TRAVERSE CITY -- If fish bore you or turn your gut, skip this review for something more scintillating, because Catch Island Grill is a first-rate fish story, albeit one with no need of embellishment.
Late in April, four of us sipped Langlois-Chateau Cremant De Loire Brut Rose, (pink bubbly from the Saumur region of France) and reminisced about the various incarnations of this building on Park Street in Traverse City. We then moved on to the inevitable conversation about the recent flurry of talented new downtown restaurants. Bring 'em on, we decided, especially if they're committed to bringing creative food to the table.
Catch Island Grill delivers superbly on that score. Yes, fish and seafood are their thrust, but their pedigree is revealed in the tropic-influenced sauce and side accompaniments.
Start with pomegranate buerre blanc to complement cornmeal-crusted halibut; mango chutney with mahi-mahi; yucca lemongrass sauce and zucchini-shiitake mushroom cakes and arctic char; and pork loin marinated in ginger, soy, garlic and red wine, grilled and dressed with pineapple-currant chutney. Not many fish houses aspire to such imaginative heights.
Fish is my thing, always has been. My brother and his wife own a beach house on a backward little island in the central Bahamas, not far from where Columbus first made landfall. Heaven can't look much different. Every year, about February or so, Victoria and I visit for a couple weeks.
Most evenings just about sundown, after cleaning the fish and refilling our tumblers with rum, my brother and I make our way to the kitchen and begin squabbling about how we're going to prepare the spectacularly fresh fillets. We frequently eat part of our catch raw, either sashimi-style with soy, or just with a squeeze of citrus and sprinkle of sea salt.
Forgive my Bahamian digression. Let it be known, I can thoroughly appreciate the careful thought in menu design and exquisite execution we experienced at Catch Island Grill.
We started with a large comfort-food Sampler Platter of coconut shrimp, conch fritters, curried mussels and sea scallops. It's not cutting edge but is a perfect mix of bright flavors, crunch and savory gooiness. What's not to like?
The four of us shared plates of Blackened Red Grouper, Plantain Crusted Tilapia, Yellow Fin Tuna and Char. Each fillet was impressively presented and sizzled on arrival. The more heavily seasoned presentations were served with the cooling influence of ratatouille. Again, we could not have been happier. A bottle of Irony Pinot Noir proved a wonderful match all around.
Since opening, Catch's selection of fresh fish has included some oddballs like opakapaka, parrot fish, moonfish and wolf fish, in addition to pompano, swordfish, tilapia, tuna and the other ocean-goers mentioned above. Chef duties fall on the immensely talented shoulders of Randy Chamberlain, formerly of The Boathouse and Le Bear, and certainly among the area's finest chefs.
120 S Park St., Traverse City, 933-7200. Summer hours: Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to midnight, Sundays, 4 to 10 p.m.
Matt Sutherland is co-founder of the Traverse Epicurean Classic and author of "Savor Michigan Cookbook: Michigan's Finest Restaurants, Their Recipes & Their Histories." He can be reached at mfsutherland@yahoo.com or care of the Record-Eagle.
Print this story
E-mail this story
