Grouper Sammich, Grouper Sammich, Where for art thou?

Last Saturday, Frilly, Silly and I, the Gator Goose were running errands, when suddenly I'm getting hungry. What do I want, hmmmm, flash, the image of a nice grouper sandwich is firmly planted in my mind. As I share this epiphany with the rest of the gooses, I get a positive response from S.G. and we're off to Marina Jack to sit by the bay, watch the boats and birds pass, and last but not least, tackle the tasty goodness that is the Grouper Sandwich.


After parking and walking through the marina to the outdoor seating, we have our menus in hand. So we order drinks and I begin scanning the menu. Cuban Sandwich, no, Chili-Cheese Dog, no ,French Dip, no...............Sacre Bleu! There is no Grouper Sandwich to be had here, the closest thing is a Blackened Tilapia also known as Myakka Snapper. Oh the humanity, what to do now. After some pouting, I recall the old standby The Salty Dog on City Island, so we pay for our drinks and head off over the bridges and bay once again on a journey for The Sandwich.




Nice drive through St. Armands Circle, as we traverse the small bridge we see a dolphin gliding through the water. Sweet! After a slight detour through the Lido Shores neighborhood to see the Sarasota School of Architecture houses we arrive at our destination.

We take our seats at a table on the bay side of the restaurant and get our menus. Yes, there it is, the fried grouper sandwich. So we order 3 sandwiches and an order of Conch Fritters. Frilly Goose was very virtuous, getting the grilled grouper instead of our fried ones. The fritters arrive first and are yummy, they are served with a mango dipping sauce that is surprisingly good. After we polish off the fritters it's on to the sandwiches. They are HUGE! There is as much fish and batter on the outside of the bun as the inside. Now, how do we go about eating this monster. I go for the break and stack method and lift it to my mouth for the first bite....and.....Well....Hmmm.......it is stunningly......boring :(



The batter overwhelmed the fish. One look inside the batter and you can see the fish is quite thin, they would be better off with a smaller bun-sized and thicker portion of fish than they serve. I think next time at the "OSD" I'll stick with the tried and true Fish and Chips or clam strips. The staff was very helpful and even comped one of the sandwiches. And so the journey, dare I say quest, continues. Stay tuned to the hunt for the best Grouper Sandwich around these parts.

Slater,

Gator



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