Hour: Seven days a week from 4-6:30 p.m., the Big Fish bar rolls out the specials, including $2.75 domestic bottles, $4.50 rail drinks, $6 S.S. Minnows (their fresh Hawaiian pineapple-infused vodka martini), $1 off wines by the glass, and a $2.95 appetizer menu that includes tilapia fingers and bruschetta.

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