Fried Heaven (Smokin' Oyster Brewery)

Without anything else to go on, we decided to ask Colleen (from The Beached Whale) where to eat (if she wasn't going to eat at the Beached Whale (of course)). She recommended two places: Smokin' Oyster Brewery and something else that neither of us could remember.

So on Saturday night, we headed off to S.O.B.'s without really knowing what to expect. My dad was in the mood for spicy and when I saw that they did have Fried Oysters, we both decided that a collection of appetizers would be the best.

It wasn't that hard to choose - my dad just looked down the menu for 'spicy', 'jalepeno', etc. We ended up with 5 dishes. I told the waitress to bring them in the order they were ready (I had gone for a run after golf and was pretty hungry). While waiting for our food, we started on our beer - I had a Corona first, but soon switched over to the house beer (which had more taste than the Corona)


The first appetizer to arrive was the Smoked Fish Dip. This had been the one that I would have skipped, based on the description, if my dad hadn't wanted it. And when it arrived I was somewhat bummed. It looked like two scoops of tuna fish.

And then I took a bite (saltines, jalepeno and the fish (which the waitress said was fresh tuna))

It was amazing. It was smokey and spicy. It was addictive. In very short order (i.e., before any of the other appetizers had appeared), we demolished it. It wasn't fancy, but man was it good.

The next four appetizers came out at the same time: Jalepeno Poppers (these are one of my secret weaknesses - I love them), Fried Oysters (previously highlighted as a favorite), blackened scallops and shrimp in a spicy sauce.

The Fried Oysters were heavenly. I love fried oysters and don't get them nearly as much as I would hope. I recently had them at Mary's Fish Camp and was very happy. These were better. These had some cornmeal in the batter that added that roughness, that crunch, that is so good. (Believe it or not) my dad had never had fried oysters. And he's now a fan.

The Poppers were great. For the uninitiated, there are two types of Poppers - those with cheese and those with cream cheese. The cream cheese version are more rare (at least in the places I frequent) and so they're a bit more special. These were the special ones. Yum.

The scallops and the shrimp were both okay, though nothing to write home about. The scallops had a buttery sauce, but were a tad over-cooked. The shrimp was good, but, as I've noted before, I'm not a huge shrimp person, and I wasn't over the moon with them. Luckily, we had over-ordered and so we left the stuff we weren't as crazy about and throughly enjoyed the others.

Overall, a fantastic meal. And just what I was in the mood for.