I feel like I sold out a friend by including Hagen's Fish Market before The Fish Keg. It's nearly perfect. The first time I was there two 70+ ladies were trying to get their oysters double battered and were not making any headway with the young guy upfront. They asked for a gentleman in particular. If I remembered his name the story would gain in authenticity but I don't.
Let's just call him Harold.
I was driving past. I was looking for lunch. It's the perfect storm. There was parking. There was a mural. It has almost epic potential. It's a mural of vikings fishing on the wall. There's neon, etc. everything but a phone number. I love the Fish Keg on Howard. Needless to say I went in for a bite and I ate it in my car.
Ordering lunch is always kind of odd in a counter environment. The good stuff is by the pound. You say you want lunch and get guided towards the sandwiches... which is what I went with before hearing that the cod (I think it was cod) comes in already breaded. It was okay. It was about $3.00. I won't go any farther into the sandwich because you'd go back for the smoking.
The menu has been changed but in font and paper-stock only. You can still get a great Curry Rice and Gomae. They were cutting up this tuna while I was there having lunch and I took this picture. This is just a tiny part of the beautiful fish he was carving up.
Here's a link to the previous trip there.
Ginza Fish
19 E. Ohio St.
Especially in Maine this has been a moderately big deal with politicians and industry people all taking a stand on how to talk about Langostino.
While it starts with an L it's not really Lobster – even though it tastes more like lobster than shrimp – and costs more like lobster than shrimp. The fallout seems to be that they now refer to the Long John Silver's Lobster Bites "with real Langostino Lobster Tail." If that doesn't clarify the issue, I don't know what does.
Continue reading "The Langostino Battle Continues at Long John Silvers" »
I don't like oysters or clams very much. I had a terrific dinner at MK two nights ago and the first plate we saw had an oyster with strawberry on top. I wasn't into it. My co-diner even less so. There was a certain irony when I called her the next night from Boston waiting for a seat at the Union Oyster House oyster bar.
The Union Oyster House is the oldest continuously serving restaurant in the U.S. It opened in 1826 and has been serving ever since. Only three families have ever owned the establishment. Isaiah Thomas published the first newspaper in the U.S. upstairs, "The Massachusetts Spy." It wasn't about basketball. It's an old place with a very old oyster bar.
Continue reading "Ipswich Steamer Clams... Union Oyster House" »
On Thursday evenings the Fish Guy Market on Elston closes its retail fish shop and transforms into Wellfleet fish restaurant. Tables are set out between the refrigeration cases and tea lights and candles create an unorthodox atmosphere for a 6 course dinner, though some courses are plated and served together.
The candlelight effect is terrific but the presence of Bill Dugan and crew is equally engaging. Anything you want to know about anything with gills he can explain and he takes you through the evening's dishes with a genuine enthusiasm.
The menu changes every few weeks but the service and level of preparation of the dishes should be constant. Given that they've only been at it for a short time it should even improve. It's BYOB and a couple of different bottles would give you a nice range considering the several courses.
The first course came as a plated combination of three large oysters in an "Asian style," a soy and radish treatment. It was a very clean way to serve a very fresh oyster. A ramekin of creme fraiche covered a layer of cauliflower puree and a healthy portion of Illinois sturgeon caviar – Joel Robuchon style. I enjoyed the cauliflower puree but would have liked toast points or something on which to spread the very rich and very tasty dish.
I went through a phase where I was eating lunch at OYSY often. Then I had a bad super-white-tuna lunch special that really didn't sit well. I figured it was an unlucky meal but hadn't gone back since.
Roughly 6 months later I was wandering around looking for lunch and figured I'd try it again. I was part in the mood for sushi and part wondering whether I'd been just unlucky that once and since I hadn't mentioned that meal here I figured this time, I'd mention my lunch.
My first visit to the Fish Guy Market on Elston was part of my langostino quest. I had started at Fulton and headed north. It was a bit after noon and I was tempted by fillets being grilled for other customers. For something like 8 bucks you can pick your fish and get it grilled on a roll with a wonderful herbed mayo.
So a big thing in the UK is fish and chips... that means breaded and fried cod, haddock or plaice or if you're branching out fish could include salmon, skate, halibut... chips means fries. They come with lemon, malt vinegar and you can order pickled items or mushy peas.
