Lunch Report: J. Anthony's Seafood Cafe, 410 & Culebra...

My wife and I actually eat at a lot more places than what I can account for in lunch and dinner reports here. If we really enjoy a place, I think it is the neighborly thing to pass along the information to you - sort of helping a restaurant get more business when they deserve it and letting you know of a good place to eat.

The flip side is, I usually don't write anything about a place that most people already know about or as often is the case, some place that simply isn't any good. Everyone has different tastes, so why should I speak ill of a place that just doesn't do it for me, right?But in the case of the newly opened J. Anthony's on Culebra at 410, I have been asked by several readers of this Blog if we have tried it yet. So this afternoon, my wife and I stopped in to give it a try. And why not? When have I ever been known to miss an opportunity for catfish?Make no mistake, this place must be popular. When we arrived just after 1PM, the place was packed. We actually got the only open table in the place when we sat down.J.Anthony's is housed in the old Barnacle's building, and from memory, it doesn't look as though they have changed anything but the sign out front. The process is simple; order, get a number, and find a seat - they bring the food to you in a little while.We ordered some onions rings that were brought out first. If you look at these, you can tell by the texture that they are the kind I do not like. There is just something about the texture that I don't like. But, they were hot and the taste was not bad. They wern't over cooked, and that helps.I ordered the catfish platter. It comes with four planks of catfish (some thin little catfish, perhaps from someone's home aquarium maybe), Cajun styled rice, fries, bread and a pepper. The catfish was certainly edible, but I'm guessing this is what you would get in some sort of institution on fish day. I left several small pieces that I could not identify. The rice was simply inedible. Aside from being dry, it appeared as though someone said as an afterthought, throw some spices in there to make it taste Cajun. But there was nothing Cajun about it. Just nasty. I offered a bite to my wife (on the off chance she might like it) and she nearly spit the forkful on the people at the next table.My wife ordered a Fish Burger (she wanted a fish sandwich, but the young lady taking our order corrected her twice, telling her it was a fish BURGER. Okay. Anyway, the fish BURGER came with fries and a pepper. The fries weren't bad, though I don't think either of us ate more than a few. The fish sandwich or BURGER if you will, was actually okay. It didn't look appetizing, but once doused with tarter sauce, it was pretty good.I think one of the popular items, and the reason so many people were there, was that they serve a family platter for a very reasonable price. It is loaded with fish.Even Dr. Phil made an appearance.

Look, I don't want to bad mouth the place just because we didn't like it and will never return. It happens. Some folks hate Bill Millers, I happen to love it. I know lots of people who think Rudy's is the cat's meow, and I'm more of a Grady's person. So I wouldn't want to discourage anyone from giving J. Anthony's Seafood a fair shake. But I would remind you that Sea Island is just down the road, and not further down Culebra is La PLaya. It's your call.

If you've tried J. Antohony's Seafood Cafe (either the new one or one of the older ones) I'd love to hear your report. Leave a comment and tell me about it.

Lunch Report: La Playa Sea Food...

It started out as a trip to Red Lobster but my wife convinced my mother-in-law that a better deal and better food could be found over at the intersection of 24th and Poplar on San An Antonio's near west side. And since I had never been to La Playa, and since I really don't care for Red Lobster, it was on!They describe the fare as Mexican and Salvadorena seafood. I'm not quite sure what difference it makes when you are frying up some fish and onion rings, but the end result is Yummy!La Playa is a colorful place with walls painted on the inside to represent the seafood theme. The exterior has a bright look, not uncommon to that part of town, and lots of Go Spurs Go attitude. I especially liked the covered waiting area. Although business was light for Memorial Day, my mother-in-law says it is usually packed during lunch, so maybe people wait outside.We seated ourselves toward the rear of the place and were immediately greeted with chips and salsa and had our drink orders taken. The chips were fresh, crisp and excellent. The salsa was wonderful!My wife ordered the lunch special of fish and shrimp. It comes with a single plank of Alaskan Pollock, and two huge shrimp, salad and she substituted onion rings for the fries.My mother-in-law went with the fish lunch plate which is three pieces of fish and the aforementioned salad and rings.I should have stuck with the lunch special, but not knowing what to expect in size of the plates, I opted for the number 16, which is the same as the lunch special but with a fourth piece of fish. And since they both substituted the onion rings, I followed suit.I know in some places you get the fancy dessert tray brought out to you by your waitress when you finish. Here, we had a man come by, I suspect with no actual affiliation to the restaurant selling slices of cake his wife had made earlier. And we splurged.Need fish for a really fair price and some awesome onion rings to go along with them? Seriously, give this one a try. You will agree that La Playa Seafood on 24th and Poplar is a seriously Tasty Treat.