Water Grill's raw bar is an asset, too. Check the blackboard for the daily offerings. It includes several kinds of raw oysters and tender, delicious clams, hefty steamed prawns, some lobster and steamed chilled mussels that go well with the garlicky aioli. But the spiced-seared hamachi makes one realize why hamachi is best as sashimi. Slightly warmed as it is here, it tastes fatty.
Main courses are a mixed bag.
Some are wonderful, others are fussy and overworked. Tops on my list is the loup de mer, French sea bass, grilled whole, fileted table-side and served with braised sweet fennel, roasted sweet red and yellow peppers. Cimarusti really knows how to cook lobster. His is tender and full of flavor, enhanced by a silken lobster nage and a ragout of English peas and pearl onions. Often he grills salmon, either New Zealand or, in season, superb Copper River king salmon, and serves it with what looks like a spring roll pastry packet filled with wild mushrooms and an overly strong red-wine butter.