McCormick and Schmick’s Seafood

McCormick and Schmick’s Seafood
Hundred of locations in the US
400 Commons Way (Location visited)
Bridgewater, NJ

I am not a fan of malls. While I do go there for other reasons, if given the options, I would rather be somewhere else. However, when you are not in a major city, sometimes you can’t help it, specially when you are not from town. Also, a lot of restaurants would choose them as a spot to open. It might be a gamble for independent ones; not necessarily so for chains which has a corporate backing behind it. The major mall in the area happens to be Bridgewater Commons and one night I chose to drop by. Food court? Check; however, I went somewhere else instead. While there was other sit down restaurants there as well, I couldn’t find them (it happened they were partially “detached” from the main mall). Hungry, I ended up going to the one I was able to find: McCormick and Schmick’s Seafood

One thing that I am always wary about seafood restaurants in North America it is ambiance. For some reason, it tends to be higher end – sometimes for no particular reason, specially if we compare it to steakhouses (again, check my visit to Lone Star, which is a case of you get what you pay for). I guess, since seafood in this part of the world is expensive, added to the fact North American tend to consume top feeders (tuna, salmon, halibut, et al), it tends to make the meal an overall experience of its own. Here? Dim lights, every body dressed on the lines of business casual, et al. Not sure if it was a good thing I came here after work, when I was dressed business casual… Anyway, to the food.

As mentioned above, lightning was dim. I could have brought out my Speedlight but, while I wasn’t seated in the dead middle, using it would have really caught everybody’s attention. I wish I was seated in a booth instead. Oh, well. This, of course, has an impact on how the pictures were taken. In the case of the picture above of an Iceberg Wedge, it was heavily post-processed.

The Iceberg Wedge which, as the name suggest, is a wedge cut of an iceberg lettuce topped with some pieces of tomato, bacon and a blue cheese dressing. Normally, I don’t mind iceberg lettuce, specially if you are creative about it. Heck, I even like it “Chinese style”, i.e., blanch it and lightly stir fried. In this case, it was totally overpowered by the dressing that is started to feel heavy. Not necessarily a good way to start a meal. Somehow I wished afterwards I ordered any of the other salads to begin with. Heck, I might have ordered oysters! (It would have been really odd though to ordered BC oysters when I don’t do it here locally…)

For my entrée, I ordered something “safe”: salmon. In this case, Atlantic salmon from, out of all places, Nova Scotia. I had two options: stuffed with crab, bay shrimp and Brie or cedar planked and roasted – I chose the former. I will make a small stop here and switch topics: To those who are not aware of, almost all – if not all – Atlantic salmon is farmed, unlike Pacific salmon which is mostly wild. There are endless discussions about wild vs farmed and, while I won’t condemn the farmed fishing (which is something that have existed for millennia), in the end, I would rather have some fish than no fish. And, in this case, support Canadian industry rather than, say, Chilean sea bass, which was also in the menu and it is in the sustainability watchlist. Beside, in the case of salmon, you can tell it is salmon just by its unique orange colour; something you can’t guarantee with some other fish…

Now, back to my salmon. It came with two sides, the green beans as shown above being one of them. Blanched and some fat added to it, it made your basic side dish: not necessarily exciting but fulfilled what it is supposed to do. The other side dish was mashed potato. Unlike the mashed potato we usually find on this side, which usually has some twist to it, like garlic, here it was the basic mash. No garlic, no spices or herbs. I won’t condemn them for it, as I am sure some people prefer it that way; instead I will only add it was quite smooth. Finally, the salmon. Not sure if it is because I have had too much sushi or cooked differently (fried?), in this case, I thought the salmon was somewhat overcooked. It flaked fine but somewhat dry to my liking. As for the stuffing, I thought it was strange… Not to the point of a paste but really short. I could still see some “strands” or “fibers” but, otherwise, I won’t have been able to say it was crab, as the flavour wasn’t there. Something similar happened with the shrimp. Oddly, it wasn’t due to the brie, as there wasn’t that much of creaminess I associate this cheese with.

In the end, for a Vancouverite, the best comparison I can make would be Joe Forte’s, a seafood place where the food tends to be “safe”, not necessarily ground breaking. In a way it is not a place for me but I see why people would like it. The only thing I wish somebody could explain me: On the table next to me, there was a couple where a young woman orders… (Fried) chicken tenders… WHY???? Oh, well…

Tagged under: Chain Restaurant • Fish • New Jersey • Seafood