I’m in SE Michigan and really like the already mentioned Chicken Shack. I only order Catfish there, which is apparently odd for fish and chips.
What places in Canada(Windsor?) have good fish and chips?
A big difference is the size of a serving. The fish served in English fish and chips is huge! Another difference: mushy peas. We don’t really have that side here.
Just depends on where you get your Fish and Chips. I had it once in England, a good sized portion, probably 12 oz. of fish. Here in the US it will vary a lot, probably averaging around 8 oz. of fish, but smaller and larger depending where you go. At my restaurant we served a small with 6 oz. of fish and a large with 9 oz.
I’ve only heard of mushy peas in England. I was told it wasn’t just a Fish and Chips go with, that it was a common dish sometimes sold by street vendors at pubs. It’s just very thick pea soup as far as I know.
I’m sure you’re right that there is variance. However, I’ve had fish & chips in a couple places in London, a chip shop in Northern England, and a highway services area in Scotland. In all of those places, the fish I got was giant, routinely spanning the whole of an oval plate - probably between 10 to 12 inches. I’ve had fish and chips in a few places across the US, and never have gotten anything remotely as big.
Mushy peas are not soupy. They’re just mashed peas. They have a consistency more like mashed potatoes.
Anyone else remember H Salt Fish & Chips? They were awesome.
They were the best-frozen Icelandic cod. Recently, I had batter-fried tilapia. Normally, tilapia has very little flavor. In this case, tasted pretty good.
Anyone else read the title and sing it to Kids In America?
Former Capt. D’s Manager here -
32 years ago - EVERYTHING was made in shop by hand - we had recipes for cocktail, tarter sauce etc - there was nothing brought in ‘ready’ - it was all from fresh. (excption would be batter mix, but thats just mix + water in any form).
I remember quite the controversy when they removed the 1/4 cup of diced green peppers from the cole-slaw - oh, the horrors!
Also - it was COD - honest to goodness COD.
This was how it was for many years - then they started bringing in more and more “pre-made just add water” type stuff. Most was ok - but the first to get my goat was hushpuppies - reconstituted onions are just not the same as fresh chopped.
In the early 90s - COD prices went thru the roof and there were shortages - we switched to other types of fish - Hokie (sp?) comes to mind - and if its not cut right, the stuff has a nasty mud vein in it - even a little will kill the flavor of the fish.
it was soon after that that I moved on to better careers, but - I’ve yet to see them recover to what was once the best little seafood place around.
And I would kill to have a copy of that original recipe ‘book’.
(I even met “Mr. D” at one point)
I was going to say: diner-style F&C doesn’t have the peas in the US. I have had it served in fancier “bistro” restaurants though.
Ye Olde King’s Head doesn’t serve their F&C with peas, and it has had Royal Visits. (They serve peas with the bangers & mash.)
I had my first mushy peas last August when we did a cruise around the British Isles. Loved 'em!! I’ve been looking for recipes so I can introduce my family to this yummy side. And while I’ve had some good F&C in various places stateside, I’d much rather have them in Great Britain. Some day…
Captain D’s used to have an amazing sweet and sour sauce made from as far as I could tell pineapple bits and mustard. They then switched to the little packats and it doesn’t taste the same. I miss that sauce so much.
Well, *now *I am.
I feel compelled to put in a plug for the fish and chips at Rula Bula in Tempe, Arizona. I wouldn’t have thought that an Irish bar in the middle of the goddamn desert and half a block from the ASU main campus would have tasty fish and chips. I was so very, very wrong. In the discussion for the best I’ve ever had - and I grew up in coastal Alaska.
Yes! 
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Well, that does explain it. Thanks for the inside scoop. I thought maybe my mind was embellishing the quality of Captain D’s of yore, but it sounds like I am right. They really were much better then. (And I remember those hushpuppies being absolute perfection.)
Thanks for nothing. Now I’m craving some scallops. It has to be 10 years since I had any. I wonder if this would be an OK breakfast option?
They’re still around in Southern California, though I haven’t been inside of one since I was a kid (which was many a decade ago).
In my old nabe the best place to get fish and chips was The Chip Shop run by English ex-pats. You can get mushy peas if you want and tons of other English stuffs. They used to have an English curry off-shoot restaurant around the corner but it didn’t go over very well as Brooklynites were not too fond of the sweet, over tomatoe’d stew they called curry.
Also, the have a huge deep-fried menu and will batter and deep fry anything you bring them. Man, I miss The Chip Shop.
Damn! Just read that the Park Slope Chip Shop closed December of last year. The do have another location on Atlantic Avenue that is still open. Just in case anybody was planning on going there.