Well That Took a Turn…

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When I got up this morning I had no intention of doing a blog entry this weekend. Things changed.

I’d made up my mind I was going to go someplace new for breakfast this morning instead of one of my 4.5 regular weekly haunts. The half is someplace that makes every other rotation. Anyway, I settled on Sully’s Steamers (normally I’d link that reference but for reasons you’ll understand in a minute I’m not going to). I made a quick stop at the dump (ok it’s called the recycling center but anyplace I take my trash will always be “the dump” to me) and headed out.

On the way there I had to pass the lakeside park and the sunrise was looking pretty cool. I turn a quick right turn to see what it looked like over the lake.

The sun was pointing right at the picnic table. I thought about just grabbing a biscuit from the nearest open place and coming back but no, I decided to stick fast to my plan. To downtown Clemson I continued. I got to Sully’s Steamers (again no link) and they had just this week changed the hours and now didn’t open until 8:00am. That’s brunch time people. I didn’t see that coming and now had to pivot.

Delish Sisters (see the link) is located inside a boutique hotel just half a block down the road. Seemed a little fancy but hey it was open so I turned right and then left into the place. There was one couple having breakfast and a couple of folks seated more or less in the hotel zone having hotel coffee and me. The menu isn’t huge but it had some interesting looking choices. I opted for the Breakfast ‘Sarmie’.

I don’t know what a ‘Sarmie’ is but what I got was a fancy bacon, egg and cheese sandwich with a breakfast salad. Now I will say the eggs were nicely cooked, the bacon portion was generous and thick cut plus the cheese was aged white cheddar. Oh and there was garlic aioli and onion marmalade all on a lightly toasted ciabatta roll. I did give the mixed greens salad some side eye as salad isn’t a breakfast food for me. It turned out to be tasty with the garlicy, olive oily, savory dressing. On the whole it was delicious and the atmosphere was boutique hotel casual. I fired up my Kindle app and prepared to read and eat.

I am pulled away after half my sandwich by a voice obviously directed at me, “Looks like you and I are the only ones in the place.” I look up to find this gentleman smiling at me and taking the table next to mine. I smiled and confirmed he did have the head count correct and went back to my book and breakfast. “My group didn’t get in until 3am last night. I was in bed by 10:00” Since we had established it was only the two of us I knew he had to be talking to me. Oh man he’s one of those. I looked up, smiled, made eye contact and nodded willing him to silence. His will was apparently greater because he ignored my silent wishes and asked if I was from here or in town for graduation like he was. Seems his grandson had just graduated from Clemson.

As much as I started out as a reluctant participant in the conversation I spent the next hour chatting with Bryce. Turns out he’s a multimillionaire from just south of Dallas with global business concerns that started with a parking lot painting business. He’s kind of passionate about biomedical research and technology as a result of his granddaughter’s childhood cancer (she’s doing well now 15 years on). We talked about the value of travel, staying engaged and purposeful as you age, a whole of lot of medical technology, his company in Panama and the research they are doing with stem cell infusions. His son came down, assumed his dad had cornered another victim and apologized. He needn’t have as I told them both it was a real treat chatting with his dad.

So while it wasn’t the start to the day I had planned when I got up it was a really good start to the day. Hope yours is surprisingly delightful as well.

Eating Ethiopian in Athens

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Athens, GA that is. My original plan was to meet my sister in Athens and go to a Greek restaurant, because why not. That fell through, however I already had my mind set on driving the hour and change to Athens and I decided to go with plan B. Mannaweenta Ethiopian Restaurant was that plan. It had quite a while since I’d had African and they had some good reviews so it seemed like a low risk proposition.

It is in the corner of a well established shopping center and the layout has an odd layout that opens up as you go further in where it expands with the corner. The decor is fairly simple, with plastic covered tables and decorations reflecting the origins of the cuisine.

They were not too busy when I got there. One group of 3 seated and waiting on their food and another group of 3 ladies who were placing a takeout order. It was the first time here for those ladies and the young woman behind the counter was super friendly, smiling and encouraging questions. These ladies were more that happy to accommodate her on that last point. She went through the process in the photo above and they asked questions about most of the dish options. I’m not an especially patient person by nature but since people trying new and unfamiliar food is pretty much the spirit of the blog I just smiled and listened as Lisa went through it all.

