Sandie Wernick: Pisces Restaurant and Wine Bar

For beautifully prepared, visually stunning and incredibly good food, you will think you've died and gone to heaven at Pisces in the Outer Sunset. Coupled with terrific, attentive and very knowledgeable service, you should not miss this dining experience.

The two owners, executive chef Luis Tong and manager Kevin Chen, recently celebrated Pisces' first anniversary. Along the way, they have made some changes - cutting weekday lunch, creating shorter menus and adding more meat dishes - which have certainly made a difference.

We knew early in the evening that we were in for a treat when our waiter, Chris, brought us a wonderful fresh ciabatta bread from Semifreddi, which was lightly toasted and still warm.

My sister Karen and I started with the Dungeness crab cakes, which we shared ($13).Two large, plump. melt-in-your-mouth cakes sat atop a variety of greens on a pristine white ceramic plate. Crowning each crab cake was katafi, which are thin strands of dough. Served over an organic green salad with apples, walnuts and a light honey-mustard vinaigrette, this dish alone could have been our main course.

But two of the entrees caught our eye, so we kept on going. Karen had the shrimp scampi, which was accompanied with a large mound of fragrant jasmine rice and tomato concasse, with a touch of basil ($15). The shrimp were juicy and plentiful and were perfect.

I had the salmon with a generous serving of the best-tasting shitake mushroom risotto, with micro greens and veal sauce, that I have ever tasted ($17). The salmon was perfectly cooked, just a tad raw, which is how it should be. It was moist, thick and perfectly spiced.

For dessert, we indulged in home-made sour cream cheesecake with berry coulis ($6). Chef Luis is also the pastry chef and it was a winner.

Without a doubt, it is the best tasting, smoothest cheesecake I've ever had. It was well worth the calories. A homemade lava cake is also available.

In addition to the seafood, Pisces also offers meat dishes, such as short ribs, rib eye steak and lamb as well as pastas.

They also have two prix fix menus, which are reasonably priced considering the quality of the food. The three-course specials cost either $22 or $32. There is also an early bird special prix fix menu, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., for $16.

Pisces has a good selection of wines, with more than 60 different varieties in stock, as well as a full bar for those who want to enjoy a cocktail with their meal.

DŽcor-wise, it's a little dark in the restaurant but we got used to it. The ceiling is two stories high, so there is an airy feel about the place.

Overall, Pisces offers a wonderful gastronomic experience in the outer avenues - one that should be shared and talked about.

Pisces Restaurant and Wine Bar
3414 Judah St., at 39th Avenue
Open: Dinner - Tuesday through Sunday, 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday Lunch, noon to 3 p.m.
Reservations: Strongly recommended on weekends, (415) 564-2233
Banquets or special parties for lunch can be arranged with one week's notice.

Sandie Wernick is a marketing, public relations and advertising executive at the Wernick Marketing Group, specializing in restaurants, hotels, travel and lifestyle accounts.