Fried From Fish
I’m such a procrastinator that when I was in college I went to a session on how not to procrastinate so I wouldn’t have to do my homework. My frosh/sophomore roommate, aka rooms, also struggled with this affliction. We dubbed our room the procrastination station, enticing all of our dorm friends to visit us (the constant supply of cookie dough in the mini-fridge helped) to help us avoid studying. (Side note – I’m going to visit rooms and her husband in Maine this coming weekend. Be on the lookout for my New England cooking adventures!)
Well, I still haven’t been cured from procastinationitis. The research journey of my latest Express feature will surely prove this point. I pitched to write about three different fish counters in the area. I had already eaten at Eamonn’s a few times, so I figured I could skip that place and write on memory. But I still had to try Tackle Box (from the hottie owner of Hook) and the classic lunch-counter, Crisfield. Slacking-contributer Tim had been talking up Crisfield for a very long time, and I was excited that I would finally be able to try it – and write about it.
Tim, 80P and I planned for a lunch trip just 2 days before the article was due. But I figured we’d get home from lunch early afternoon and I would be able to work on my article and still make it out Saturday night. Well, that didn’t really work out. Even though we were all super stuffed from the copious amounts of crab and oysters and fries we’d eaten, I started to feel guilty and convinced my fried-fish eating crew that we had to go to Eamonn’s that very day. We broke up the eating by visiting some random lighthouse that used to sit on the border of DC and VA, but is now in Alexandria proper. Or something like that. All I know is that it was really fucking hot out that day and I was forced to eat fried fish for 4+ hours. Oh, and 80 and I went to Tackle Box just that Thursday. So while my previous procrastinations led to poor grades, this procrastination led to 3 fish meals in 3 days. And although I really loved all of the restaurants I highlighted in the story, I’m very done with fish for a while.
D.C.’s Catch of the Day: Local Seafood [Express]
Photo: Curtoons
My wife and I did dinner at the Tackle Box recently. Although we thought the food (a trout meal for me and a fried shrimp roll for her) was tasty and well-prepared, we walked out of there having spent $40 on food that probably should have cost half that. The $13 meals are a relatively good deal, but the sides we tried (potato salad, grilled corn, mac and cheese) were pretty much average and the sweet potato fries were soggy and unappealing.
The service, however, was impeccable. Even on a busy weeknight, one of the countermen made it a point to come out into the dining area to ask how everyone’s meal was. And he was knowledgable about the food, as well, answering a question I had about preparation technique without hesitation.
If you’re ever planning to revisit this topic, you owe it to yourself to try Horace & Dickie’s fried fish on H Street, NE. They’ve been around for almost twenty years, and the fish sandwich they serve is a monster – something like 4 or 6 filets stacked up on two slices of white or wheat bread for less than $6.