When Joshua Skenes and team opened Angler it was a casual extension of their ultra-fine dining restaurant, Saison. The ethos was there: cooking by a live fire, maniacal attention to sourcing ingredients and timing, exposed brick decor, 80s power ballads loudly blaring juxtaposed by smarted-suited service staff, taxidermy bears and swordfish, exposed fish tanks, and perhaps the most visually distinct: Upside down flowers and herbs hanging on hooks in the kitchen. Say what you will about that sensibility (I love it) but what is undeniable is it's unique.
The food and cocktails reflected that voice. Succulent lightly fired spot prawns, their addicting radicchio salad with an "XO" sauce (served with a murder weapon-sized knife), their special caviar on a banana pancake, parker house rolls, the potato sliced and meticulously reassembled with Sonoma cheeses, and of course the soft serve sundae with candied cocoa, smoked salt drizzled with embered caramel. I can go on.
It is now run by new leadership in Culinary Director Paul Chung and Adam Stacy, Chef de Cuisine. How its evolution is playing out in real-time but early visits has kept that ethos alive and even pushed it.