Fry Me a Fish

OK. Is there a better restaurant in its category than Fish Fry?? (I don't know what the category is exactly... fast fish?) I've been hitting it many Weds. evenings over the past year and it is perfect every single time. Consistency like this is not easy. The only place that comes to mind that in my experience has executed at this level is La Carte d'Oaxaca (sp?).

Last night was the grilled alabacore on a roll. Sheesh, I could have eaten two. I'm wondering where the roll came from???

And FF is obviously feeling all successful... they recently upgraded their "napkins" from brown, elementary school paper towels to actual white paper napkins. Fancy!

Starbucks VIA Instant Coffee

I visited my local SBUX this morning explicitly to check out the new VIA product.

The resident partner told me right away, "Via is way better than any other instant coffee."

Hello. Who younger than 45 or 50 has ever tasted instant coffee? On purpose? We had Sanka / Nescafe in the house when I was a kid, but I wasn't much of a coffee drinker then. She might just as well have told me, "Via is way better than the coffee they serve in prison."

And I was trying to conjure up that place - that 4th or 5th place? - where I would have no access to a passable cup of coffee. Every place I could come up with also lacked the essential ingredient of hot water (except for the highway rest stop where the volunteers provide free coffee for weary travelers - that's it!)

All kidding aside (yeah, right), Via tasted pretty good in the cup. It's an 8 oz. serving that I would recommend stretching to 10 oz. Dark, strong with a bit of grit left at the bottom of the cup.

Way better than the swill I used to drink in Prison.