Thursday, August 9, 2007Marie's Pick!
GB Fish & Chips -- Get Battered!
1311 S. Broadway
Denver, CO
11.00am - 9.00pm Daily
Attendees: Ang., Carol M., Carol G., Katie, Jen, Lara, Marie
After driving past this new fish & chips joint on Broadway for a couple of months now, dreams became reality when Marie chose GB's for our August dinner. Not sure what to expect - the seven of us met up on the back patio and called the picnic tables our home. It was a pleasant evening, not too hot and the tables in the alley we shaded and other than the squawking birds living in the billboard overhead, it was quite nice.
The menu at GB is extensive for a fish & chips joint. In addition to your choice of fried "swimmers" & chips, (Cod, Tilapia, Oysters, Prawns, Squid, and scallops), GB's also offers Bangers, Pork Pie, Shepherd's Pie and several kinds of pasties.
This is how it works at GB, you view the menu - either at the counter or at a table and walk up and place your order with a friendly and cute server-gal. This is also where you order your beer. You take your drinks and grab some condiments and sit at a table. Your meal is made to order by a casual kitchen - full of handsome and friendly college-age looking guys and then delivered to your table. The inside has booths along the walls and tables in the middle but plenty of room to walk around and seemingly well-laid out.
We decided to order a basket of Fish & Chips and combination "Swimmers" & Chips along with a Pasty to split between the seven girls. I think we may have had some sides of chips too - I can't quite remember how it worked out. At any rate, we hung out drinking our Stella's & beers at happy hour prices and in no time at all our meal was delivered to our tables on the patio.
Lucky for me, I was at the end of the table so I got first pick through at the selection of combination "Swimmers" and pulled out what I was guessing to be a scallop, a shrimp, and what turned out to be a strip of squid. Then I chose a piece of tilapia from the fish basket, squeezed the plate with lemon and doused my pickin's and my handful of chips with malt vinegar, picked up a chip and took my first bite.
The chip was pretty much perfect -- the flattened rectangle-y kind, a few inches in length -- perfect for dipping in tartar or your favorite sauce -- fried crispy on the outside and soft on the inside -- but not too mushy. I sprinkled on salt, dipped ate a few more and picked up my first non-chip item -- the scallop. I dipped my scallop into the tiny little cup of tartar sauce and took a half-a-bite, not sure how hot it would be. It was pretty hot, but tender, and juicy, perfectly battered, and perfectly cooked -- delicious. I dipped the other half in the sauce and popped it in - a perfect bite.
It was at this time that I realized that there was no way the tiny little cup of tartar sauce I got from the basket, was ever going to be enough for dipping my selections of fish & chips. So I got up and walked inside and asked for more. I shared them amongst the girls and moved on to item number two: the shrimp.
The shrimp is large, a large shrimp that looked like it needed some more vinegar. I sprinkled some on the end and took my first bite - just like the scallop, it was perfect - if not even a little large - for me at least. I sprinkled on the vinegar for another bite or two, ate a few chips and selected the next item saving the fish for last, the squid. It was a long strip and upon first bite I found that it was tender and not at all chewy - a treasure to behold, but not my very favorite, which so far, was the scallop, or maybe the shrimp. Hmm. Not sure.
My last swimmer was a small piece of tilapia, a nice little triangle piece, calling out for tartar sauce. By now, we've all eaten pretty much all of the tartar sauce in the little tiny cups. Fortunately, some nice girl had a some left and passed it over -- and now for the fish. I broke the piece in half, sprinkled it with vinegar and stuck it in the tartar -- just like the pieces before it. I took a bite and to my delight it was as super as you'd expect, cooked flaky but not overdone with a crispiness that is just right. And to my curiosity, not served with skin-on as they did everywhere in London when I was once there.
Stella. More stella.
Perfectly timed - as I remember it - it was at this time a guy came out and asked us if we wanted any more beer and took away some of our empty plates. Not having had enough, we also threw on another order of combination fish. A few minutes later, we were splitting it up again, and even though I was dying for a piece of cod, they were very big and I was feeling full - and I didn't want to take all of the good stuff because I already had so much! Katie shared a bite of hers however, so I felt totally satisfied by my crispy, battered, totally fried, dinner.
This is a long blog. Sorry. But there is more -- and it is so interesting! I must continue...
It is now that the good looking gentleman we saw earlier came out again to steal away for a smoke. I asked him his name (Alex) and then I asked him a bunch more questions. Turns out, Alex is the owner and they had been open for about 3 or 4 months - I think. Alex was inspired for the restaurant from spending summers and time in England where his father is from while he was growing up. His father actually came out back too and we discussed the pasty dough recipe that he insists is the best - the cold kind -- I did not try the pasty myself so I cannot say how it was but as I recall, other girls found it quite agreeable. Anyway, Alex told us that the business is doing well and they are even considering expanding into the upstairs one day -- with perhaps a bar and maybe a pool table. We eagerly urged him on.
After the fellas went back inside, the rest of us hung out on the picnic tables to finish our beers and head out as they close at 9:00. Another employee came out back, the cute gal at the counter whose name now escapes me -- but she chatted it up, expressed that she really enjoyed her job and hung out with the girls for few before heading in to close up. We finished our beers, climbed in our cars and headed out our separate ways, in anticipation of our next dinner!
Now we have eaten at a variety of restaurants in every kind of cuisine, but it seems that sometimes the simplest dinners are the best. I give GB Fish & Chips five out five stars -- my only complaint being the teeny-tiny tartars. Otherwise, it has been one of my favorites and I already can't wait to go back!
