Something fishy

Word has it that James Clary, former owner of now defunct restaurants Clary’s and Fish, is working for Price Cutter. Clary is their Culinary Director. The biggest change I’ve seen thus far is my Price Cutter now has an obscenely obnoxious man who screams at me about fish of various and sundry variety as I shop.

The guy is tall and wears one of those headset microphones made chic by Garth Brooks and the Gap. He has a grating voice that can only be described as early used car salesman and his sales pitch only makes me want to flee the store. I’m not alone. I’ve yet to see one customer at his cart. In sharp contrast are the group of folks from Oscar’s barbeque who quietly sit at their cart, often with a line of customers, smiling politely.

The Queen City is such a weird culinary place. We’re landlocked, but enjoy a proximity to Gulf States from whom we get fresh fish, leading to copious amounts of wonderful sushi restaurants, but no real seafood restaurants. The aforementioned Fish went under quite some time ago and there is very little fresh about the seafood one can get at Red Lobster.

Red Lobster isn’t a bad place, mind you, but it isn’t exactly good either.

With the proximity to good seafood and the number of lakes with good fishing in the area, you’d think a local fish place would take off. The concept of Clary’s Fish was a welcome one, but he didn’t really pull it off. I ate there a few times and found there were a great variety of seafood dishes, but the food itself fell flat.

Conversely, places like Ocean Zen, Haruno and Mijuri don’t have the big fish dishes, but their dizzying array of sushi offerings are delightful. But sometimes, I just want a regular seafood dish: Shrimp Scampi, Trout Almandine or even something local like Fried Catfish. I’ve yet to come across anything in the Queen City that isn’t a chain that has such an offering.

Tragic.

I’m sure the weak economy has more to do with Clary’s change of occupation than his skills as a restaurateur. Sadly, I imagine it will be quite sometime before anyone has the capital, know-how and patience to try such a venture here in Springfield. But make no mistake it’s sorely needed.

In the meantime, I guess I’ll whet my appetite with all that sushi, but I’m not going to stoop so low as to buy fresh fish from a stale salesman with a Garth Brooks complex.