Drive By Try - Mary’s Fabulous Fried Chicken and Fish , Ann Arbor, Mi

Have you ever been past a place and thought to yourself, “Someday I have to try that place. “ Well after saying that about Mary’s Fabulous Fried Chicken and Fish, we decided today was the day.

  At Mary’s, you walk to the counter and give your order.  There is only one table in the place and the condiments are on the table.

  I decided to try the 3 piece fried chicken dinner, and Rebbel decided on the 2 piece fish dinner.  I asked for three thighs because I love the thigh.  Meaty and juicy dark meat. Can’t go wrong! I found the chicken to be all that with a little bit of heat way in the back.  It was very good chicken.  The dinner came with cole slaw and mashed potatoes.  The potatoes were good, but could have used a bit of salt in my opinion. The slaw was excellent. A good sweet slaw. Only complaint was that it was ground pretty small and resembled mush, but was still tasty. A roll was served with the dinner and was good but nothing special.

  Rebbel did not fare as well with the fish. She found it to be chewy instead of flakey.  It was a white fish but the kind was not listed. Her fries were good. Medium size, no crinkles. 

  We would definitely stop again in the future, but would stick with the fried chicken.  Mary’s also offers  hoagies, clams, and shrimp on their menu.  They are located at 3220 Packard St. In Ann Arbor, Mi.

Weird Name, Great Food! - L George's Coney Island Restaurant, Canton, Michigan

Checking on Trip Advisor for the best restaurants in the Canton, Mi. area, I came across L. George's.  They were rated number one.  I looked at the name and said to myself that there was no way that this place ccould be any good with a name like that.  I even hesitated telling my wife about it.  I finally told her because nothing else looked all that impressive. We decided to give it a try!
  We drove down Michigan Avenue not knowing what to expect.  We did a Michigan left and noticed a busy parking lot. Maybe a good sign.We went in for a short wait.
  Rebbel asked a passing waitress what the best thing on the menu. She was told everything was good. Everything made right there from scratch and real.  We decided to try the hot roast beef sandwich and the fish dinner.
  The roast beef sandwich came on top of two pieces of bread with mashed potatoes and covered in a brown savory gravy.  Rebbel didn't care much for that type of gravy, but the chunks of real roast beef were very tender and tasty. It was a  huge portion.
  I got coleslaw and ordered fries with my fish. The fish was cod and was in three big pieces.  The fish was flaky, firm and in a batter that was just the right density.  The coleslaw was also prepared just perfectly. The prices were really reasonable and we had plenty of food to take home. The service was fast and friendly.They serve breakfast all day,  variety of sandwiches,gyros, and pitas. Hamburgers, hot dogs and lots more! L.George is located at 43711 Michiagan Ave in Canton,Mi.  They have another locaton in Walled Lake.  You can find them on the web at:http://www.lgeorgescanton.com/locations.html

Good Chowduh! - Shucker's Seafood and Pasta, Swanton,Ohio

I have heard of Shucker's Restaurant for quite some time. A reviewer in a Toledo newspaper had said that they had great clam chowder. I had somebody at work tell me that their all you can eat Alaskan Whitefish on Tuesday nights was very good. We went there on a Saturday hoping to check them out. We got there about 2:30 in the afternoon and found that there wasn't anybody there. They didn't open until 4:30 on Saturdays. We ended up eating at Friday's, and had to wait on the clam chowder.
We had other places to go for the next few weeks, so we tried to put it out of our minds (This is probably easier for Rebbel than it is for me). This Saturday we finally put our hunger pangs off until later and we finally made it through their door. We were glad we went.
We each had a cup of the chowder. I ranked it as number one on my list. It is chock full of clam, potato goodness and had a great taste Rebbel ranked it number three. She thought that it was very good, but she ranked the Outback's (which no longer has clam chowder and shouldn't count), and Red Lobster's as her #1 and #2.
There may be better on the east coast, but around these parts, thats how we rank them.
Besides the good chowder, they had a great grouper sandwich platter. A huge generous
slab of Florida Grouper, on a grilled bun with tomato,onion,and tarter sauce on the side. The fries were even good! Rebbel ordered the fried cod which was good, but when we tasted them side by side, the grouper was much better.
We really liked almost everything about the meal, and would definitely go back. If you go, leave plenty of room, they give you a lot of food. Most of the sandwich platters are around $10.00 and the fish dishes around $15.00. They have great specials during the week for $9.99. They are located at 142600 Airport Rd in Swanton,Ohio. Look for the boat on the roof.

Follow Your Nose To Ted Peter's Famous Smoked Fish

When in Florida, we always try to go towards Tampa. That side of the state is just beautiful. The coast is dotted with seafood places. One of those places is Ted Peter's
Famous Smoked Fish.
This place is basically just a shack. Located at 1350 S. Pasadena Avenue in St. Petersburg, you have two choices of seating. Outside there are covered picnic tables and the outside bar. You go inside and its kind of grungy. It kind of gives you a cabin feel, a real old dingy cabin feel,complete with fireplace. I don't know if its a working fireplace,but they probably don't need it too much in Florida.
The fish is a completely different story. It first hits your nose the minute you pull in the parking lot. In fact, that is the way Ted Peter's would lure in customers when he first opened the restaurant back in 1951. According to his obituary; he died in 2003, he used to wave the lid on his smoker as customers went by. I can see how that worked. Today, the smokehouse sits next to the restaurant. You can watch the process and buy some fish to go.
The fish comes in a huge portion. It is juicy and has a great smokey flavor. I had the Mahi-Mahi and Rebbel got the Salmon. Both winners. Of course we had to try the potato salad and cole slaw. The potato salad, was a German potato salad. I usually don't care for that type, but theirs tasted totally different. It tasted more like the fried potatoes you might have with your eggs in the morning. Simply delicious.
We took some of their smoked fish dip and crackers for a snack. That too, was totally awesome. I also witnessed a lot of people ordering the hamburgers. I hear that those are really good too. I highly recommend trying this place. I have a feeling we'll be back!

