Restaurant Review: The Hungry Cat by BIL

First -full disclosure: My palate is really illiterate. Food to me is just something to accompany my Cabernet or Belgian Beer or both. My wife, on the other hand, lives to eat, and to eat well. Finding a new, interesting restaurant for her is competitive sport, and her palate graduated summa cum laude, first in her class.

My goal here is to describe new or veteran restaurants in or near our blessed community, from primarily my pedestrian viewpoint with input from my knowledgeable wife without going into tremendous detail. I leave that to Ms. Virbila.

With that, I would like to tell you how happy I am to find that the Hungry Cat has moved into our neighborhood restaurant row on West Channel Road. This street has become a paradise for the valet parking services, given the dearth of parking in the area, and maneuvering into the unloading zone queue is a challenge that the ravenous customer genuinely relishes.

That aside, the Hungry Cat is a fine restaurant serving mainly, or perhaps only, seafood, that is thankfully of high quality and artistically presented. The staff is professional and friendly, and the ambience is quite pleasant. Cocktails are excellent, and the list of beers and wines is diverse and interesting. The noise level is at a decibel power sufficient to silence the rumble from the PCH and almost enough to stifle dinnertime conversation; therefore knowledge of sign language is useful. Also, given the amount of shellfish incorporated into dishes, it would be wise to know one’s allergic status prior to ordering, and if in doubt, do bring along an EpiPen.

Prices are probably reasonable for an upscale Westside restaurant, but that does not necessarily correlate with relative value.

Bottom line: My wife would definitely return in a heartbeat, whereas I would joyfully make the trek to Fromin’s Deli for a solid tuna melt sandwich and pocket the difference in price. But I am admittedly both unimaginative and an inveterate Scrooge.