Snack Tray: Crunk Fish, Robinson Crusoe's Condiments and Okra Minus Slime
It's Friday, so the heart naturally yearns for a deluxe Nashville hot fish sandwich: planks of fried whiting piled high with yellow mustard, hot sauce, onion and pickle and toothpicked between endearingly inadequate slices of lunchbox-issue white bread. This monster is the Giant King of Nashville hot fish sandwiches, as Eastside Fish's Donald "Bo" Boatright will be the first to tell you. We found this photo and Michael Stern's accompanying write-up at Roadfood.com, and you can find the real deal at 2617 Gallatin Pike, where Mr. Pink heartily endorses the hot wings as well as Nashville's coolest fashion accessory, the "Crunkest Fish in Town" T-shirt. Call in your order at 227-8388.
• Worst-Case Scenario Dept.: You get home, your refrigerator has died, and all your condiments are now Petri dishes of angsty bacteria. Which ones do you restock? Ulika has a list of desert island dressings no kitchen can survive without, even if I'm currently surviving without some of them (sweet chili sauce, Cheez Whiz). My own additions to the list: soy sauce, Cholula, Louisiana Gold, and the most glorious of all enhancement aids, Omni Hut Teriyaki Sauce.
• At Nashville Restaurants, Sweetgrass Smokerie incurs the undying wrath of a Sicilian simply by taking its spicy smoked tofu on a pretzel roll off the menu. I would think anything that obliterates tofu could only be a diner's friend, but Katie the Veggie Eater does not agree. Even so, the "grits tots" they tried across the patio at Edisto (which caused a mild disagreement, if you can have such a thing with a Sicilian) sound like fried lumps of genius.
• Maybe it's because the venerable Abelmoschus esculentus stands up to drought like the Iron Mike of the vegetable kingdom, but okra seems to be in the air these days. (Not literally, thank goodness, as driving would be difficult.) The latest to take notice is Natalie at Fear Ye No Carb, who provides a roasting recipe that she says does away with that off-putting okra slime. But isn't the slime part of the appeal? If I ran the American Okra Council (if there were an American Okra Council), I would market it as vegan escargot.
• Speaking of vegans, Yvonne Smith, Nashville's Traveling Vegetarian, is up for a 2008 Veggie Award for "Favorite Veg Website" from VegNews magazine. We at Bites do not advocate ballot-box stuffing...well, yeah, actually, we kinda do. So vote for Yvonne before Aug. 31 and make sure you fill out at least 50 percent of the ballot. All write-ins must be vegan, which is a polite way of saying "Famous Dave's" is not an acceptable candidate.
Comments
Wow. I had no idea you could buy Omni Hut teriyaki sauce!
Posted 08/22/2008 at 12:19:29 PMEastside Fish = winrar!
Posted 08/22/2008 at 01:39:29 PMI haven't seen Omni Hut Teriyaki sauce at a local grocery for a couple of years. Is it still available anywhere other than Omni Hut itself?
Posted 08/22/2008 at 02:29:16 PMEastside Fish is the best-kept cheap secret in town and it really is terrific. Whenever people come to town and want "the Nashville food experience," I bypass hot chicken altogether and take them straight here. This is also where I went for lunch the day of the presidential primary and on the way out, someone in the back yelled "Once You Go Barack, You Never Go Back!"
Posted 08/22/2008 at 02:38:36 PMI'm checking on the sauce. I know it's available at the Omni Hut, the best Polynesian restaurant in Smyrna.
Eastside Fish is a marvel. I keep meaning to take Swedish Pete out there, as the man is the world's third biggest fan of Captain D's. (The titleholders are closer than you might think.)
Posted 08/22/2008 at 04:32:37 PMWe recently repainted our den Cracklin Beige.
Posted 08/22/2008 at 08:00:42 PMY'all, I'm glad you mentioned Edisto. My sisters and I had an AMAZING meal there Monday night (with nary another customer in sight). We really want to spread the word about this spot; the chef came out and talked to us for a while and seemed to really have some great ideas (especially for BRUNCH, take a look at the Hangover Pancake). The service was great, the appetizers were tasty, the shrimp and grits were remarkable and my churrasco-style hanger steak was fantastic.
And this leads me to by other question: can't we have a Bites forum instead of just posts and comments? I have wanted to pipe up about Edisto all week but didn't want to go back and find your previous post about it (and therefore miss out on a lot of views of my comment) and also didn't want to go hijack a story about the Walrus with an unrelated comment. Is this in the works?
Posted 08/23/2008 at 12:00:30 PMdelaney! brilliant... i love that idea. i think it'd actually go over pretty well.
hey carrington, get right on that, mmmk?
Posted 08/23/2008 at 05:19:07 PMActually, no one would miss out on your Edisto comment because the newest comments are always flagged on the side under "Recent Comments." I have a feeling that's where most readers look first. But the forum is an interesting idea. In the meantime, we encourage you to comment the way you should vote: often.
Posted 08/24/2008 at 11:18:23 AMAs someone who is never in Nashville long enough to check out Bites as often as I want (BTW...Greetings from the OC!) I always go to the "recent posts" so see who of my favourite "Biters" said what...
And I'm totally going to try Edisto since I'm heading more to the vegetarian side, but the partner loves his BBQ!
Posted 08/24/2008 at 03:58:52 PMI used to be able to find Omni Hut teriyaki at, I believe, the HG Hill store on Nolensville Road.
Posted 08/25/2008 at 11:22:55 AMI made roasted okra last night and wow! It's great - really terrific finger food. I sprinkled mine with some cajun spices. Delish.
Posted 08/28/2008 at 09:40:30 AM