Sea Change

Copper Fish Catches Our Eye

By Warren Rojas

Often, when/if youngsters manifest any kind of artistic inclination, doting parents will load the child up with all manner of canvases and coloring agents and encourage them to vigorously explore whatever form of expression they find most meaningful.

Dali aficionado John Yarnall can certainly relate.

But instead of endowing his daughter, Joclyn, with a revolving line of credit at A.C. Moore, Yarnall has built another restaurant for his Le Cordon Bleu-trained progeny to showcase her culinary chops—the latest being a catch-of-the-day conceit dubbed, The Copper Fish.

Yarnall first planted roots in Culpeper’s downtown cityscape when he opened his flagship, It’s About Thyme restaurant, in the mid 1990’s. The community outreach expanded in 2007 with the unveiling of the adjoining Thyme Market. And while he purchased several years ago the historical property—the original row house was erected in 1897 utilizing bricks reclaimed from Culpeper’s first courthouse—which today houses The Copper Fish, Yarnall said plans for the vacant plot remained nebulous UNTIL Thyme Market customers began clamoring for more quick and easy dining options.

“Really, the Market created the market,” he says of the somewhat serendipitous business maneuver.

So, the Yarnall clan responded in kind. And, in doing so, they decided to fill a hole both in their own dining program and that of the surrounding area: fresh seafood.

In true fish market fashion, what you spy in the Copper Fish’s ice-packed display cases is what you get at the table. We’ve eyed everything from freezer case staples like tiger shrimp and king crab legs to specialty selections like dorade royale and opah. The raw bar is equally all-inclusive, fetching brackish specimens from near (Chincoteague, Rappahannock, Stingray), far (Alpine, Beausoleil, Bluepoint, Malpeque, Wellfleet) and occasionally very far (Dabob Bay, Kumamoto, Miyagi).

Yarnall strives to keep around a dozen different kinds of fresh fish and at least a dozen different oyster varieties on hand at any given time, though the supply is obviously dictated by seasonality and market availability. He says he continues building in-roads with local fisherman—particularly those down on the Eastern Shore—but stresses that he would not shy away from ordering abroad if the situation requires it (cited sardines he had flown in from Portugal as one such splurge).

Once the customer has selected the featured protein of their choosing, it’s time to talk preparation techniques.

“You really have a multitude of options,” Yarnall says of their open-ended ordering program, which invites to aspiring chefs to spice up their orders with any of a half-dozen specialty rubs (jerk, Moroccan, Eastern Shore, Asian, porcini-garlic, Latin, Greek) and/or dress their food in a cornucopia of eclectic sauces (black bean-corn, pico de gallo, cocktail, remoulade, tartar, tzatziki, arugula pesto, zesty pesto, pineapple- wasabi). Last, but not least, you can elect to have everything grilled or custom smoked (typically over oak or hickory, depending on the final selection).

If that sounds too mentally exhausting, may we suggest merely placing yourself in the chef’s more than capable hands by jumping on the globe-spanning daily specials (tilefish almandine, herb-crusted mahi-mahi, falafel-wrapped grouper, Guinness-battered fish and chips).

A ration of bacon-studded hush puppies pulled us in a number of delicious directions. Each deep-fried fritter packed savory bacon and sweet, golden corn niblets into every bite, but we were most intrigued by the suggested saucing options. A few splashes of hot sauce certainly upped the spice ante, but staff implored us to drizzle each hot, crispy puppy in locally grown (Golden Angels Apiary) thistle honey. The floral sweetener proved very complementary and incredibly addictive.

Feroce summoned a lime-colored fire starter forged from ground avocado, chile peppers, salt cod and yucca flour. The fiercely salty fish and zesty peppers totally dominate this epicurean exchange, completely washing out the avocado (its latent fattiness still coats the tongue) and the plantains meant for dipping.

Vidalia onions, sliced into translucent rings, verdant cucumbers, split into crispy chips, and ginger, freshly shaved, are marinated overnight in apple cider vinegar, triumphantly emerging as a refreshing salad that screams summer in every bite.

Saffron, fennel and sliced potatoes are thrown together into a cartoonishly yellow gratin (at least you know the saffron did its job) without any of the flavors really coalescing around the others.

Filler-free jumbo lump crab gets the royal treatment, being graced with a respectable pan-fried char around the edges (nice touch), anointed in savory aioli and basking in the company of smoky, juice-spraying tomato quarters while crowned with a challah-like pretzel roll.

A giant bowl of etouffee swings for the fences in terms of seafood content, submerging incredibly tender catfish filets, mussels, clams, jumbo shrimp and scallops beneath a sea of swirling spices (garlic is most prominent) and slow simmered vegetables (terrific bell pepper). Lusty chunks of smoked sausage and a rapidly receding island of parsley-studded white rice round out the delectably Cajun experience.

Farm-raised salmon travels the world via the pantry, first enjoying a penetrating massage with porcini-garlic rub (gives the fish a distinctly earthy tone and heightened minerality), then diving into the Med courtesy of an extra nutty arugula pesto (roasted pine nuts, vibrant basil both accounted for).

Do they have top quality steaks/chops/artisan sausages on hand for the taking? Of course they do.

But we never saw the need to move much beyond the fresh fish section.

Dessert tends to revolve around a base chocolate offering (fudge cake), some specialty item (bread pudding) and assorted seasonal pies (apple, lemon meringue).

A healthy slice of coconut cream pie absolutely hit the spot, yielding fluffy, custard-like filling embellished with shaved coconut, whipped cream and a chewy, cookie-dough like pastry crust. Sliced strawberries and liberal squirts of white chocolate sauce completed the sumptuous experience.

And if that all that isn’t enough, the bar fancies itself a bit of fancy cocktail haven. The house has mixed up around a half-dozen specialty martinis (roughly $14 a pop), including a dressed up version of moonshine (corn whiskey cut with peach schnapps and cranberry juice) and a send up of electric lemonade (Grey Goose, house made lemonade and Blue Curacao).

For an even more enjoyable drinking experience, ask about taking your beverages up to the rooftop deck—a semi-private sanctuary (accessible through the Inn’s Tucson suite) that boasts around a half-dozen tables and a calming viewing of the night sky.

The Copper Fish
128 E. Davis St., Culpeper; 540-825-1011; www.thymeinfo.com

Hours: Open for lunch and dinner Monday through Saturday.
Prices: $21 to $30 ($$$).

 

(July 2011)