Pier 9 opened up on 53rd and 9th Ave earlier this year. It took over the space that used to be Agua Dolce and seemed to become this new place overnight.
Inside is very “under the sea” with dividers made of old sails, a watery color palette, and some plants that looked almost tropical. It was almost a little TOO designed. But it looked very nice.
They put most of their menu onto a mirror, however, it seems as though must had changed since they finished this according to the menu we were given.
We started with the lobster mac and cheese. It was labeled as “non-traditional” and good thing, it certainly was anything but traditional! It was like big, individual tubes of pasta stuffed with lobster and cheese and topped with lobster.
It was delicious.
Perfectly creamy and a really beautiful presentation.
We also received biscuits, which Mike very much enjoyed.
They had peppers, so they brought me some surprisingly delicious toast instead.
Mike got the burger. Yup… even in a seafood restaurant, Mike judges by their burger. He enjoyed it, but said it wasn’t anything super duper good.
I got the scallops over celery root puree, eggplant, capers, raisins, and pine nuts. It was a wonderful mouthful of textures with great flavor. I was really impressed with this dish. And the scallops were perfectly cooked and great on flavor.
For dessert, we chose the s’mores donut. It was a homemade donut with marshmallow and s’mores ice cream. I’m not a huge donut fan, but I LOVE s’mores. Problem is… what I love most about s’mores is the combination of crunch, sticky, sweet, chocolate, melty goodness. In this dessert, the donut reigned the plate and I thought it was good, but not my kind of dessert.
I was not expecting to like this place. It had all the makings of a place that was so overstyled that they would let the actual food take a back seat. But this was food first. And it was creative and delicious. Well done.
Total Nom Points: 7 out of 10
