Now back to the good stuff...
One of my favorite things about being here is Houston is being reasonably close to the Gulf Coast (or the Third Coast as it is sometimes referred to). Sure the water is not exactly clear, the sand is not always white and fine, and once in a while you might get a tar ball on you but hey it's ours so back off. The other great thing about it is the seafood. The Gulf Coast staples are delicious whether you are chowing down on some snapper, shrimp, or countless other options there is usually something good swimming right under you.
This is why I am a fan of going to Galveston, you can get some good seafood on the seawall, drink some beers on the beach, or even enjoy the old decadence of a seaside escape that has fallen by the wayside (seriously the old downtown area has some amazing buildings and the mansions aren't bad either). One of our earlier excursions here led us to Gumbo Bar in The Strand district but that write up will have to wait for when it cools down which at this rate might be February so keep an eye out for that one.
No today's adventure took us to The Black Pearl, may sound familiar in name, here is a video to get you in the mood. I love me some cross dressing Michael Bolton.
A nice corner cafe in the shadow of the cruise terminal (thought about going all pirate like on the Carnival ship after I left but sadly it had left). The interior is small, interestingly colored, and the large acrylic door must be backwards because no one can open the thing so it causes a loud bang when they jerk it the wrong way. It's quite amusing until you do it.
In terms of the food, it is your basic gulf coast fare. There is of course the various forms of fish, chicken, shellfish, etc all of which seems to be blackened, fried, or boiled Cajun style. Basically, all of the ways I like it. Now I did try a bite of some blackened shrimp and let's just say that blackening is not the Pearl's forte. The sampling of the fried chicken breast sandwich I had was the bomb diggity. Good Cajun seasoning that was actually in the chicken rather than just sitting on the breading (my sister tried to hand me a piece and the breading decided it didn't want to come with). Finally, there was my meal, I mean let's be honest my choices are always the best.
Initially there was an epic struggle in my mind over which type of po' boy to sink my teeth into, The Pearl or the soft shell crab. For those of you unfamiliar with the sandwich, it is a sub like sandwich from Louisiana that usually contains seafood or meat, more often than not fried, with some form of veggies (lettuce, tomatoes, etc) all overflowing from a baguette. So I settled on The Pearl, since the term Market Price usually scares me off and I figured it would be best to roll with the namesake.
As you can see it's definitely overflowing. My baguette was piled high with fried oysters tossed in a Cajun hot sauce (think buffalo sauce but more of a Tabasco flavor), crumbles of bleu cheese, and it looks like some veggies snuck in. The thing was a kick in the mouth, the sometimes questionable taste of oysters was not even noticeable between the batter and hot sauce, and the bleu cheese was a twist I couldn't get enough of. The o-rings were pretty good as well but as you can see that sandwich was a mouthful on it's own.
So yes, I love life on the third coast and with food like this how could not? Eat up me mateys yo ho!
Yes that just happened deal with it.
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