Where the Heck is The Impatient Chef?

Eating Fish & Chips, of course.

     The Impatient Chef is on hiatus while he formulates and plots more culinary adventures.  In the meantime, the Quest for the Best Fish & Chips continues apace.  As readers of this occasional blog know, The Impatient Chef rates fish & chips on the Rose & Thistle Scale, due to that restaurant having the best anywhere.  Well, the Rose & Thistle has changed its recipe.  It is no longer top of the heap.  It’s good, but not a 10 on the Rose & Thistle Scale.  So, the scale needs a new namesake.  

     This brings us to a well-hidden gem in Ilwaco, Washington, at the mouth of the Columbia River.  The Salt Hotel and Pub sits on the Ilwaco Marina, and sports an unassuming exterior, and very few tables on the inside.  

     Ilwaco, Washington abuts Cape Disappointment, named by the 18th century ship's captain John Meares, who was thwarted by the infamous Columbia Bar, which is a mile-long, churning, ship-smashing merger of the Columbia River and the Pacific Ocean.  These bodies of water are not on good terms in the best of weather, but when the tides swell, and the rain pours, even modern container ships get tossed about like toys.  Meares did not make it into the Columbia River in 1788, and was highly disappointed by it, and the name stuck.  

     Down the road from Ilwaco is a place named by Lewis and Clark as "Dismal Nitch." 

 

     'Nuff said.

     Into that rainy, windy, mossy, sluggy, ocean smelly weather, fishing boats sail out into the Columbia from the marina, and bring their catches back, and sell some fish to the Salt Hotel and Pub.  

     The fish at the Salt Hotel and Pub is fresh, and so are the oysters.  The last time The Impatient Chef had oyster shooters that fresh was at the Baltimore Inner Harbor in 1989.  The cocktail sauce could have used more horseradish, but the oysters were sublime.  

     This brings us to the Fish & Chips.  

     The batter was crisp, while the rock fish was moist.  The batter remained crisp through the meal.  It had a slight fryer oil taste, but not enough to indicate old oil.  The tartar sauce was savory, and fabulous.  One thing that The Impatient Chef hates is sweet tartar sauces that are little more than mayo and relish.

     The Fries were likewise crips, thick, and also maintained deliciousness even as they cooled.  

     Is the Salt Hotel and Pub the new Fish and Chips to which all others are compared?  Maybe.  

     This is where the readers of my blog come in.  The Impatient Chef is seeking suggestions for the best Fish & Chips in the Pacific Northwest.  Apologies to readers elsewhere in the US.  Please leave your suggestions in the comments section, and some of them may get featured in future posts, and may even become the namesake for the rating scale.  

     Thanks for reading!

--The Impatient Chef.