Gourmet Seafood, Anyone?? - Keegans Seafood Grille, Tampa, Fla.

After a day spent at St. Pete's Beach area, with the Grandkids, we went looking for this place located up the beach at Indian Rocks Beach in Florida. Rebbel had seen this place in an installment of Food Network's Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives and wanted to try it. After all, we were in the area.

Keegan's Seafood Grille was founded by Linda and Cesar Keegan. She has a background in fine dining in the North and South, and he learned his trade in the cruise ship industry, and kitchens in Miami.

The restaurant can't be really considered a dive, or a diner and I didn't notice a drive through. It is a place though where you just don't expect to see this quality of food. The presentation of

Rebbel's dinner, was something to behold. It was so colorful. I ordered the sandwich and it wasn't as colorful, but I think it tasted better. It was juicier. After a sunny day at the beach, it was an interesting place to try. Would we go back?? Probably not. There are so many places to try along this coast, and while the food was good, and looked great, we would probably try other places. Although we are glad we ate there . http://www.keegansseafood.com/index.html

The Best Fish I Ever Put In My Mouth - Elephant Bar Restaurant

"This is the best fish I ever put in my mouth!" That is how my wife described the Macadamia nut crusted Mahi Mahi we were eating. I had to agree with her. We had first tried the Elephant Bar Restaurant located at the Westfield Shopping Center on Monroe Street in Toledo about one year ago. We were sent there by my friend Sheri. Whenever she would go to an interesting restaurant, she was nice enough to bring a take-out menu back. I was kind of reluctant to try this one, because we don't get into Chinese food. This menu had something called Pacific Rim Specialties that looked somewhat Chinese to me. I showed it to Rebbel though, and she wanted to try it.
The first thing you notice is the surroundings. Very colorful and anything but dull.
I tried the Shrimp Adventure Platter, and she went for this Mahi Mahi dish. I have to laugh now whenever we have Mahi- Mahi, because when we were visiting Key West with Rebbel's Mother, she mistakenly ordered it as Mahottie Mahottie, and another memory was made.
Anyway, Rebbel ordered it, gave me a taste of it and I was sorry for not ordering it, not that the shrimp was bad, but this was way better.
We went back in the summer and were horribly disappointed to find out that they only have this dish at certain times. So if you want it, you better get it now. What makes this dish so fantastic?
First the fish is deep fried and encrusted in the Macadamia Nut coating. Crunchy on the outside, juicy and moist, mild fish on the inside. They put mango salsa on the ends of the fish. It was served on a bed of rice. They also put a French Macadamia Nut Beurre Blanc Sauce in the mix and a green spicy dipping sauce on four corners. The dish was colorful in presentation, and the sweet, spicy, crunchy, soft combination was out of this world! You probably wouldn't want to order one of their mouth watering deserts even if you had room, because you would want this taste in your mouth as long as possible. There are probably many great things on their menu, but when you find something as good as this, its hard to let go. You can see this chain's page at http://www.elephantbar.com/

Adventures in Florida's Oldest City- Santa Maria Restaurant, Cafe De Hildago, St. Augustine,Florida

Santa Maria-St. Augustine

St. Augustine, aka Florida's oldest city. We were visiting this place with Rebbel's Mom, and my son Michael. Because my wife is hypoglycemic, and I am always hungry, we thought we would look for a place to eat. Being a fan of many travel and eating shows, we explained to Rebbel's Mom that we would find the best place to eat by asking a local as suggested on the shows.

We went to the public restrooms, and as we were coming out, we saw a person coming at us on a bicycle. This person looked to be indigent to Rebbel and me; but to Rebbel's Mom, he looked like the perfect local to ask about a good place to eat. As Rebbel and I looked on in astonishment, there she was getting the information. When she came over to us, we laughed at her and kidded her. We asked her what dumpster he suggested. She told us that he had told her that we should eat at the Santa Maria Restaurant. Then a really strange thing happened. We took his advice and tried it !!

I don't remember the food. I believe I got the Grouper, Michael was on a hamburger for every meal kick, and it seems that Rebbel and her Mom got some kind of fish. The food seemed o.k. but the neat thing about this restaurant was that it was right on the water.

The waitress brought over a basket of old bread and told us we could feed the fish. For some reason Rebbel wasn't paying attention, and started eating the bread until we told her what it was for.

The Santa Rosa had little windows that you could feed the fish or the hungry gulls. It was really neat watching the birds go after the bread with almost as much gusto as my wife did when the waitress brought it. In fact, my brave teenager was afraid to try it for fear the birds would bite him. You can find a history of the landing and menu at http://www.oldcity.com/sites/santamaria/more.html

After the restaurant we went browsing at some of the shops and stopped by for the best gelato at the Cafe de Hildalgo. It was a very enjoyable day.

gelato-Cafe De Hildalgo