Chef Romo remains a good catch for Fish

This summer, Fish celebrated its seventh anniversary. Patrick Properties Events LLC, the restaurant's parent company, purchased Lowndes Grove Plantation — the only surviving plantation on the peninsula — and the city of Charleston then approved Patrick Properties LLC's design for a seven-story hotel to be built behind its King Street businesses between Ann and John streets.

Then they "lured" chef Nico Romo, whose pedigree reads like a who's who in cooking, from Atlanta. This young chef has apprenticed at the likes of La Pyramide (in Vienne, France), a restaurant opened by Fernand Point when Point was 26 years old. Point is considered the "father of nouvelle cuisine" and a teaching chef who espoused the seasonal, the simple and the pure when it came to cooking. La Pyramide is a cause for genuflection among foodies. Then chef Romo was off to Pierre Orsi in Lyon, the capital of French gastronomy.

In true French fashion, where the cradle for ambition and excellence exists in food, Romo came to the United States to work as sous chef at Chez Philippe under chef José Gutierrez in the Peabody Hotel (Memphis). From there, he was recruited to a number of prestigious restaurants and business opportunities, including Atlanta's first boutique hotel, The Glenn, and its restaurant, B.E.D., where guests can actually recline on platform beds and nibble at their repast!

Fish welcomed Romo in May, and he proceeded to transform the menu with French sensibilities, Lowcountry ingredients and Asian nuances. He is a culinary choreographer dancing with Southern taste memory and an Asian pantry.

Fish is fortunate, as it is clear the restaurant has made an investment in its staff with the hiring of general manager Caroline Jackson, who brings both savvy wine skills and food passion to the equation.

Trained and knowledgeable wait staff take your order, and on a busy Saturday night, the restaurant was energized with contented guests.

The menu will change with the seasons, and the seafood selections will be identified as to their places of origin.

We never needed to leave the appetizer section of the menu, and it is there we found the strongest cooking and interesting combinations of ingredients and cuisines.

Shrimp Satay ($9) was wrapped in "bondage" by lo mein noodles, seasoned with fresh basil leaves and served with a spiced plum sauce. A hit.

There are spring rolls, ceviche, calamari, rangoon and tartar all dipping the toes of their ingredients in Asian persuasions — tempura, edamame, wakame salad, soy and ginger dressings — and wading out successful.

We set sail on the "good Fish Lollipop" ($6). Crusted with sesame seeds, these fresh fish nuggets are served with a soy-ginger dipping sauce and open your taste buds as good appetizers should.

A Tomato and Basil Gazpacho ($6) and Shrimp Chowder ($6) salute the season for soups.

Fish is the operative word at this restaurant, and I ordered Peking Duck ($19)!

I could not pass up its description but found that the duck's skin was not crisp (this classic dish has its skin served on its own as a course, with the flesh nearly an afterthought in Chinese restaurants) and the duck was flabby, though tender. Its side of Thai basil rice cooked in coconut milk was sheer pleasure, and the oyster mushrooms were a welcome change-up to a dish that has seen its share of scallions. Serving it with a Sauce L'Orange, the chef revealed his classical roots. I missed a crisped duck breast and the textural play of crisp skin and tender flesh.

To Fish's credit, the Naked Fish (market price) is served with your choice of sides. It is good to see a menu where fresh fish is allowed to stand on its own taste merits.

The Carolina Wreckfish was replaced by Red Grouper ($19). Served with saffron poached fingerling potatoes, roasted fennel and tomato anise broth, the ingredients spoke to the chef's Mediterranean culinary influences, but the vibrancy of the flavors was not there. The depth of caramelization from roasting, the licorice levels of both fennel and anise, all paled.

We opted to have our salad at the conclusion of our meal, and the Mizuna ($7) Salad is a refreshing antidote to the stratification of flavors in the entree selections and the perfect segue into dessert.

Nutty and peppery are the wild arugula leaves sweetened with carrot shavings, refreshed with cucumber and bound together with a miso dressing. Do try it.

Some desserts are prepared by Cupcake, and the Chocolate Cake ($8) with Porter Ice Cream, Whipped Cream was one of them. Intense, chocolatey, and with the malty and hoppy notes of the ice cream, it made for an interesting finish. Its chocolate glaze, however, was too thick and a detractor from the cake, as was the whipped cream.

The Watermelon Sorbet ($3) was a refreshing icy closer.

It is clear that Romo has an "MBA education" in food; he has pleased owners in many high-end properties. He is enthusiastic. Curious when it comes to world cuisines. He looks to Asian minimalism and American abundance. He is comfortable in his skin where fusion dishes play out on his menus.

I think he needs to stay in one place long enough to refine his vision, temper elusive flavor combinations, and I hope, for us, he remains the "catch" at Fish.