Louisville Restaurant Guide

Housed in the former Diamante Restaurant in the Upper Highlands, Blue Lagoon is, despite its nautical name, free of hackneyed maritime decor. Wood-paneled ceilings and walls make it feel like an unusually roomy sloop, but the expansive windows providing a side-walk panorama afford much more light that potholes would. There's not a bad perch in the joint, nor, based on my experience, a bad dish on the menu.

Majority owner Remy Pouranfar claimed months ago he'd have some of the best seafood in town, and indeed, the selection is impeccably fresh, and limited in a good way: Fewer offering allow Blue Lagoon to keep the quality high. A baked young cod ($9.50) I had for lunch was feather light and among the most fish-flavor-ful fillets in memory. A terrific Tomato Sandwich ($7) my guest nabbed was even better. Breaded, fried strata of green and red tomato slices were laced with a smoky-sweet red pepper aioli and served on a billowy bun.

At dinner, the marinated, breaded and fried Gator Bytes ($10) were spicy, tender and delicious (though the clever flaming-onion volcano garnish became a smoldering irritant when it wouldn't self-extinguish). The Salmonsicles ($7) included thin ribbons of deli-cate, house-cured Atlantic salmon presented to encour-age diners to loop the fish around pita skewers. Cool idea and pretty in execution, but the starchiness of the slightly-too-thick "sticks" drowned out the subtle salmon flavors. A pair of sliders ($5.50) were made from fried baby cod slices rather than hamburger and bear no resemblance to their unctuous namesakes. The fish was crisp, hot and served dabbed with fresh tartar sauce and bookended by soft pretzel buns. Between each plate delivered we nibbled on wedges of excel-lent Persian Flatbread ($5) topped with freshly grated cheeses, tomatoes and basil.