Zoë

Rating: 7.8/10

Athens Rating: 8.6/10

Zoë is a restaurant in Athens, Ohio. As a restaurant located in the middle of Appalachia, I was shocked by the amount of seafood on the menu. At first, I was a little weary. It’s really tough to have good seafood transported in mass amounts. For its location, the seafood was quite good. At least the crab.

On the appetizer menu, I ordered the brussels sprout hash and the crab cakes. The crab cakes were my favorite dish. Three crab cakes that melt in your mouth. They were cooked in butter until just crispy on the outside but still had the texture of crab in the center. Exactly how a crab cake should be. The pairings were simple but delicious. On top of each crab cake was sweet corn and lima beans, as well as a light drizzling of remoulade. A remoulade is commonly paired with seafood, and I wanted more. Every restaurant seems to do it differently. I loved Zoë’s interpretation of a remoulade. It was classic and seemingly simple. There just wasn’t enough.

The brussels sprout hash was a delicious combination of mushrooms, red pepper and… brussels sprouts. On a side note, I am currently making myself angry by trying to spell brussels sprouts. I keep wanting to spell it how I say it, “brussel sprouts,” but I digress. They were delicious, had an adequate amount of salt and were charred really well. Vegetables as an appetizer were really fundamental to the experience. Normally, they wouldn’t be very filling. However, there was a large enough portion that it was more than enough for 2 people to share.

Finally, the main dish. I am a broke college student and felt the need to have the crab cakes. So, my partner and I decided to split the shrimp and duck sausage pasta to keep the cost low. Another delicious meal. The duck sausage has fennel in it. The only food I absolutely despise is fennel; however, it was so light that I loved it. Maybe that is my palate maturing, or maybe it was a fluke. Either way, the sausage was a hit.

However, the shrimp was not. It was not terrible. Afterall, it was soaked in an amazing white wine cream sauce, cheese, peppers and tomatoes. However, it was kind of hard. The texture was similar to tempeh. Not how shrimp should taste. It did not ruin the experience, but it did remind me I was in Athens.

Another mentionable thing would be the white wine cream sauce. It was delicious but lighter than I expected. Heavier in flavor but not as thick in texture. When described as a “cream sauce,” I expected a heavier cream. The flavor was there, but the texture was not as imagined. It was a very light dish overall.

For Athens, this is the most fine dining you will experience. Zoë’s staff did a wonderful job of making it feel this way as well. I loved the use of cheap materials and local art to create the fine dining ambiance. There were plywood walls painted a deep black. You can only notice this if you choose to look hard enough. The whole experience can be described as calm. If you’re looking for a delicious meal and a calm environment in Athens, I recommend Zoë.