Mmmm, Fish!

I go through phases where I want to eat something and I'll eat it till I'm sick of it. These days that something is fish. Fish sticks, tuna fish sandwich, clam chowder, fried catfish, I've had them all in the last week or so.

We used to live at the coast and I got spoiled. There was always a wide variety of fresh seafood available and I learned to cook it at home. Since we moved inland I've missed having the ability to buy baby sand sharks with delicate flesh for 20% of what's charged here for large, tough shark steaks. And restaraunts...you might as well cook Mrs. Pauls at home with most of them.

But tonight we went to a seafood restaraunt that we'd heard about but never tried called The Lighthouse. It was way out in the middle of nowhere and for years we had heard people talk about making the trek out there especially on a Friday night. It was worth the drive.

I had forgotten fish could taste that good. There were a few things on the seafood buffet that were disappointing, the fried shrimp and 'scallops' were not worth the calorie intake, but some things they did incredibly well.

They had a baked fish with butter, lemon, sliced fresh tomatoes, onions, and peppers that was scrumptious. I don't even like baked fish but this was unbelievably good.

The crab legs and boiled shrimp actually had flavor instead of being watery and pulpy the way most places serve crab legs these days.

The stuffed crab was spicy with a perfect ratio of breading to crab meat and seasoning. The Hush Puppies were hot with onions and the slaw was simple, not overdone the way so many places do these days, where you could taste the fresh grated cabbage. The tea came with pitchers full of crushed ice and slices of lemon. I ate so much I hurt myself.

As for ambience, it's just a little place in the country where you end up parking in the grass, and what looks like a tiny place has room for the multitudes inside. We were seated by a Hostess toting a baby who looked to be about 4 weeks old and the waitresses were friendly and helpful. When you check out there's homemade fudge and divinity for sale if you think you'll ever have room to eat again.

After 15 years inland I finally have a place to go eat seafood.