Irony Fish?

An impromptu and generous invite from the Smith family led me to dinner at Ed's Chowder House, the recently-opened restaurant in the Empire Hotel. I wasn't planning on blogging about it, but upon receipt of my entrée (the Chatham Cod with potato chip crust, spinach, and mustard sauce) I decided I had to do the annoying thing and pull out my camera...

When the dish arrived, it wasn't at all what I expected (I thought the chips would be crushed and the fish would be completely coated). Instead, it kind of perplexed me and made me laugh: it was a sort of ironic, almost hipster take on a sort of old-school idea. I wanted to like it, but alas, the mustard sauce was too fennel-y for my taste, so the dish was merely OK.

But the restaurant has some great offerings, and is definitely worth checking out. I had a nice jalapeño-infused margarita, the lobster rolls were delish, there' an amazing creamed corn with jalapeño and cheese, and the chocolate doughnuts with vanilla cream, hazelnut chocolate sauce, etc. were a nice end to the meal (though Jimmy thought they tasted like chive dumplings...I wonder if the kitchen made the mistake of frying them in the oil used for savory things? They need to fix that...).

Ed's Chowder House is at 44 West 63rd Street, between Broadway and Columbus.