…but thankfully, not Louis’ — the more formal, bastion of superior South Carolina Low Country cuisine across the hall. The Fish Camp was the larger, more casual Louis Osteen operation that sported Zelda’s Bourbon Bar, Dixieland Jazz Sundays, truly awesome crawfish etouffe and shrimp jambalaya….not to mention crazy-good crab cakes, superb po-boys, and great gumbo. It seems the folks frequenting the Town Square Mall preferred the straight-from-Sysco offerings of Blue Martini, or (God help us) whatever the Tommy Bahama Cafe is dishing up, to the real thing. We haven’t been able to reach Osteen for a comment, but wish him and his crew all the success as they soldier on, against all odds, cooking authentic, creative food for a crowd who keeps looking for the food court.
Doomed Location Alert
SeaStone — the abominable sushi/fusion joint that was located at the site of the former (slightly less abominable) Hannah’s — that itself was the failed successor to Tre — the Maccioni’s less-than-marvelous-multi-Mediterranean attempt — has closed after less than a year in business. ELV thinks this third failed restaurant at the corner of Fort Apache and West Charleston (in less than five years) officially dooms this location for any quality eats for a long time to come. Expect the next food service biz there to be a cheap-ass Asian buffet — the last stop on the shitty restaurant real estate train.
Sushi Jumps The Shark – on News 88.9 FM KNPR – Nevada Public Radio
SUSHI: WE HARDLY KNEW YEE (Part One)
Sushi jumped the shark a long time ago. It maintained a slice of its dignity throughout the ‘90’s, but by the turn of the century it crossed the pizza line, never to return to what it is supposed to be. I remember being amused the first time I saw sushi rolls (maki-zushi) in Trader Joe’s ten years ago, just as I recall being horrified when they became staples in the isles of Costco and Wal-Mart around 2005.
To hear me expound on this phenomenon on KNPR- Nevada Public Radio (rather than read the incisive and witty prose for which ELV is known)….click here.
Like pizza, sushi, in its native and best form, is about the combination of a few, pristine ingredients into something far greater than the sum of its parts. And like the cheap cheese, doughy, over laden bread concoction that pizza has become, sushi in America is now so far removed from whence it came that it can’t even remember its roots, much less try to respect them. And like pizza, the entire cult of raw fish has become so twisted that it no longer matters whether it’s any good or not.
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