My turn came and I ordered Yebeg Tibbs (lamb cooked in onions, tomatoes, jalapenos, herbs and spices). For sides I got Yemisser Wot (red lentils cooked with onions, tomatoes, garlic, ginger and berbere) and Atakilt Alitcha (cabbage, carrots, potatoes, garlic, ginger, herbs, and curry powder). I was going to get the Gomen Wot (Ethiopian collard greens) but they were out. Step 2 is to pick Injera (an airy flat bread) or rice. Now from the Q&A I heard earlier Lisa had dropped a secret menu option of half injera / half rice. I asked for that but alas as my meal was being prepared she came over and told me that they were running out of rice and it would be a while before they had more ready. It wasn’t a real hardship to get the full injera option.

The meal is served on injera and as I was given to understand my first time at an Ethiopian place you tear off a hunk of injera and scoop up the food. I got a fork as back up but managed to eat most of it with the tear, scoop and pinch method. Only once did any hit the table and not once did any land on me so that was a win. I also got some hot spiced tea to go with it. The lamb was tender and well flavored. I’d asked for it with medium spiciness and honestly it was very mild. The vegetables were pretty good but the red lentils were probably my favorite of the dishes. It had a good earthy flavor you expect from lentils and the other ingredients added their own goodness plus it did have a bit more spice that the lamb or vegetables. The portions were enough that I rolled up some leftover lamb in the injera and brought it home for dinner.

Overall it was a good lunch and experience. I will say that I’d have probably had an issue with the time it took to get the food and the fact that there were out of a side at 12:30 and effectively ran out of rice by 1:00 if Lisa had not been so nice. Her attitude and helpfulness to everyone who walked through the door (including the lost person looking for directions) gave me an unexpected tolerance I guess. As plan B’s go it turned out well.

Sampler Combo

Brasstown BBQ Bounty

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I decided after some busy weeks I needed to shake things up and see if I could find someplace worth a write up.  I knew about Brasstown from a colleague’s recommendation.   It’s out in the country about 30 minutes from me and I do mean country.  You can see the foothills rising up as you’re getting near it and woods all around.

It’s built in a log cabin style, a large log cabin with a big open dining area. They have rustic farm decor and a corner paying homage to a service member who I assume is related to the business. There is a back porch area with seating and a stream running out back for a really nice atmosphere.

BCGP, as the merch has it, is open 2 days a week, Friday & Saturday. Summer hours are 4-9 and winter hours are 4-8. I’d been told they will run out of items so best to get there early. I made a plan. I ate a late (for me 7:30 is late) breakfast and skipped lunch. I did have some garlic parmesan jerky a couple of times to quiet the stomach’s whining. Anyway I arrived at 4:02 and the parking lot already had twenty or so cars sitting there. I entered and was met with a line of people stretching into the dining area on my left and a counter and kitchen area to my right. I walked to the back of the line and just to make sure I understood checked with the gentleman in front of me about the process. It seems you order at the counter (menus are available to peruse while you stand in line), pay with cash or personal check (none of that electronic nonsense) and they fill your order right then. They keep the meats in a warmer with a rotating rack so the meat dude can get whatever he needs to slice, chop, or score. The sides are prepped in little containers ready for the packer to grab and plate. Everything goes into a Styrofoam clamshell so whether you are dining in or taking out you are ready to go in short order.

I had every intention of dining in when I left home but as I was in line I heard people ordering the sampler and thought that was the ticket for me. I got to the menus and discovered the sampler was $35. Well that seemed a bit steep but it did come with 4 meats so I decided I’d still do it. Then I saw it came in two clamshells and that changed my plan to sampler and takeout. Here’s what I got.

I weighed this when I got home, including the piece of Texas toast, it was right at 5 lbs. As you can see there is a huge chicken breast, a half rack of ribs, pulled pork and sliced beef brisket plus 2 sides and some BBQ sauces. I took a sample from each protein plus the sides as dinner and separated the rest into a start for 6 more meals and I probably could have stretched it to 8 or 9 without being stingy.

