Lost all street cred at a dinner the other night....

T

traca

Well-known member
I was invited to a dinner for the media the other night.(It still cracks me up. I'm waiting for them to discover I'm not really media...) Anyway, this restaurant was rolling out a preview of their menu for the James Beard House . The theme? The fisherman and the chef. This guy who worked in the flying fish spot in Pike Place Market bought a resto...teamed up with a chef. yadda yadda ya...

Every course, we were served the WHOLE fish.

The 1st course, brioche croistini with these strips of what I thought was shredded fish. No. I'm editing photos tonight. These are like baby eels, 20 of them per croistini. I see these eyes staring back at me in the photo! If I had any idea, I probably wouldn't have asked for seconds.

Anywhoo...

Next course, three baby octopus on a plate. Whole. Grilled. Big bullobus heads. (Keep in mind I'm a scuba diver and am quite fond of octopus sightings) Whole baby octopus are not my thing. I can't even look at them. Ewww. Eww. Eww. I'm practically squealing like a little girl.

Meanwhile, I'm at the media table with the Asian Dining experts. They've been eating this kind of thing their whole lives and are quite amused...and appalled that I'm having issues.

Next course. An entire fish. By now the server is getting the idea I'm not so keen on this menu. Before she brings my plate, I ask her to cut the head off. "No problem," she quips.

Lorna, raised in an Asian household, cookbook author, and magazine columnist I'm sure had plenty to say about me after dinner. But this Midwest girl who graduated past cream of mushroom soup casseroles at 25, hasn't been sucking octopus heads since I was three. I'm just saying...

Next course. Another freaking huge whole fish! The other Asian dining writer at the table is asking if there's anyone who doesn't want the eyes...because he'd really like to have them. Seriously? These fish eyes are the size of quarters. OMG.

By now, I don't even have to ask. My fish comes, mercilessly, headless.

Dessert is ice cream in a fruit soup, with housemade fish made of gelatin. *These* I will eat!

My Asian dining companions comment on the fish. "Too much gelatin." OMG.

Seconds after this dinner, I have a microphone thrust at me and I'm doing a sound bite for a radio show. It's all a bit surreal. "How did you enjoy your dinner?" I Lie. Lie. Lie. If I were pinocchio, I would have knocked her out with my nose!

Needless to say, I lived to tell the tale, but editing the photos brought it all back to me.

The photo is a shot of the fish with the eyes. Any takers????





 
Traca, I'm with you...

take the head off before you bring me the plate!

I do not want my dinner looking back at me.

BTW, that is one mean looking plateful in the photo.

 
hehehehehehehe....I can't stop giggling here. Oh, the Horror...the Horror!!!

Thank you for such a delightful morning read, Traca. Really. Your eel vision reminds me of the horse head scene in The Tin Drum. Only yours had garni.

At least you got jello out of the deal.

 
Traca, Loved reading your experience ... noticed in the picture a diner with his fork or whatever

standing upright looking like he was "demanding," more.

Good read.

 
Things can get a little awkward when eating what my wife's elders prepare...

...when the dishes harken back to their Filipino traditions. Sometimes it's downright tribal.

Most times it's delicious.

I'm with ya, Traca.

Michael

 
LOL, what an evening. I don't mind fish heads on my fish but I'm used to them lying helpless on the

plate, not swimming straight at me like the one in the photo.

 
DH had that experience in China. The eyes are considered a delicacy.

Edited to say the eyes were the only thing offered him that he didn't eat.

 
The guy with the fork? Works for Pearl Jam. Friends of the owner, I assume. smileys/smile.gif

 
Oh my, eyeballs. I really prefer my fishies with a discrete lemon sunglasses/helmet accessory,

Cause when they're cooked they look all wonky. That is a gorgeous fish but it looked like it was coming after you. Da da da da da da (Jaws)!!!!

I had a nightmare that I was served whole baby octopi at a sushi restaurant - they were alive and squirmy! Guess I should not watch Andrew Zimmerman berfore bedtime! But as much as I adore everything from the ocean I've never been able to eat one. Or uni - aka sea snot!!!!!

 
When I was in China, the waiter would display a gorgeous whole fish (I don't mind the eyes) and then

invariably take a cleaver to it, chop it up and drive every last bone into the flesh before serving. Why???

 
hey, this vision could be our new "foil helmet" for when we need to really avoid a decadent recipe.

just bring this photo to mind when reading a sinfully rich brownie recipe, etc.

 
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