Monthly Archives: February 2024

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.