The Fish Stand: I wanted to love it, but....

The Little Woman and I stopped for lunch at The Fish Stand in Seymour, Indiana while on the way to Louisville for the weekend. It's a dumpy little place in an old building, but that's part of its charm, really. The smell of deep frying assaults (or serenades) your nostrils as you approach, although the little dining room was relatively free of that aroma.  It has 6 tables, I think, and 4 or 5 stools at a counter toward the back.  The staff is friendly and they appeared to be doing a big Friday lunch business, with several folks lined up for carry-out orders.  The place sells just about every kind of deep-fried seafood you can imagine, including Clam Chowder Bites(?) as well as a fried Pork Tenderloin sandwich and Fried Green Beans. 

TLW is not much of a fish lover but bravely agreed to try the Small Pollock meal, while I had the Friday special Shrimp Dinner.  Both came with fries, hush puppies, and coleslaw, and I also had an order of Crab Cakes.  The food came out quickly and was cheerfully delivered to our table.  We asked if they had lemon for our iced tea, and the lady brought a grocery store-sized bottle of ReaLemon juice and politely asked if that would be okay.  The tea was pretty good with it, really, just like at home.

The shrimp were okay but were like you get at a cafeteria or other place that doesn't serve much seafood-- butterflied and with a heavy, hard breading that sort of masks the flavor of the shrimp. TLW's pollock had a weird, kind of chalky taste which she attributed to undercooking that made the coating taste like batter instead of breading.  Maybe due to being swamped with lunch orders they rushed things a bit, maybe? I dunno, but we were on the road and didn't have time to complain. The coleslaw was not to my taste, either, but that's one of those foods like potato salad or mac 'n cheese that are a matter of personal taste.  It was made with mayonnaise and was thickly creamy without the slightest hint of sweetness, but YOU might like it that way, right?  It certainly seemed fresh, anyway.
On the positive side, the crab cakes were not lump crab but Bader meat (hope I spelled that right), but heck, what do ya expect for $2?   They were delicious, too, nicely seasoned, as were the crinkle-cut, perfectly cooked fries.  The hush puppies, of all things, were maybe the best I've had-- sweet cornbread with lots of onion and seasoned nicely.  All in all, it wasn't a bad meal, it just wasn't the deep-fried gold I was hoping for... The price, to me, was very cheap compared to what we get charged in the Big Ol' Burg of Indy, so there was that, too.  I'm a $$ kinda guy, so the $ meal kinda made up for some of it's shortcomings.

Lastly, and because this is a blog of experiences and not strictly restaurant reviews, I will tell ya that TLW was throwing up all the next day and 2 more days while I who am "Vomit-free Since '93" had problems with the OTHER end of the digestive tract a day later for 2 days.  We certainly can't blame The Fish Stand since we ate at a restaurant (Eddie Merlot's) in Louisville that night and the bartender gave us chunks of pineapple that had been soaked in vodka for 23 days to make their own pineapple liqueur, so who knows what was the cause of our discomfort.

The Goldfinch Restaurant- What the heck is AYCEFISH?

The Goldfinch Restaurant is, I'm sorry to say, on US52 in Brookville, Indiana.  I am sad to say that only because it is so damn' far away from my home that I won't be able to frequent it regularly.  We were ending a mini-vacation at Greenbo Lake State Resort Park in Kentucky by driving US52 from Ironton, OH all the way back to Indy, which is one of the most pleasant scenic drives I've ever taken in recent memory, although the string of small towns along the route meant that the most exotic restaurant you'll find is a Dairy Queen Grill 'n Chill, which was our first stop, in Aberdeen, OH, which was a bit of all-right in itself.  It was fun to split a Cheesecake & Caramel milk shake while listening to the group of retired old guys who inevitably seem to gather at such places in small towns, shootin' the bull while they sip coffee and maybe have a little breakfast.  We later ducked across I-275 into Kentucky to skirt our way around Cincinnati and continue back onto US52 on our idyllic journey through the boonies. There seemed to be 'nary an eatery between Lawrenceburg and Brookville, but as we approached that bodacious burg, we saw a plethora, a smorgasbord if you will, of signs for local restaurants, almost ALL of which were closed for the season!  

"The season of WHAT?"  I asked, my mouth watering for pancakes and steaks that I would now never have.  Being an insular Indianapolite (Indianapolitan?), I had no idea that the Brookville area is a popular area for whitewater canoeing and rafting, for those who have that particular death wish, and during the Summer the place hums with tourists (and fire-rescue squads, too, I imagine) all of whom need to be fed, but that was all done by the time we got there in the first week of October.  We were pleasantly surprised, however, as we got into Brookville proper and spied the Goldfinch's sign out front that shouted SALMON and AYCE FISH. AYCE FISH?  The term intrigued me almost as much as the prospect of actual seafood, or at least fish.  I grew up in a Southern city on the Ohio River which has numerous restaurants offering all manner of water-dwelling food animals, and I never cease to be disappointed by the dearth of fish and seafood selections in the Circle City, unless you want a) hoity-toity just flown-in from the coast stuff that doesn't taste nearly as good as it does fresh AT the coast but still costs you $$$$, or b) Buffalo fish, whatever that is, or some other mystery fish that is only $ expensive but is breaded so thickly and fried so hard you have to break it up and mash it with your fork to get to the actual fish part. But here in Brookville was a homey sit-down place of the type I'm accustomed to, offering several types of fish and seafood prepared several different ways.

We had to ask what AYCE FISH is, and it means, simply, wait for it...  "All You Can Eat."  DUH!  I shoulda guessed, and it was AYCE cod, I think she said.  Not wanting to pig out, I ordered the Salmon Patties with fries and She ordered a Whitefish Sandwich.  My patties were as good as Mom used to make, although they could've been cooked a litle longer (Mom always browned 'em in the pan), and Her fish sandwich was a bit overcooked, but it was one huge square fish patty on a big-assed bun with fresh lettuce and tomato.  I had a salad, too, and the lettuce and 'maters tasted like they'd been harvested that day, they were so fresh.  The fries had a light coating of an interesting batter, too.  At upwards of $10, Her sandwich was a little overpriced, I thought, but it was still delicious.  Like I said, I would go back there  the next time I get a craving for fish, if only it weren't in freakin' Brookville!  Sigh....