As a part-time Caterer, I spend a lot of time in the kitchen experimenting with recipes. Mickey has the sometimes unenviable task of "Food Taster". Not everything turns out perfect the first (few) time(s). But eventually, it will turn out perfect. I've never made a recipe that I didn't alter.
There was this FABULOUS restaurant that opened near us called Pesquera's. It was made literally from a boat. We loved it. Where we live, there is a glut of tacky Tex-Mex restaurants, a few Chinese restaurants (that don't deliver), and several "home cooking" dives. When we found Pesquera's, we were thrilled to find this up-scale eatery. It had a great wine selection, awesome trout almondine, perfectly cooked steaks, oyster shooters, a delicious Rosemary Hamburger, and the best White Chocolate Bread Pudding that I have still not been able to emulate.
They were in business for just over a year with this fantastic menu, when the economy and the cheesy clientele dictated that they scale down their menu. They changed from sit down and order, to walk up to the counter and order and take a number.
Okay, not so swanky. But, despite MUCH of the fare being cheaper, they still carried my trout. And even though oyster shooters were no longer on the menu, the owners would make it for us if we asked. And they still had AWESOME bread pudding.
But poor Pesquera's, in this scaled-down state, hung onto life support for another six months before they finally were forced to pull the plugs. We were very saddened by this turn of events.
Then a new owner took over. They kept the sign the same outside, same decorations inside, but named the restaurant "Big Daddy's Seafood." And the parking lot was CRAMMED with cars every night of the week. We figured that, even though the name of the restaurant is kind of white trash, MAYBE, if the gorge of the parking lot is any indication, the food must be good.
You would think so, right?
Wrong. WRONG, WRONG, WRONG. We went there last night. The menu (on laminated paper) is miniscule. They served stuffed jalapenos (fried), raw oysters, fried oysters, fried catfish, fried tilapia, grilled tilapia, shrimp (fried and grilled), chicken strips, salad, gumbo and peach cobbler. That was IT.
Our waitress was clueless, complete with a blank, deer-in-the-headlights, lost stare. I'll call her "Bambie". It might have been Bambie's first day at work. She asked me what I wanted to drink and I asked her what kind of wine they had. Again, the blank, scared look, followed by stammering and she walked off, bringing me back a very small, "unpretentious" wine list (on laminated paper). I ordered a glass of the only Cabernet they offered. It arrived in a tiny, screw-top bottle.
There were also very few side dishes. They had a house salad, french fries and cole slaw. I asked Bambie how the cole slaw was and she said, "the cole slaw is great." I asked her if it was mayo based or vinegar and she said, "I think mayo."
I asked her how the grilled Tilapia was, and she confessed that she doesn't eat fish. I ended up ordering raw oysters (despite the BP spill in the Gulf), and a house salad with Ranch dressing. The dressing was a packet of Newman's. The salad greens were entirely iceburg. Mickey's cole slaw was mostly mayonnaise and very little cabbage (with NO hint of vinegar). Mickey had a cup of Gumbo that was mostly black oil (maybe from the Gulf) with a few strands of dark meat chicken.
It was the most awful meal we've had in years - second only to the odd Ohio phenomena called Skyline Chili. Mickey and I were sharing our mutual critique on the drive home. Not one of those dishes would have received my Seal of Approval at home. And not a chance in Hell I would have served any of that swill to a paying customer.
Yet the place was PACKED. Much more than Pesquera's ever was. I guess the lesson learned here is, to know your clientele. If what they want to eat is boring, bland, little kid food, then you can get rich providing it for them.
As for me and Mickey, we won't be going back to Big Daddy's.
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