The Impatient Chef Fish & Chips Review: Trillium Café

Fish & Chips Review: Trillium café, Hood River, Oregon

As I mentioned in my first Fish & Chips review, it was on the 7th day that God created Fish & Chips, and set out the commandments for what makes them great.  I noted in my second Fish & Chips review that there is a such thing as a "Rose & Thistle Scale."  This is the benchmark by which all other Fish & Chips are judged.  The Rose & Thistle is a tavern in NE Portland, on 28th and Broadway to be exact.  It is the Mecca, the Shangra La, the Woodstock, and, dare I say, the CBGB's of Fish & Chips.  (I would add that my all-time favorites were made of salmon at the Malhat Mountain Inn near Victoria BC, but that restaurant was gone the last time I went there).  But this is about Trillium, so here goes:

Come in, sit down, put your fedora on the seat back, and order up!

The Hat

The Trillium Café is a long-time watering hole in the heart of the Columbia Gorge that harbors both hipsters and boomers with equal yeehaaw!  On the walls hang pictures of musicians from Bob Dylan to Jerry Garcia, to Jack Black, and on the western wall is a mural of the Wild Things from Maurice Sendak, complete with the young, pajamaed king, and monsters sporting guitars and martinis.  I was not able to get a picture of it.  I suggest stopping by to see it for yourself.

For the appetizer we ordered the Hot Wings.  We got the Buffalo sauce and bleu cheese dressing.

Wings Over America

The wings arrived looking so good that I forgot to take a picture before digging in.  The sauce had a nice zing to it, and the skin wasn't rubbery like it can sometimes get.  The dressing was bleu cheesy and creamy, and adorned both the celery and wings nicely.  Extra napkins were a necessity.  Fingers were licked.

Just as the wings were coming to an end, the main coarse showed up.  Ladies and gentlemen, I give you:

The Fish Arrive

Albacore Tuna Fish & Chips?!?

Really?

Well, yes.

The taste is light for tuna, so it doesn't throw one for a loop.  The batter was fried to a nice crisp, and I only tasted the oil a little, and not in a bad way.  The fish was flaky, but not as flaky as cod or haddock.  The tuna gave it a unique texture.  All and all, I give it a 9 on the Rose & Thistle scale.  It was that good.

The Tartar sauce was savory, which is the way I like it.  There was just a hint of sweet.  No doctoring was necessary.  Its one of the best tartar sauces I've had.

The fries were okay.  I've had better there before.  They were a little limp, even though they were dark enough to be crispy.  They didn't quite pass the salt test (where great fries need only salt), and I found that ketchup was necessary early on.  It's possible that placing the fish on top of the fries is what wilted the fries a bit.  I don't recommend the practice.

All in all, the fish won the day.  The Trillium Café is a place to end your pilgrimage if you seek awesome Fish & Chips.

--The Impatient Chef