How did it taste you might wonder. Well all of it was good, not great, but quite good. The chicken had the best seasoning. The other meats did benefit from a sauce. The sauces I got were the hot and what was supposed to be Carolina mustard, it even had CM on the lid, but it was in no way mustard based. I think it was maybe what they call St Louis style instead. It was sweet, which is not what I wanted. Whatever it was turned out to be ok. The sides you see are potato salad and Brunswick stew. These were actually very pleasant. The potato salad was relatively plain, which works for me, although they could have used a tad more mustard. The Brunswick stew was flavorful and loaded with meat. That piece of Texas toast was just dry white bread and I didn’t even bother with it. Oh and that hot sauce of theirs honestly tasted like a doctored up Tabasco or Texas Pete sauce. Again not bad but not outstanding either.

At the end of the day would I recommend Brasstown Creek Gathering Place? Yes I would. It is a different experience than most of the BBQ places around. There is a good value for your money. The food is cooked well, even if I think they could work on the seasoning and sauces. The atmosphere in the restaurant was one of community and there were some long rows of community tables as well as smaller 2-6 place tables. When I go again I think I’ll try to make in during the fall or early winter and go for the outdoor dining to enjoy the scenery and listen to the creek.

Beach Week International Goodness

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I just spent a week in Surf City, NC for the annual family beach week and it was great, as usual.

I wasn’t sure there would be much to blog about as the restaurants stay pretty much the same or the variants aren’t that noteworthy or I just have some favorites. There were a few surprises this year; an overlooked (by me) staple my nieces and nephews quite like, a couple of new places, and a surprise homecooked meal. Strap in, this is a longer entry.

My brother-in-law suggested those of us that arrive early meet at this place called JM’s On the Water and have some lunch and hang out until check in. He wasn’t able to make the trip but my sister and 2 of her kids and their significant others did plus my baby grand-niece. JM’s is a nice spot with a water view as you might expect from the name. We saw a couple of folks tie up at the attached dock and come in for some grub. The staff was friendly and plentiful out front so they kept our drinks filled and checked on us regularly but they food service was kind of slow.

I got their 1/2 lb cheeseburger, fried green beans and a flight of craft beer, mostly local.

The burger was huge as you might expect from an 8 oz slab of meat. The vegetable toppings were fresh but there was almost no seasoning on the burger which was a disappointment. The fried green beans on the other hand were quite well seasoned and cooked. I just kept eating them even after I should have stopped. The flight was interesting too because I picked a diverse selection. When I was choosing the beers and chatting with the waitress she was going on and on about the Honey Drip. That was her favorite and a really popular one then proceeded to tell me they were out of it. I considered giving her some grief for being Lucy with the football to my Charlie Brown (if you don’t get the reference you’re probably way younger than I am). At that point she yells to the bartender, “when are we getting more of the Honey Drip?” To which the bartender yells back, “we’ve got plenty right now.” Communication is key. It was a nice brown ale from a Wilmington brewery. The Murk Master is a hazy pale ale that is brewed with some flaked oatmeal. It was interesting, kind of light and hoppy. Mango Cart is a wheat beer brewed with real mango out on the west coast. It did have a mild mango taste and it was also light and refreshing. Lastly the Pacifico is a Mexican pilsner from Mazatlán. Once I got the fruit out of it I have to say it might have been my favorite paired with the meal although I enjoyed them all. See how I snuck that Mexican beer in to make this meal international?

A day or so later my nephew Alex and I decided to go to lunch and when we got in the car we were planning on one spot but on the drive we pivoted to try a new pizza place on the island that wasn’t there last year. BTW I’m counting this as Italian food. The place was Wildfire Pizza. When we got there we were the only ones there aside from Peter the guy running the joint all by his lonesome. Peter is a friendly dude and willing to discuss the pizza, answer questions and generally chat about how he’s hoping to make this 4 week old business take off. He also actively solicited feedback and told us how he’d made some menu adjustments already. I was happy to see actual flames in the oven and the dough and sauces are made in house. The items that can be sourced locally are and taste fresh. There is only a 12″ option and both being boys of stout stature we decided we could each put a hurting on our own but decided to get two separate ones and swap half. I got the Surf City Pizza and he got the Snead’s Ferry.

