Still riding high: Longtime seafood spot Pelican's still a special night out

Albuquerque’s location, hundreds of miles from the nearest ocean, has done little to dim the love of its citizens for seafood. If anything, it’s intensified it. Fish and shellfish feature prominently at local high-end restaurants, taco stands and everywhere in between.

No single place in the city devotes so much of its being to seafood, though, than Pelican’s, the longtime restaurant on Montgomery Boulevard in the Northeast Heights. Its very appearance, with a wood-planked entryway lined with thick ropes dangling between posts, evokes a fish shack overlooking the Pacific or the Gulf of Mexico.

Pelican’s opened in the 1970s and developed a loyal following as the city expanded around it. A West Side location launched 25 years later on Coors Boulevard, just north of the Coors Bypass.

Still riding high: Longtime seafood spot Pelican's still a special night out

The Height’s location sits on the south side of Montgomery Boulevard near Eubank Boulevard. It shares a parking lot with a busy shopping center anchored by The Dirty Bourbon, the Western bar and dance hall.

You enter the restaurant on the Montgomery side just past a patio with a handful of tables. Go through two doors and you’re in a narrow waiting area that tends to be crowded. Some nights, you need the moves of an NFL running back just to make it to the hosting station.

That energy carries through the three dining rooms that on a recent Saturday night were alive with laughter and conversation, amplified by all the hard wooden surfaces. Wood, in fact, is everywhere: the walls, the tables, the beams that cross the ceilings above. It’s easy to imagine you’re in the tavern of some foggy coastal town, an effect further enhanced by the smoke wafting out from the kitchen in the back.

The crowd in the dining room that night was a mix of older couples and large families with young children.

The low lighting and convivial atmosphere lend themselves to drinking, and Pelican’s has a wide selection of affordable wines, local beers and beach bum cocktails to fulfill that want. On this night, the drinks specials were a variety of watermelon-based drinks fit for the hot weather outside. We tried a Watermelon Mojito ($9.95). It was lovely to look at, the pale pink color of the drink looking like a sunset against the deep-green patches of muddled mint. The slight sweetness of the watermelon, augmented with the rum’s faint notes of vanilla, made for a refreshing drink, even if the watermelon flavor was a little too muted.

Seafood is the main draw here, as evidenced by the plates of shrimp and fish being spirited to tables across the dining room by the young servers dressed in black pants and black short-sleeved shirts. Somewhat confusingly, seafood options are split into two different sections of the menu. The more expensive varieties like halibut and sea bass are listed under “Fresh Catches” and run close to $40. The rest of the items range between $25 and $30, with the exception of Australian Lobster Tail listed at market price: a shorthand that generally means “more expensive than anything else on the menu.”

I ordered the Trout Almondine ($24.95), an old standby. The trout is one of several Early Bird specials available from 4 to 6:30 p.m. They are described on the menu as having lower prices and smaller portions. The discount isn’t as significant as it used to be — my trout was only $1 less than the regular menu price — but the portion was quite generous. The fish was served butterflied and breaded, and topped with slivered almonds and a lemon slice. The crisp breading was subtle enough to let the moist, mildly flavored fish shine. An accompanying vegetable medley of broccoli, sliced carrots and zucchini added pops of color to the plate, though it could have used another couple of minutes in the steamer.

Entrees come with soup or salad. I chose a cup of Clam Chowder. There was a good balance of clams and small cubes of potatoes in a peppery broth that was a little gummy. The chowder is also available in a bowl. It’s served with oyster crackers.

Pelican’s is also well-known for its steaks and prime rib. Prices range from $20 for top sirloin to almost $40 for Prime Rib and Filet Mignon. We tried the Steak and Scallops ($36.95), one of five surf-and-turf options. The $14 upcharge we paid to bump it from top sirloin to New York strip brought the price into rarefied air. Still, it was a great steak, thick, juicy and salty and bearing smoke flavors and stripes from the grill. The two scallops, sliced through the middle and interlaced with strips of bacon, were overcooked, however. The dish came with a very filling baked potato wrapped in foil and served with the toppings on the side as requested.

For this dish, we ordered a salad on the side. The very popular Bottomless Salad Bowl is reserved for parties of three or more, the server told us. I’ve had it many times before and it’s terrific, the fresh ingredients like broccoli and cherry tomatoes separated for easy distribution and cups of roasted garlic waiting to be spread on the provided bread. We settled for a simple salad, with chopped lettuce, cherry tomatoes and the same vegetables from the medley with a cup of sunflower seeds on the side. The ingredients were fresh. The dressing comes in a green-glass Grolsch beer bottle with a snap-on cap.

There are two chicken dishes, including the very popular Hawaiian Chicken ($25.95) served with teriyaki sauce and pineapple.

The meal ended as it should, with a towering slice of Mud Pie ($8.95) dressed in caramel and chocolate sauces. The very sight of it provoked a nearby diner to exclaim, “what is that?!” The answer: thick layers of chocolate and coffee ice cream over a chocolate cookie crust. It looked like too much for even two people to finish, but we managed.

Our server was friendly and attentive and we were out in under an hour without ever feeling rushed. The breaded and fried stuff is off-limits for gluten-free diners, but many of the dishes can be made gluten-friendly.

Leaving the place, I passed a woman and her young son watching the tropical fish swim around the tank set against the wall. The sight brought me back 15 years to when I took my son on a mid-meal break to the same tank to find the clownfish that looked like Nemo from the Pixar movie.

Pelican’s has reached that age where it can count several generations of diners among its fans. My recent visit shows that quality and service remain high.