We had good, OK and downright ugly fish and chips in and around London. In Covent Garden is a good spot, Rock and Sole Plaice. It held up as the best of the lot. The fish, haddock, was crisply fried, the skin flavorful and the fillet thoroughly boneless. The dill tartar sauce was creamy and went well with both the fish and the traditional wedge-cut chips. The mushy peas were bland and the beer was Turkish if I recall... go figure. It's one of the few legit take-away fish and chip spots and the best of the lot, not to mention that Covent Garden seemed to be the most conducive neighborhood to wandering around.
There's a really neat Mexican seafood place on Grand and Cicero that I've been meaning to try. A big delay came when I found out that they opened a new location, basically in my neighborhood. After trying that spot I was having a hard time justifying giving a second chance to their Grand location which is supposedly a great place. But I'm glad I did.
Through driving rain I took a fairly significant detour to snag a box (two really- snack size) of the brand-new "Buttered Lobster Bites." Well they were worth the drive. To be quite honest they could be the salvation of the franchise. They're that good.
On the downside it is yet ANOTHER fried item on a menuboard that's virtually completely fried. While the flavor of the langostino is evident and completely satisfying, the "butter" flavoring when combined with the seasoned breading almost competes too much. It almost hides the langostino flavor that you want.
Continue reading "Long John Silver's Lobster Bites - Langostino" »
OK... I have been on a quest for langostino. It's come up several times in the past few weeks. A tv show about Iceland had a bit about them as a local delicacy (though not sure exactly what they were). The proprietor/chef at the Richmond Inn likes to use them and I had a plate of them a few weeks back at Las Islas Marias on Clark north of Devon. So I did some looking around.
It turns out last week that a restaurant, Rubios, in California which was serving langostino instead of lobster in their "lobster burrito" has been allowed to – the courts said it was OK to call it that since it tastes the same...?! Needless to say spellcheck doesn't recognize it either.
And funny how my guilty pleasure - Long John Silver's just started serving lobster bites with Langostino. Red Lobster uses it in their lobster bisque... See what happens when you start digging? It's like the Truman Show. My life revolves around a crustacean of some sort. Even though it's not shrimp, and not lobster either... at least not really.
I started calling fish markets, super markets, and eventually got several "Yeah we have that" answers prices varying from $32/lb to 2lbs for $15. So my escapade for seafood oddity began.
I've been reading rave reviews about Dorado for some time now and finally decided to give it a try. If the food is consistantly like I tasted last night, I've been missing out on a lot of fantastic meals. Dorado serves Mexican cuisine with a French flare.
There are some traditional Mexican items on the menu, like Queso Fundido, Carne Asada and Chicken Enchilades Mole. However, there are far more non-traditional items, each sounding more delicious than the next. We decided to start with the popular Duck Nachos. I'm not a huge Nacho fan but these were tasty - topped with crispy duck, black beans, cheese, sour cream and jalapeño peppers.
I was walking past Kizoku, 358 W. Ontario, with some time to spare and pretty much went in for a flight of salmon. On their menu they offer Scottish smoked salmon, marinated soy salmon and fresh salmon. Figured it would be a simple snack.
The restaurant is large but at 4:30 on a Friday it was me and two others at a large circular sushi bar. The waitstaff was helpful and the sushi chefs were prompt. They offer a diverse selection of rolls and a comprehensive list of fish. The place is typical-fancy for that part of Ontario and, without a crowd, impossible to register any kind of cool factor.
I enjoy fresh fish so at first glance the menu at Davis Street amazed me. There was no fish (or is it there were no fish). I quickly figured out that the specials were on a big blackboard on the wall behind me. Grouper, redfish, mahi-mahi, tuna, tilapia, monkfish, snapper, and others all sounded good. Some are broiled, some are panfried. A few come with a more special preparation.
The table ordered, starting out with the smoked salmon spread. It arrived as two scoops on top of salad greens which made me think immediately of tunafish. Not appealing to me so I reluctantly tasted it to find a terrific creamy smokey spread. Merle's apparantly smokes the fish for them (same ownership) and it is wonderful. The one member of the party who was unenthused by the order admitted it was great. I even bought the wife a 1/2 lb to take home. (she left it in the car and is afraid of "the possum" - so there it stays)
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