Ann Arbor: Monahan's Seafood Market

When I made the decision to attend law school in Michigan almost two years ago, no one told me that I would be constructively depriving myself of decently fresh seafood for three years. That's just one little tidbit they left out of the glossy brochures. The seafood in Michigan is abysmal. It is so abysmal that even some of the supposedly higher end restaurants in Ann Arbor succeed in serving fish and shellfish entrees that at best, are of questionable freshness, and at worst, taste defrosted or old.

The one bright spot in this rather bleak picture is Monahan's. Generally considered to be the best place for fresh fish in Ann Arbor, founder Mike Monahan sources fish from the usual out-of-state suspects (New England, Florida, Hawaii, etc.), as well as locally (Michigan is, after all, surrounded by four of the five Great Lakes). They also pride themselves on being the only market in Ann Arbor to bring fish in whole, and then cutting or filleting to order.

Monahan's also does a brisk lunch business out of a small side counter in their fish market operation. Everyday from 11am to 3pm, the staff serves up tried-and-true favorites, as well as daily fish and chowder specials that they post on Twitter. During a particularly unproductive weekend, I meandered down to the fish market, located in Sparrow Market in Kerrytown, to check out some of the lunch offerings.

Fish and chips: Beer battered, North Atlantic pollack, with hand-cut fries

I went for the classic fish and chips during my first visit. The pollack was flaky, tender, mildly flavorful and fresh - just as it should be. The house-made tartar sauce, thick and tangy and loaded with pickled cucumber, only accentuates the quality of the fish. However, the frying technique at Monahan's leaves a bit to be desired. The batter encasing that great pollack was resoundingly crisp in some spots, but greasy and limp in others. The hand-cut fries exhibited similar unevenness in texture.

Bernie's Fabulous Chowder of the Day: New England clam chowder

Monahan's Atlantic Salmon Burgers, served with lettuce, tomato, onion and mustard-dill sauce

Still, I enjoyed my meal enough to pay Monahan's a second visit a few days later for a salmon burger and some New England clam chowder. The burger is served on a lightly toasted hamburger bun, which gives the sandwich just enough crunch. However, the salmon cake, while velvety and moist, could have used a bit more seasoning. I took a few bites sans the mustard-dill sauce and found the salmon flavor too mild. The sauce was a necessity with this sandwich, not a superfluous indulgence. The chowder, on the other hand, was well-balanced and expertly seasoned, with generous chunks of potato, celery and clam immersed in the creamy broth. For once, the clams were tender, rather than rubbery, and they didn't look or taste canned.

There is no doubt that the seafood at Monahan's is supremely fresh, and for that, they should be commended. The staff also deserves praise for their attentiveness and willingness to accommodate; my servers on both occasions were jovial and prompt. Monahan's aquatic fare is good, but the kitchen needs to tighten up their seasoning and cooking technique so that the preparation stands up to the quality of the product. Nevertheless, Monahan's has great potential, and I look forward to sampling more of their specials during the remainder of my time in Michigan.

Monahan's Seafood Market

407 N. Fifth Ave.
Ann Arbor, MI 48104

(734) 662-5118

Best dishes: Chowder, fish and chips

Hours: Lunch served Monday-Saturday, 11am-3pm; Sunday, bagels & lox served all day

Website: http://www.monahansseafood.com/

Sahadi's

Blair: "Can I ask you something? What do you think about falafel?"

Blue Columbia pre-minion: "Ew. Isn't that the kind of food paralegals eat?"

-nymag.com, Gossip Girl recap

Indeed. As a former paralegal myself, I know that I ate a lot of falafel (as well as a lot of questionable street meat that induced bowel-clenching stomach pain as I racked up charges on Westlaw). But this chickpea fetish is not limited to paralegals, as I discovered on my first day of summer internship training. As the group broke for lunch, the director of training (also one of the staff attorneys) detained us to share the most interesting thing she had said all morning: "Try Sahadi's. They have wonderful falafel sandwiches. They're amazing!," she chirped.

Amazing? Well, alright. Sahadi's sounded promising enough. A Middle Eastern market in Brooklyn (outer borough always lends a certain amount of street cred) stocking everything from tea to olives to dried fruit and spices, with a hot and cold food counter in the back. I made my way down to Atlantic Ave. for what I hoped would be a deliciously authentic lunch.

Falafel sandwich with babaghanoush: All I have to say is this. The last time I had falafel this bad, it was at Pret a Manger (which was also, incidentally, on my first day of work as a paralegal. Perhaps a bad Middle Eastern lunch is a rite of passage upon entering the legal profession). The falafel balls clearly had not been fried to order; rather, they tasted as if they had been sitting around, degenerating into the slightly soggy, leaden clumps that they were. The texture of the interior was dry and crumbly, like bad cornbread. The babaghanoush was passable, but nothing mindblowing. To make matters worse, the entire sandwich had been constructed rather poorly. The falafel balls sat at the very bottom of the pita, drowned in babaghanoush. On top of this mess was enough lettuce and tomato to keep Peter Rabbit satisfied for a month. Tahini sauce topped off all the veggies. The end result: I munched through what seemed like hundreds of mouthfuls of pita, lettuce and tahini before reaching any of the babaghanoush or falafel (and before being able to take a decent picture of the thing). The only upside was that it only cost me about $3.

Mini spanakopita: I had much better luck with the spanakopita. These little phyllo-wrapped spinach and cheese pastries were quite satisfying, although they would have been even better if the ladies at the Sahadi's counter had heated them up before serving them.

Bottom line: The next time you want a falafel, ask a paralegal.

Sahadi's7 A

187 Atlantic Ave.

(between Clinton St & Court St)

Brooklyn, NY 11201