Hyatt's Tarpon Bay elevates seafood to fine art form

On a social level, restaurant reviewers get treated much like doctors: People always want advice. "Where can I take my new significant other to really impress him/her?" "What's your favorite restaurant?" "Where can I find great seafood?"

While my answers to the first two questions change regularly, that third question has a simple two-word answer: Tarpon Bay.

There are lots of fish joints around, many of which do a good job preparing local seafood. However, I have yet to experience a local establishment that does it with the style, creativity and level of service found at the Hyatt Regency Coconut Point Resort's casual seafood bistro.

Somehow it's remained something of a secret despite being open for more than seven years and offering a veritable boatload of fresh, expertly prepared fish. My recent visit proved even better than my previous one, which occurred about four years ago. I suspect it has something to do with the presence and talent of chef Vincent Savignano, who now heads up the Tarpon Bay kitchen.

Unique to Tarpon Bay is its ceviche bar, featuring eight variations on this Latin American style of citrus-marinated seafood. The process essentially cooks the fish, which is then married with a melange of fruits, vegetables and seasonings. Choose from a single variety, portions of two or three or, for the true devotee, a sampler of all eight.

Tarpon Bay offers eight varieties of ceviche, citrus-marinated seafood combined with fruits, vegetables and seasonings. All are displayed and labeled at the restaurant's entrance. Before seating us, the host gave us a guided tour of the ceviche, fresh oysters and red snapper appetizingly arranged on beds of ice in the bar adjacent to the dining room.

Choices abound here. Besides the eight kinds of ceviche, there are 16 varieties of oysters served on the half shell, more than a dozen fresh fish options with a choice of five preparations and three sauces, plus a number of signature dishes, such as brown butterbasted diver scallops, banana leafwrapped mahimahi and crispy whole snapper. Can't narrow it down to a single selection? Try the Tarpon Bay Trilogy — any three fish plus organic veggies and roasted fingerling potatoes served with three sauces.

Crispy whole snapper with stir-fried vegetables is one of the restaurant's signature dishes. While seafood is king here, carnivores aren't excluded. The menu also features organic chicken, filet mignon and pork tenderloin as well as a vegetarian pasta dish.

Each appetizer and entrée is painstakingly prepared and plated, served by a well-informed staff that fully grasps the definition of good service.

A properly chilled bottle of Grgich Hills fume blanc, with a nose full of tropical fruit and notes of pineapple, grass and citrus, paired splendidly with appetizers of stone crab claws, thinly sliced tuna tataki and ceviche. I sampled two excellent versions of ceviche, shrimp with roasted corn and coriander, and salmon with sweet chili, almonds and cilantro. The ceviche is served with a basket containing caraway seed-studded flatbread, fried plantains and tortilla chips, which provide a crisp counterpoint to the

ceviche while also serving as tools that help in scooping up the finely diced concoctions.

Entrees proved as lovely and delicious as the starters.

The Applewood bacon-wrapped grouper consisted of a good-sized portion of firm, moist fish. The thinly sliced bacon added a salty, smoky essence to the dish but didn't overwhelm it. Creamy leek fondue and asparagus and red onion confit brought still more textures and layers of flavor.

Banana leaf-wrapped mahi-mahi was another imaginative and well-executed dish, consisting of flaky fish, delicate ginger-lime pesto and coconut-scented jasmine rice, green papaya slaw and lemon butter.

The showiest dish was the crispy whole snapper that was perfectly fried and perched on the plate around a large mound of tender-crisp stir-fried vegetables, including fennel, carrots, water chestnuts and edamame, and accompanied by a light ponzu sauce. For those who fear tackling a whole fish, the servers are more than happy to take it apart for you but it's not difficult to navigate even for the inexperienced.

For dessert, we split the Florida Key lime sampler and a chocolate lava cake. The moist dark chocolate cake had a rich, warm, liquid center. It was served with a touch of ice cream and fresh raspberries, strawberries and blueberries. It was an excellent rendition of this popular dessert.

The sampler contained three Key limeflavored mini desserts — créme brulee, semifreddo and cookies. The creamy brulee and cool semifreddo both had great lime flavor and substance. The cookies, however, were bland and dry, misfits in an otherwise excellent meal.

The only other aspect of the dinner that wasn't ideal was the noise level in the main dining room. The place resembles a large boathouse, with a high sloped ceiling and lots of white wood. It's attractive, but there isn't much in the way of sound absorption. We arrived before the dinner rush when the room was relatively empty, yet found ourselves seated behind a well-lubricated party of six whose loud conversation seemed to ricochet around the room.

When we asked to change seats, the manager led us to an alcove that held just three other tables. The volume was considerably lower there. There were at least three of these smaller rooms and I'd recommend requesting seating in one of them when making dinner reservations.

Perhaps it's because Tarpon Bay is tucked inside a large hotel that its culinary excellence hasn't become common knowledge. If you ask me — and lots of people do — this is a great place to reel in both great seafood and service.