Readers will remember that I have a category for places that is “just right”, meaning that everything is in harmony for what the restaurant
is meant to be. St. James Pub was always
a leader in that department, just the right combination of service (you ready,
dear?), daily white board specials, country music channel on the TV, Keno
screen over the bar populated with players sipping whiskey regardless of the
hour, a pool table in a raised area in back, just what you want for a “pub”. Nothing forced, just what it was for years.
So it was in that vein that I finally succumbed to the
urging of a friend (and by the way, all these “friends” are NOT the same
person, believe it or not, I do have more than one..) to go have lunch at
Captain Pat's Seafood. He had not been
there before either, but always wanted to see what it was like so today we decided today was the day, and we
drove down into “the Park”,
Locals will know that Captain Pat's is nestled between Ledo’s (we don’t cut corners) Pizza and Sign of the Whale, two other institutions that have been in Lexington Park
as long as I can remember. None of those
are particularly welcoming, although Ledo’s is a
relatively popular place for lunch, and Sign does a pretty brisk business after
dark. Anyway, Captain Pat's currently advertises
itself thusly:
Well, that’s cute. Not
sure that’s what I want to see going into a restaurant. Anyway, the place does kind of lapse into the
Just Right feeling for a roadside urban seafood place, with Formica topped tables, plastic “Tiffany” lamps, molded
plastic benches for booths, and tired nautical displays in the corners
The tables have just about the “right” stuff, malt vinegar,
squeeze bottles (health department approved I’m sure) of tartar sauce, ketchup,
and some kind of cocktail sauce, roll of paper towels. Check, check, and check.
Only missing item might be a red plastic
basket full of cellophane wrapped saltines.
See that little yellow shaker hiding behind my Sam Adams?
Speaking of Sam, we had the only two bottled beers that were
NOT bud, bud light, coors or coors light.
Corona? “we don’t have limes, sir”
So we extracted that laminated menu card
Which contained all the stuff you would expect to see, one
side lunch, other side dinner, baskets, sandwiches, combo plates, typical
seafood place fare. My friend opted for
the haddock basket, and I took a (today's) special fried shrimp basket for $7.99, normally
“more".
The food appeared in the requisite red basket with waxed paper, the shrimp and
haddock (sandwich).
(shrimps)
(haddock)
I would have to say that the shrimp were about what you
hoped you wouldn't get, that kind of grainy coating with, I don’t know, not quite
iodine taste, not sweet shrimp. The
report on the haddock was that it tasted like it “had been around for a while”,
or at least in the freezer for a while.
Fries were exactly what you would expect as you can see from the
pictures.
It should be noted that at a table across from us, there was
a couple of ladies who were manfully (not a good analogy, but you get the
drift) tackling a beer tray of steamed crabs.
At it when we got there, still picking when we left. Good for them.
After I got home, I sent a note to another friend
who is pretty knowledgeable on local history asking about the “history” of
Captain Pats. He said that the building
now occupied by the good captain (wonder if there really is a “Pat”) used to be a Taco
John’s, and the little cluster that currently houses Sign of the... and a Tattoo parlor used to be
the Cedar Point Shopping Center. There
is a little concrete building between Pats/Johns and Whale, and I am told (by history friend) that it had a
checkered past, and maybe was associated with the Aud’s, a legendary name in
the history of “the Park”
Anyway, it was a fun luncheon adventure. Captain Pat’s kind of begs comparison to
Courtney’s, but I would have to say if you want fresh seafood in a proper
setting, make the drive down to Courtney’s.
There, it is indeed, Just Right. and you don’t need to be overly concerned
about
DFD
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