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Texas Girl

Beach Crab
Jun 25, 2009
3
0
Hi! We're here on 30-A and loving it. Read about the Gravel Road all you can eat Fish Fry...Is it great? What time does it start? Thanks
 
Our experience with it in February 2011 was that only one of the two fin fishes served was fresh and local - everything else on the plate was food service pack (I expected the catfish to come from a farm someplace, but not the shrimp and crab, which both smelled of sodium tripolyphosphate and were inedible). Coupled with poor service, we won't be back.
 
It's kind of hard to describe, though I know it when I smell it because it is distinctive. It is especially distinct from other bad smells we might associate with fish or seafood, such as ammoniation (which occurs as fish ages past it's prime) or "fishiness." It is more of a soapy-chemically smell (and taste), probably due to the phosphates in the product. It is regularly used in commercial fish and seafood processing. There is some good information about it on the internet if you Google it.

The funny thing is that I grew up on Long Island, and thought I hated shrimp - turned out, all of the shrimp in local restaurants was from food service and not locally caught, and it all had this chemically smell and taste. It wasn't until I had my first real Gulf shrimp at Brigsten's in New Orleans in 2005 that I understood what shrimp is supposed to smell and taste like. Sadly, it seems like more and more restaurants in SOWAL are using commercial products rather than locally caught; the Gravel Road experience was the most egregious on our last trip, but it wasn't the only restaurant serving products like that.

Also - a lot of people eat it every day and don't notice it or care about it. But it is the telltale sign that the "local" fish or seafood isn't so local.
 

seacrestgirl

Beach Fanatic
Nov 25, 2006
390
36
Griffin, GA and Seacrest
I LOVE Gravel Road! Hubby has had the fish fry before....he thought is was fine. Not great, just fine. However, they have a steak that he says is the best he has eaten...ever. I have always had a great experience at Gravel Road!
 
Walked up to Gravel Road last night with Imy and my mother for the all you can eat fish fry and it was very mediocre at best. They had catfish,flounder,shrimp and oysters for 14 and for 4 dollars more they would add mahi. I am assuming the mahi was local as nothing else was. The oysters were the only good thing, though one of the batches we received was over cooked. The fish was tasteless and the shrimp were inedible. The shrimp had a very strong taste that I wasn't sure if it was chemical in nature or they were just starting to turn. Regardless, they were horrid. The waitress seemed nice and attentive, but the AC wasn't working properly and we just wanted to get out of there instead of enjoying the meal. This feeling was made worse when a large family with a crying baby was seated next to us, I couldn't ask for the check quickly enough. Definitely not how I wanted to impress my mother with local fare. I wont be going back.
 

silver surfer

Beach Lover
Jun 11, 2006
110
14
great seafood at the gravel road

I am certain the Gravel Road never uses frozen food service seafood and the food is excellent. All shrimp take on certain undesirable flavors from the water they live in and they can take on a metallic taste at times. Anyone who has any doubts i encourage to have a meal at The Gravel Road. If you don't agree the food is fantastic please let me know. I am the manager here and I stand behind the quality and flavor of all our food. Please fell free to contact me at 850-534-0960.
Ron Mortimer
 
I am certain the Gravel Road never uses frozen food service seafood and the food is excellent. All shrimp take on certain undesirable flavors from the water they live in and they can take on a metallic taste at times. Anyone who has any doubts i encourage to have a meal at The Gravel Road. If you don't agree the food is fantastic please let me know. I am the manager here and I stand behind the quality and flavor of all our food. Please fell free to contact me at 850-534-0960.
Ron Mortimer

Respectfully, Ron (and I believe we spoke with you in February, because this is the same story we were given by the manager during our February 17th lunch visit for the fish fry - that a metallic taste is sometimes "natural" in shrimp and that therefore there was nothing wrong with anything that we were served) - we are just going to have to agree to disagree about that concept and about the food at Gravel Road being excellent, at least on the day I visited. The seafood we were served (shrimp and crabcake) smelled and tasted of chemistry, not metal, and had no fresh flavor or texture whatsoever; the term I used on my blog was "inedible." The local finfish (Mahi) was very very good, and the farm-raised catfish/basa was what one would expect from that product - edible, but nothing special. I agree with Douglas.
 

wadecool

Beach Lover
Jul 17, 2009
56
5
Elizabethtown, KY
Respectfully, Ron (and I believe we spoke with you in February, because this is the same story we were given by the manager during our February 17th lunch visit for the fish fry - that a metallic taste is sometimes "natural" in shrimp and that therefore there was nothing wrong with anything that we were served) - we are just going to have to agree to disagree about that concept and about the food at Gravel Road being excellent, at least on the day I visited. The seafood we were served (shrimp and crabcake) smelled and tasted of chemistry, not metal, and had no fresh flavor or texture whatsoever; the term I used on my blog was "inedible." The local finfish (Mahi) was very very good, and the farm-raised catfish/basa was what one would expect from that product - edible, but nothing special. I agree with Douglas.



We will be down this week and always eat at the Gravel Road. I'm glad someone warned me about the fish fry, I can eat frozen processed fish here in KY. We will still be dining there but at least now we can steer clear of the seafood.
 
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