Both of these have seafood which is honestly something I’d not normally even consider but we were at the beach and living on the edge. Alex’s Snead’s Ferry had chunky spiced red sauce, ricotta cheese, shrimp, jalapenos, onions, garlic and red pepper flakes. Let me promise you Peter was generous with all the toppings including the jalapenos. My Surf City started with an error as Peter got ricotta happy after making the Snead’s Ferry and loaded that on there instead of the mozzarella. He apologized and was going to remake it but I put the kibosh on that. I told him to throw the mozzarella on there too and keep moving. Here’s a little secret, it was better with the accidental ricotta that it would have been with just the mozzarella and I told him to consider making that the norm. In addition there was the chunky spicy red sauce, a boatload of flaked salmon, Kalamata olives and fresh basil. Holy cow these were good pizzas! And filling like you wouldn’t believe. Instead of swapping halves we had one piece of the other and took half of each back to the house where they got hoovered up by other members of the family. That was a really good experience and I very much hope they last and prosper.

The next stop on our International tour is Fancy Sushi. Most all of the nieces and nephews hit this place every year and they let the old guy tag along this year. It’s a mixed menu, Chinese and Japanese. Most of us got at least one sushi roll from their extensive list. I ordered us a couple of appetizers. The dumplings arrived before the main courses and one showed up at the end. Those tardy tempura vegetables got waved off and with apologies removed from the bill.

I think they do a good job with presentation and they were decent on the whole. I have to say though the one with the yellow sauce I don’t even remember what it was. The one on the left was the Beach Bum Roll and was quite tasty. It had spicy tuna and mango topped with tuna, salmon, yellow tail and eel drizzled with eel sauce and red tobiko. I heard good things about the Super Duper Roll, the Pink Lady and the Sexy Girl. Overall I’d give the place 3.5 stars. Solid enough to eat at but I’ve definitely had better.

I’ve mentioned in previous beach week blog entries that the evening meal is a family one and we take turns being responsible for the meals. When the “kids” got their own night a couple of years ago it was fun to watch them all try to work at it. The results that first year was some pretty rough spaghetti that we ate because we loved them. Anyway, this year one of my nephews brought his girlfriend who is Filipino. Unbeknownst to her he had volunteered them for a Filipino night. She learned of this sitting around the table the first night of the trip. She thought she was being punked and we’d have let her off the hook but once she got over the panic and dealing with the fact that she doesn’t really cook she gamely stepped up to the challenge. There are not a plethora of Asian markets in or around Surf City so they did what they could with the international aisle at a couple of grocery stores. After four hours of prep and cooking we had our Filipino night meal courtesy of Danielle & Jesse with a little help from my sister Dee.

We had adobo chicken wings and rice plus a big old pan of Filipino spaghetti. Unlike the first “kids” spaghetti this was easy to get down. What, you may ask, made this different from regular baked spaghetti? Well, it was made with hand crafted banana ketchup and had cut up bits of hot dog in it (Sheldon Cooper would have been proud). Both were tasty and I think the chefs were proud of their accomplishments as we were of them for taking on the challenge.

Overall a really good trip with family and in spite of my initial thoughts that I’d just be eating the same old, same old there was plenty of new to be had.

Fantastic Filipino Feast From the Foodee Festival

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We’ve already established I have an alliteration addiction so let’s move past the title and talk about the f-ing food from Saturday. And by f-ing I mean food trucking. I’ve been waiting for this weekend semi-patiently for a month or so after first getting wind of the FoodeeFest that was going to be at the Anderson Mall. It promised 30 food trucks and other vendors and I love me some food trucks so there was no way I was missing it. Judging by the crowd I was not the only one.

Fortunately the mall provided plenty of places to park and still be only a short walk to the event area. Once I got there I did what any smart person does at an event like this and walked the full circuit to see all my options before deciding what to get. There was a nice variety of foods, beverages, deserts, and crafts in trucks, trailers, and tents. The first place that caught my attention was a wood fired pizza truck, then a Cajun truck, a soul food trailer, BBQ sauce and rub purveyor, and a cheesecake pusher, it was beautiful. Food trucks checking the international box had food from Greece, Italy, Mexico, China, Japan, Ireland (it was a loaded potato truck but I’m counting it), and a Kabob truck that covers any number of countries.

I almost went with the Kabobs since they looked mighty tasty on that grill but as you can guess from the title the Philippines was also represented. There were actually two selling Filipino food with very similar offerings and price points so I went with the one I was closest too at the end of the circuit. I don’t know why I didn’t get a picture of the vehicle but I got the signboard and picture menu covered here.

They had a combo plate that included either the adobo chicken or liempo, pancit, 2 lumpia of your choice and rice. Variety? Yes please, I got the pork lumpia, and the liempo to go with the pancit and rice.

