Fresh fish is a gift from the gods to the dining public. Nowhere in the Downtown neighborhood is it fresher than at the Original Fish Market restaurant in the Westin Convention Center Hotel.

Bill Wade, Post-Gazette Executive chef Brian Annapolen displays a dish of pan-roasted sea bass with collard greens and carrots at the Original Fish Market, Downtown. Click photo for larger image. The Original Fish Market Westin Convention Center Hotel 1101 Liberty Ave. Downtown 412-227-3657 Hours: 11 a.m.-1 a.m. Mondays- Fridays; 4 p.m.-1 a.m. Saturdays and Sundays. Basics: A well-prepared menu of fresh fish and oysters that changes daily. Char-grilled meats and poultry also available. Excellent American food served in drab surroundings. Appetizers: $4.95 (soup)-$14; entrees: $21-$36; desserts: $7.50; wines by glass: $8-$20.50. Smoking and nonsmoking areas. Wheelchair accessible. Self parking in Westin garage under hotel, $5 for four hours with validation. All major credit cards accepted. Reservations accepted and recommended.

The daily Market Catch menu offers 11 fish, from Idaho trout to Alaskan salmon, that can be prepared by a variety of methods: grilling, searing or steaming. The oyster menu features seven bivalves from both coasts of the United States and Prince Edward Island in Canada. They are named for their place of origin, and the names alone spark palate curiosity. Kumomoto (California), Tatamagouche (Connecticut), Hama Hama (Washington), Paramour (Virginia) and Spinney Creek (Maine) might sound like a foreign language to most people, but to an oyster-lover, they are poetry. Oysters are priced on a per-piece basis and range from $2 to $2.50 each depending on the variety. They are served with two sauces, a classic tomato-horseradish seafood sauce and a vinegar based sauce that is the traditional European accompaniment for raw oysters. Sadly, there was no brown bread and butter.

The remainder of the menu covers appetizers, soups and salads, side dishes and main courses of fish, poultry and meat. The appetizer list has some innovative creations of the chef in addition to such standbys as poached shrimp ($11) and fried calamari ($10). Wild mushroom risotto with truffle essence and micro greens ($13) was worthy of being a main course and would be perfect for a vegetarian. The generous portion of risotto was laced with large slices of shiitake mushrooms and finished with a subtle dash of truffle essence. The result was a chewy, aromatic and memorable risotto.

Roast Duck Confit with Brandied Cherries and Toasted Barley ($14) is another appetizer that can and probably should be ordered as a main course. Although the portion of duck is small, it is very rich and the barley is filling, prepared much as a pilaf. Rainbow Ceviche ($10) was a disappointment. Although beautifully presented on a long, skinny rectangle of white porcelain, the raw fish was bland. Although the menu stipulated that it was "lightly cured with lime," this dish was more sashimi than ceviche. The herbed ice that was a feature of the dish was melted by the time it arrived and was in fact nothing more than herb-flecked water.

From the main course menu I can heartily recommend the California Cioppino ($29). The chef has used a classic recipe to assemble this lovely plate of clams, mussels, calamari, crab and shrimp cooked in a lobster broth and seasoned with chunks of fresh tomato. There was very little conversation but many sighs of satisfaction as my dining partner consumed this healthful, no-carb entree. Catfish "Au Creole" ($24) is an original creation of the chef using gumbo ingredients of onion, peppers, gumbo file and okra to make the sauce for the catfish. The okra has been pureed so that it is not immediately identifiable, but the flavor and texture shines through in the finished sauce. Chilean sea bass prepared in the Hong Kong Style ($31) must have suffered some strange accident in the kitchen before arriving at the table. The fish was steamed with ginger and scallions and soy sauce and served on a bed of jasmine rice. Both the fish and the rice had been doused in a heavy dose of soy, which rendered them so salty they were inedible.

The restaurant served MediTerra Bakery bread with a pot of flavored butter. The sourdough was so good I could easily have forgone the menu and focused only on that fabulous and fragrant loaf. All desserts at the Original Fish Market are made in house and all are priced at $7.50. Don't miss the Blueberry Bread Pudding with vanilla bean ice cream and hard bourbon sauce, but do ask for many spoons!

The Original Fish Market has a much-appreciated sushi bar. Sushi is available until closing at 1 a.m. The luncheon menu seems like a reduced version of the dinner menu with reduced prices as well. It also features sandwiches that are served on sourdough rolls with sweet potato chips and coleslaw. A crispy cod po boy with spicy aioli, pickles, lettuce and tomato is $12.

The restaurant is to be congratulated for its extensive wine list and for the 36 wines that are available by the glass. The wines are conserved in a cuvinet system that prevents them from becoming oxidized after opening. The glass price is consistently one-fourth of the bottle price, which means that on a per-ounce basis, one is paying the same for a glass as for a bottle.

Executive chef Brian Annapolen arrived at the Original Fish Market in August. He has made some interesting changes to the menu, most especially the addition of more seasonal and locally produced vegetables. Annapolen calls himself a minimalist. He thinks that a quality product is best when presented with simple embellishments such as lemon, sea salt and olive oil. He interned in restaurants in France, Spain and Italy and was the executive chef at several award-winning restaurants in Naples, Fla., before coming to Pittsburgh.

Annapolen is a talented chef who deserves a remodeled interior for his restaurant. The food far surpasses the ambience. For the prices charged, I expect to be dazzled by the interiors as well as the food. My own experiences also suffered from poor service on one occasion. We were at the table for almost 2¹/₂ hours even though the restaurant was more empty than full. The waiter filled the wine glasses to the brim. We were never served bread. After we placed our dessert orders the waiter disappeared and 30 minutes later we had to ask the maitre d' to cancel the order since during the overly long wait, we had lost our appetites.

Now that the Westin is our official Convention Center Hotel, the Original Fish Market Restaurant will be the first restaurant visitors to our city will see. I hope that soon it will provide interiors that are more in tune with the food.