I love Seafood by the Seashore.

Well, my feelings may not have yet reached love for seafood but after trying a couple of dishes this past week in Dubrovnik, it's possible that I am on my way. Finally I have reached my destination and don't have to bore you with as many daily details, but can now really get down to business and write about the thing that all people love, food.

Our first night, Dean B and Professor Banac treated the class to a spectacular dinner out. We walked through the main street of the old city and end up at a restaurant named Rosario (formely Rosarij for those of you that might have already visited). Professor Banac assured the group that Rosario is the best restaurant in town and by the end of the meal, I was more than convinced.

We began the meal with small amounts of two kinds of tradtional Croatian liquor. The first, clear liquid's name was given to us as Grapa. Though I didn't have the chance to try it, it was describe to me by Django and being clear, smooth, and strong. The second drink was a light brown brandy that provided a nice balance of sweet and warm. Fiery going down, but not so strong that one couldn't sip more politely that my college student throw back.

The next course consisted of four smaller portions of traditional Croatian cuisine. The first, codfish with garlic and potatoes is a dish that is served around Christmas. Other people in the group commented that the codfish was a bit too fishy for them, to my untrained tongue, the garlic and potatoes seemed to cut the fish down quite nicely.  The dish felt like comfort food of the best kind, heavy, strong in flavor, and filling. Next came the octopus salad of grilled octopus, fresh tomatoes and onions with balsamic, salt and pepper and maybe a couple of other spices I couldn't identify by taste. The onions and tomatoes provided crunch to counter the chewy octopus, but I was so aware of the suckers that I wasn't ready to enjoy this dish as much as the cod. I then moved on to the raw sliced anchovies over fresh arugula. Now arugula, that's some foliage I can really get behind. The biting spiciness of the lettuce was refreshing after the first two, very different dishes, and it went well with the salty anchovies. The initial crunch when biting into the leaves was also helpful in balancing the softer texture and infirm state of the raw fish. Finally, we get to the baby calamari. These were entire tiny squids battered and fried to what looked like perfection. Once I got passed the relization that Iwas consuming an ENTIRE animal BABY animal, the dish was quite good. I am a texture person at heart, and the fried batter no only tasted delicious as most fried dishes do, but to me it felt like a much more comfortable and balanced way to eat a rather chewy sea creature.

The next course was a grilled blue-gill fish with Croatian Swiss-Chard. I was instructed to squeeze my lemon over the fish and dig in immediately. If one dish of the night were to win my heart over completely, this would be the dish. Though it seems simplistic and easy, I can honestly say as someone who is generally deathly afraid of going near seafood, this didn't taste like seafood. The taste was crisp, clean, and delicious, that's all my brain registered. I gathered from the regular seafood lovers around the table that the fish was not "fishy" at all, so much so that it tasted like a lighter healthier chicken (though not so much so that it diminished awe at the chef's execution). The swiss-chard was, well, swiss chard, but paired quite nicely with the citrus of the lemon and the surreal, fishless-ness of the fish. This was a plate that I cleared completely and would take more of any day, any time.

Finally after lots of wine, a taste of the sea, and incredible amounts of bread to soak up the wine, we were served a popular dessert that the Croatians as well as the Spaniards, Italians, and many South Americans like to claim as the own. Creme Caramel, or more popularly known as flan.

I haven't had flan before, and slightly gelatinous textures are not for me. But I did take a spoonful of this big guy and was surprised by how un-sweet the Creme Caramel actually was. Yes, that brown sauce you see does taste of caramel, but the inside was heavy, eggy, and dense. Not bad, but not quite the dessert I was looking for. I much preferred the sauce and whipped cream, though Django, who was able to eat 8 of these lovely desserts while we all watched in amazement, might beg to differ.