The little flag was a nice touch. All of the food was great but I will say the liempo meat was pretty salty. The rice wasn’t so it was best to match the two bite for bite. The plate was $20, which for the portions and the fact that is was food truck fare was actually a decent deal. The lumpia dipped in the doctored up soy sauce were outstanding. The pancit noodles had a few green beans and carrots so I felt like I could count that as a healthy side. Overall it was delicious and I’d definitely try them again.

A couple of observations from this “festival”. On the whole these food vendors seemed to be turning the tickets faster than most food trucks I’ve been to. I don’t know if it’s just their overall experience traveling with the group setting up these events or what but the lines of waiting people were not quite as long as I expected. It could have been the volume of options as well. Regardless of the reason it was a good experience. Also asking if they prefer cash or card can save you money. I saved a almost 2 bucks paying cash. Lastly for my Augusta / Aiken / Columbia people this same group is rolling into Aiken May 3-5.

Giving Can Be Delicious

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It is a beautiful spring day today and the outside called.  We’ll at least until it was time for the G Day game.  I knew I wanted something different, quick and easy to get back home before the 1:00pm kickoff. 

I remembered seeing a fund raising notice from a local church selling quesabirras.  Perfect, I can get a good, hopefully authentic, lunch to go and support a good cause.

They were set up on the side of the church with a tent, tables and a small gaggle of ladies cooking, prepping, stirring the agua Jamaica, and taking the orders.  Of the people who I saw and more importantly, heard the entire time I was there, I was the only one whose primary language was not Spanish.   That boded well for the food.

The lady cooking was dipping the tortillas in some kind of sauce to about 3/4 coverage then throwing them on a griddle.  Once they’d achieved some level doneness she clearly recognized some beef and cheese were added and folded over.  Then a second tortilla was used and the whole thing popped on a plate with foil top and bottom to keep it warm.  Available condiments were diced onions, limes, cilantro and hot sauce, all in little baggies.

The young lady packing it up asked if I wanted everything.  “Sure,” was my response.  “Even the hot sauce,” she asked with slight skepticism.   “Absolutely” says I. The guy to.my right, waiting on his also felt like he had to give me a subtle warning.  “You like it really spicy?”.  “Oh yeah, I’m good”  I could see they both felt like they’d done their due diligence and it was now on me. I got an agua Jamaica too even though I had no idea what that would taste like.

The quesabirras were tasty once I’d opened my baggies and condimented (it’s a word) them.  Very filling too.  I still couldn’t tell you what flavor the agua Jamaica was but it was subtle and good with the food.  Oh and the bag of hot sauce I used as a dipping sauce.  It was scalp tingling but not something I couldn’t handle with ease.

Really nice lunch that benefitted that church and filled me up.  Win – win.

Finale of Fishy February

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I figured I would finish out my February pescatarian parade with a little sushi and try a new, to me, place in Seneca. Hibachi & Grill Asian Buffet is not the highest rated Asian restaurant around but buffets aren’t often the top of the class. 

The decor of Hibachi & Grill Asian Buffet evokes memories of a multitude of other Chinese restaurants I’ve been to over my lifespan. Dark wood, plenty of red accents and a little on the dimly lit side. The service was good. I was greeted as soon as I walked in the door and seated seconds later. She took me right up to the table closest to the buffet. I’m guessing people asking to order off a menu is a rare thing because she didn’t even ask, just assumed I was having the buffet. I’ve purposely avoided buffets for the most part over the last few years as I don’t feel like I’m playing the game right if I don’t have multiple trips under my belt before I leave. Today wasn’t much different but unlike many of my fellow diners I didn’t make it a point of stress testing the plate capacity on each visit.

Hibachi & Grill has 4 buffet tables in the center of the food area plus a sushi selection against the wall in the back. There is also a hibachi station where you pick you ingredients, ring the bell and watch the dude fry up your stuff. The sushi was the primary reason I was there so that was my first stop.

This was not peak sushi but also it didn’t make me sick so I’m good with that. Joking aside it was solidly mediocre. The wasabi was starting to dry out and one of the rolls looked like it might be sketchy in another 20 minutes. The pickled ginger was spot on. I will give them this, they had a sign up saying the sushi was not allowed to be there more than 4 hours and if you thought it looked bad let them know.

After this I did a quick tour of the rest to see what other seafood they had. The first station was the desert station which had some interesting things on it. Maybe later. The second was soups and salads. Both the egg drop and mushroom soups looked decent and a few folks were loading up on them.

