A few days ago I was talking to Linda Lou, who lives in Washington. Mount Vernon in the Skagit Valley to be precise.
Washington, where fresh seafood is abundantly available. Both for the buying and for the catching.
I was never a big fan of clam digging, the actual digging for clams part. But, I did like to be on the sand flats at low tide whilst others were digging.
I liked wading out in the surf to catch Dungeness crab. Or dangle a crap pot off the train trestle which crosses Fidalgo Bay to reach Anacortes. One had to hurry off the trestle, or get to one of the wide spots, if a train suddenly showed up.
It was Linda Lou's dad, Bill, who first introduced me to catching cod out in the San Juan Islands. Off Cattle Point to be precise. On the boat, if I remember right, in addition to ship's captain, Bill, there was me, Linda Lou, Russell B. and Big Ed.
We caught a lot of cod that day. And then, when we got back to Burlington, Bill made deep fried cod from what was caught a short time previous. I remember this as the best cod ever. Over the years the cod that day has been mentioned many a time.
It was my experience catching cod that day off Cattle Point that motivated my mom and dad to buy their first boat. A few years later dad landed a 185 pound halibut. There was a photo of dad and his halibut in the local newspaper. I should see if I can find that photo, but not right now.
So, like I was saying, a few days ago I was talking to Linda Lou. She had just had really good fish and chips at a seaside restaurant in Bellingham. In Washington fish and chips means a fish like cod, or halibut. And chips are those fried spud slivers known as french fries.
Linda Lou asked if I can get good fish and chips at my location in Texas. I uttered a scoffing noise and said these people think catfish is seafood. That you might find something exotic on a menu like cod, halibut, red snapper or salmon, but more often than not if seafood is on the menu, that seafood is catfish. Or these awful insect-like things called crawdads or crawfish or mudbugs.
I told Linda Lou my first experience with Texas seafood was at the long gone Riscky's Catch in the Fort Worth Stockyards. We opted for the all you can eat fish. Which was catfish with a cornmeal coating. It came with all the hush puppies you could eat. We ate little of either the catfish or the hush puppies. The least I've ever eaten at an all you can eat.
What are hush puppies Linda Lou asked? I told her it was a Southern staple, like grits is, that hush puppies are deep fried corn meal nuggets.
Linda Lou asked if the catfish was good. I told her no, it was not good, it had a mushy texture and a slight muddy taste, does not taste like fish. I have been told by others from the Pacific Northwest, who are in Texas, that they have had edible catfish. But, I, unfortunately, have not.
So in the past week or so a new restaurant has opened in Wichita Falls.
THE CATCH.
That is one page of their two page menu you see at the top. As you can see, catfish makes multiple appearances on the menu. Crawfish tails also show up. As does Gator. And the Baskets & Fried Combos all come with those aforementioned hush puppies.
Something called Whitefish also shows up on THE CATCH menu a couple times. I would guess this is tilapia. If it were cod or halibut I think mention would be made of that fact.
I drove by THE CATCH yesterday on my way back from ALDI. The place was packed. People were even under the umbrellas of the outside patio, despite the 90 degree plus heat.
I likely will not be sampling the menu of THE CATCH anytime soon...
Washington, where fresh seafood is abundantly available. Both for the buying and for the catching.
I was never a big fan of clam digging, the actual digging for clams part. But, I did like to be on the sand flats at low tide whilst others were digging.
I liked wading out in the surf to catch Dungeness crab. Or dangle a crap pot off the train trestle which crosses Fidalgo Bay to reach Anacortes. One had to hurry off the trestle, or get to one of the wide spots, if a train suddenly showed up.
It was Linda Lou's dad, Bill, who first introduced me to catching cod out in the San Juan Islands. Off Cattle Point to be precise. On the boat, if I remember right, in addition to ship's captain, Bill, there was me, Linda Lou, Russell B. and Big Ed.
We caught a lot of cod that day. And then, when we got back to Burlington, Bill made deep fried cod from what was caught a short time previous. I remember this as the best cod ever. Over the years the cod that day has been mentioned many a time.
It was my experience catching cod that day off Cattle Point that motivated my mom and dad to buy their first boat. A few years later dad landed a 185 pound halibut. There was a photo of dad and his halibut in the local newspaper. I should see if I can find that photo, but not right now.
So, like I was saying, a few days ago I was talking to Linda Lou. She had just had really good fish and chips at a seaside restaurant in Bellingham. In Washington fish and chips means a fish like cod, or halibut. And chips are those fried spud slivers known as french fries.
Linda Lou asked if I can get good fish and chips at my location in Texas. I uttered a scoffing noise and said these people think catfish is seafood. That you might find something exotic on a menu like cod, halibut, red snapper or salmon, but more often than not if seafood is on the menu, that seafood is catfish. Or these awful insect-like things called crawdads or crawfish or mudbugs.
I told Linda Lou my first experience with Texas seafood was at the long gone Riscky's Catch in the Fort Worth Stockyards. We opted for the all you can eat fish. Which was catfish with a cornmeal coating. It came with all the hush puppies you could eat. We ate little of either the catfish or the hush puppies. The least I've ever eaten at an all you can eat.
What are hush puppies Linda Lou asked? I told her it was a Southern staple, like grits is, that hush puppies are deep fried corn meal nuggets.
Linda Lou asked if the catfish was good. I told her no, it was not good, it had a mushy texture and a slight muddy taste, does not taste like fish. I have been told by others from the Pacific Northwest, who are in Texas, that they have had edible catfish. But, I, unfortunately, have not.
So in the past week or so a new restaurant has opened in Wichita Falls.
THE CATCH.
That is one page of their two page menu you see at the top. As you can see, catfish makes multiple appearances on the menu. Crawfish tails also show up. As does Gator. And the Baskets & Fried Combos all come with those aforementioned hush puppies.
Something called Whitefish also shows up on THE CATCH menu a couple times. I would guess this is tilapia. If it were cod or halibut I think mention would be made of that fact.
I drove by THE CATCH yesterday on my way back from ALDI. The place was packed. People were even under the umbrellas of the outside patio, despite the 90 degree plus heat.
I likely will not be sampling the menu of THE CATCH anytime soon...
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