Fisherman’s Wharf? Fuhgeddaboudit!

April 13th, 2010 Posted in Eat Out Galvez, Tour Galvez
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Okay, okay, it wasn’t that bad.

In fact, one of the dishes we ordered, the Shrimp Scampi, was actually quite good—eight, count ‘em, eight! Jumbo Gulf shrimp sautéed in olive oil, white wine, shallots, garlic, and fresh herbs, served atop angel hair pasta in a creamy, garlic butter sauce and topped with parmesan cheese. What’s not to like?

Fisherman’s Wharf

Fisherman’s Wharf

Except for the fact that …

  • we were first seated at a table by a window with a nice view of the harbor, only to find the blinds drawn against a glaring setting sun,
  • in the stiflingly hot, extremely loud (thanks to several large, probably inebriated groups) Elissa Room (named for Galveston’s tall sailing ship moored at the dock just outside),
  • and then, at our request, reseated, this time at a table near the bustling kitchen and ever-popular restrooms, and still too near one especially loud-mouthed party of happy women, unhappily situated at the convergence of the Elissa Room’s threshold and our new table, Read the rest of this entry »
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The spice of life

April 13th, 2010 Posted in Eat Out Galvez, Heydey Galvez
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Maceo spices

Maceo spices

Slightly embarrassed (not really) but undeterred, my little foodie warriors and I so craved more of the Oyster Bar Trash and Shrimp Cabo appetizers at Willie G’s that we decided to make a return trip two days later.

This time our salivary glands were really working overtime so we opted to enlarge the line-up slightly by ordering the dinner-sized version of the Shrimp Cabo and adding one more hot appetizer of fried calamari and a fresh house salad.

The two known quantities easily lived up to our lofty expectations, and the fried calamari—so fresh, crispy, and delicious—was to die for. When we were all done, the plates were so clean they could have put them right back on the shelf. Yum, yum, and yum! Read the rest of this entry »

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Grouper groupies

April 7th, 2010 Posted in Eat Out Galvez
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Search for a living fossil

Search for a living fossil

It all started as a single-minded quest for grouper.

Actually, this whole short saga reminds me of a book I once read in elementary school called Search for a Living Fossil, a story about the discovery in 1938 of an ancient fish, thought to be long extinct, that just happened to turn up one day in a fisherman’s boat somewhere off the east coast of Africa.

The name of the fish in question was—is—a coelacanth, an intimidating handle for even the bravest adult, much less the child of eleven I was at the time. Ever the pragmatist, I quickly opted to throw in the towel on this linguistic challenge and select a simple pronunciation reasonable to me—”KO-luh-kanth.” I later learned, of course, that big, smart people properly pronounce this fish’s name “SEE-luh-kanth.” Nevertheless, to this day, when I happen upon this word—rarely, to be sure, but occasionally—that little voice in the back of my childhood brain still sounds out the syllables, “KO-luh-kanth.” Early learning dies hard, even if it’s wrong. Still, I was pretty darn close. Read the rest of this entry »

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