When I'm in Texas I try to avoid seafood restaurants unless I am brought to one by somebody else. Best bets are Steakhouses, barbecue places or Mexican. Recently I ended up at a place called San Larenzo's in a strip mall on the outskirts of Houston in League City. We only went there because it was late and the place we tried first was closed. I had some kind of platter with a couple of tacos, a burrito, an enchilada, chile rellanos, a tamale and chile con queso. It was fantastic. I also drank 2 beers and 2 margaritas (top shelf) The lady I was with had a taco salad and 3 top shelf margaritas. The tab before the tip came to $30. A couple of weeks later I went to Casa Maria on Bluebonnet Road in Baton Rouge by myself. I ordered some kind of Mexican platter that didn't have half the amount of food on it that the one I had in Houston had and it wasn't nearly half as good. I drank one beer and one margarita ( top shelf) The tab for that came to $38 before tip. I have been to a Joe's Crab Shack once. It was the first and the last time I will ever eat at a Joe's Crab Shack. The Cajun McChicken sandwich is a far better deal. It is decent enough for what it is and what you pay for it. If McDonalds ever has another special for a Cajun McFish Sandwich avoid it like the plague. It is their regular McFish sandwich minus the cheese and tartar sauce and slathered with some kind of foul tasting red sauce on top of the fish. I threw it away after 2 bites. If McDonalds ever has another special on Hot McDogs (or is that McHot Dogs?) be very afraid. Run for your life. Last year McDonalds had a Barbecue Chicken sandwich for 99 cents. It was very good. I wish they would make it a permanent part of their menu. There is a huge redfish farm in Galveston county in Bacliff, Texas. Through the science of aquaculture they raise and harvest thousands of pounds of redfish daily on a commercial basis. I recently discovered that among their regular customers are some restaurants in New Orleans. Tourists eating at New Orleans restaurants are eating Texas redfish. Last night I watched The Iron Chef on the Food Channel. Some guy named something like Yamaha Suzuki Honda Toyota or whatever was the challenger. He was the greatest French Chef in Japan and learned his skills at some of the greatest French restaurants. He once had the audacity to argue with France's # 1 chef Joel Robichon for 2 hours in French about their cooking philosophies. He said he thinks and dreams in French. The Japanese French Chef chose to challenge the Iron Chef Japanese in Kitchen Stadium to cook the best Japanese dish. The main ingrediant they were given to use as the basis for the challenge was corn. He lost to the Iron Chef Japanese. Was it a fix? Was the Iron Chef Japanese's food really better than the challenger's? How would I know since I didn't get to taste any of it? I'll bet there are a bunch of us who read this forum who can make a great corn and shrimp soup. Why is there no Iron Chef Cajun? The Food Channel is owned by Emeril Lagasse. Bam