Row 3 was fry town. Not quite everything was deep fried on this one but most were. Not this trip.

The fourth steam table had rice, lo mein and vegetables plus some steamed fish and “seafood delight”. Those were in the zone so that was the next plate.

The fried rice was decent. The steamed white fish I really expected to be bland as there didn’t appear to be any seasoning on it but it was actually good. The flesh was still reasonably firm and had just enough salt to enhance the flavor. The “seafood delight” was shrimp and fake crab meat. The shrimp was over cooked and the fake crab had the flavor cooked out of it so it really didn’t have much to recommend it. Let me go ahead and address the elephant on the plate. That giant single rib is obviously not seafood but it was next to the seafood and the guy next to me was raving about them as he loaded his plate. They were “extra tender” and “better deal than any of the BBQ places”. If I hadn’t gotten one I’m pretty sure it would have ruined his day. It was tender, because it had been boiled, and on a price per pound basis it was in fact more economical than the local BBQ places. It did lack the smoky flavor and tasty dry rub or sauce you’d find at those places too so there was that.

Now I should have stopped there and been done with it, however that did not happen. I’d seen more seafood options in Fry Town.

The fried fish was more bland that the steamed white fish which was surprising and disappointing. I could see what was supposed to be seasoning in the batter. It was also kind of chewy. The crab rangoon was crafted by someone who’d obviously given up and the filling was devoid of even fake crab. It was deep fried cream cheese, which I’m not opposed to but still. The egg roll was hot and pretty standard for the species. The mystery meat on the stick was over cooked and lacking seasoning as well. Parts of it were jerky-esque so at least I got a jaw work-out. At the end of this plate I was actually miserable because it was just too much. Sadly the desert station was not visited.

I’m giving them grief and somewhat deservedly but also this cost me $12.50 with the drink so I’m not going to say I didn’t get my money’s worth. I think the folks who were obvious regulars likely fall into two categories; those that know the few items they do well and enjoy them and those that are all about the volume baby. Either way in spite of feeling miserable for a while and not having anything that knocked my socks off I’m still happy I went. Don’t know what I’m doing next but I enjoyed my fish themed February.

Breakfast Flounder? It’s Not Bad But It’s No Bacon

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My third fish of February was flounder for breakfast. There are places in the world where seafood for breakfast is just breakfast and even in parts of the southern US fish and grits are thing. It was not a something I grew up eating and never developed a taste for it. Having chicken was straying pretty far from the pork parade for me so trying fish for breakfast was a must do this month. I mentioned fish and grits are fairly well known in certain parts of the US but this is not a spot you find it on all the menus. I was confident I’d seen on the menu at Dimas Brothers Cafe here in Seneca so off I went.

They did indeed have a fried flounder breakfast plate that came with 2 eggs, grits or home fries, biscuit or toast. I selected scrambled, grits and sourdough to go with my 2 filets.

Let me address the obviously weird scrambled eggs. They really just chopped up an omelet, it didn’t affect the taste and the yolks and whites were scrambled together but I mean come on, either leave it as an omelet or scramble them while you cook them. Another non-standard but good deviation were the grits. They make them with milk or cream which does make them smoother and creamier than those made with water but also thicken faster. The flounder filets have a light batter and are fried to a crispy golden brown. The fish was light and very mild. There wasn’t much seasoning on the fish so the house made tartar sauce was a welcome addition. The combo turned out better than I thought it was going to. Truthfully the eggs were the weakest link on the plate. The portions were such that I wound up only finishing all of the fish and leaving a bit of the rest and walked out feeling satisfied.

I’m still a bacon or sausage first kind of guy but I’m not going to dismiss the fish out of hand anymore.

Filete de Pescado en Febrero

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Continuing the February fish theme I made a snap decision at work one day to have Mexican and on the way there decided I’d get a fish dish. I’ve seen fish on Mexican menus before but never tried it, always sticking with the fan favorite combo plates and lunch deals. I have had fish and shrimp tacos from food trucks, I mean I’m not uncultured, but not a full on fish dish. Anyhow, I ran up to Monte Alban Mexican Grill a short trip from the office.

I was quickly seated and presented with the standard basket of chips and salsa while I perused the menu. One thing I noticed this time that I’d not see on their menu before was this semi-prominent note indicating you were only allowed 1 basket of chips per table. I didn’t read the whole thing because I didn’t feel like it applied but it did catch my eye. The perusal of the menu showed grilled fish or deep fried fish filets as options. Feeling like I should make the theoretically healthier choice I opted for the grilled. The Filete de Pescado is a tilapia filet with grilled vegetables and rice. Sounded good so that’s what I ordered.

While I was waiting of course I was chowing down on the chips and salsa and reading on the Kindle app. The server came around and from a little pitcher even refilled the salsa bowl. I’d put a serious dent in the chips and you could see the bottom of the basket. Another server walked by and asked “Do you want more chips?” I remembered the menu and immediately my brain threw up the image of Admiral Ackbar “It’s a trap!”. The scene played out in my head of me saying yes, the lights going dim, the server being lit from below with red light, laughing manically and saying “Only one basket per table fool! HaHa”. I shoved my overactive imagination back in his nook, just said “no thanks” and went back to reading. My food arrived.

I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this. The fish was a hair overcooked but the seasoning was delicious. I’m not sure what was in it aside from chili and paprika to make it that glowing reddish orange but I really liked it. The grilled vegetables were onions, peppers and mushrooms so technically the description was correct but I was disappointed at first. I was expecting something like zucchini, yellow squash, tomatoes and stuff like that, however these were flavorful and went well with the fish and rice. The rice was a good filler that dampened the strong flavors of the fish and vegetables. I would definitely have this again. Good job Monte Alban.

Next time I’ve decided to try another new thing for me and that’s fish for breakfast.

Starting Fishy February at Goodine’s

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I like themes for a number of reasons one of which is they can help narrow focus when you’re decision making. The lack of diversity with regard to restaurants offering international dishes makes adhering to the blog’s tagline tough sometimes. This affects motivation and ultimately produces gaps in entries. All that to say I decided I’d pick a theme and work with it this month. My affinity for alliteration aided in theme topic selection. Fish for February. My plan is to have a fish dish each weekend and not just fried fish but probably some Asian and European representative choices as well.

For the first entry I decided to go to the closest restaurant to me that sells fish, Goodine Seafood . They are a tad over 4 miles away. I know they make their food to order and the fried chicken is good so the fish is likely to be as well.

Goodines occupies a cinderblock building in the fork of a road across the street from a Dollar General. It’s that place in the middle of nowhere that you know has to have good food just to survive being in the boondocks. The couple that runs / owns the place are pleasant but businesslike in getting the orders done. The set up is odd in that the fryer is in a section of the building that requires the guy to go outside and then in to the area where it is. There’s a window pass through so the food can be passed through. Odd but they make it work.

The main menu offers a choice of 4 different fishes and off to the side flounder was added after the fact for a fifth fish. The 4 are swai, tilapia, whiting and catfish. I got swai because it’s not one you see on every menu. The Fish Combo was my choice. That’s 2 pieces of fish, 2 sides and a drink. If you want just 1 piece that’s Fish. Fish Dinner nets you 3 pieces of fish. You can also get a fish sammy with fries if that’s more your thing.

For my swai side selections slaw seemed simple (I might have a alliteration problem). Since they didn’t have mac & cheese as an option any more I kept it seafood and got crab salad for the second side. OK, I have to say I’m still not over the mac & cheese thing. She said they stopped carrying it a while back. So take it off the board or tape over it don’t be a mac & cheese tease. Now that I got that off my chest I do feel a little better. Anyhow, they have hush puppies, which I was brought up to expect with fried fish, but they are a side and instead you get a roll. The other disappointment, although a minor one, was the slaw. It was straight out of a supermarket tub. Their crab salad on the other hand was something entirely new for me. It was made with imitation crab but it was made to order. I heard her back there chopping it up and mixing it up. There was a little celery and cilantro added and a dressing I’m not quite sure of. There was a little mayonnaise but the redness came from some kind of chili pepper sauce. It might have been siracha but it had more of a chipotle taste and there was almost no heat. It tasted good. The fish was the absolute best part of the lunch, as is right. Light cornmeal coating seasoned just right. Fried to the golden brown you see. The fish itself was mild and flaky almost silky. Very nice and considering it is deep fried not greasy at all. They really do a good job. I grabbed this to go though because the Senior Bowl was coming on shortly.

So week 1 of Fishy February was a success.