Positive Press

This Christmas Eve we got to help out a bit at church, and the service that followed was excellent. For all my failings and foibles, it was still my best candlelight service experience yet, and I’m grateful.

To follow, my wife made a reservation at King’s Fish House, but we thought it was at posh Santana Row, so we drove over there and parked.

Then we realized it was at the ‘Row’s ritzy relation, Valley Fair. We had secured a good parking space and it was a nine minute walk, so we hoofed it down the row and across the wide boulevard, paved with white hexagons, safeguarding the crosswalk across the street.

Having just seen The Christmas Story, where some stray dogs make off the the dinner turkey and the family is relegated to roast duck in Chinatown (not a bad outcome), I was half expecting a fancy Chinese restaurant inside the mall.

I haven’t been to Valley Fair in years, and they were upgrading it for a long time. There are now several outbuildings there, with nice shops and restaurants. We spied the fish house and sauntered in.

On the way over, I stopped in at LB Steak as I thought the fish house wouldn’t be that great. They had no wait as it was before 5pm, but my wife, who agreed to eat there, clearly was not at ease.

In a rare moment of clarity, I saw her dissatisfaction. She OK’d LB Steak, but I read between the lines. I asked her if she really wanted to eat there, and she was noncommittal, so I said we should go to the fish house.

When we walked into the restaurant, I knew I’d made the right choice; or I knew she had, and that I managed to not goof it up. A Christmas miracle.

The manager seated us and our waiter ushered us to a toastier table when the one we started at was not warm enough. The service was excellent and things did not take forever.

I rarely drink but I got a glass of Riesling. I didn’t have it all, but it was tasty.

Looking at the menu, I wondered what I’d get… The steak menu was light; it was a seafood house after all. I’m not big on steak, but it was Christmas.

I figured I should get fish, but I felt like a burger. So I compromised. I got the Blackened Wild Mexican Sea Bass sandwich. It was served on a potato bun and was stacked nicely with a tasty cabbage slaw, cilantro pickled Bermuda onion with a nice remoulade.

The bun was soft, the onion pleasantly pungent and delicious, the slaw fresh and the fish was heavenly… and just spicy enough for me.

But I wanted a salad, as well, and couldn’t eat the fries with the sandwich, so I started with the smallish Walnuts & Bleu Cheese salad with baby greens, candied walnuts, blue cheese, dried cranberries, and a golden balsamic dressing.

When I go out for salad, I order ranch dressing most of the time. Even some of the nicer restaurants water down their bleu cheese dressing terribly, but ranch is cheap, so it comes out full test.

This salad had a nice vinaigrette, and the chunks of walnut and quality bleu cheese were outstanding. I couldn’t eat all the heirloom tomatoes, but the salad looked great, and tasted equally good.

We rarely get dessert, but she was up for it, so we ordered quickly. I got the “Hooked on Butter Cake”, with vanilla bean ice cream, homemade whipped cream, a splash of raspberry sauce and fresh blackberries.

I ordered black tea with milk and honey, which was not hot enough, but the presentation was outstanding, and with a meal, service and atmosphere like this, I couldn’t complain. The meal was a smash. I hope King’s Fish House is open for a great many successful years.

We walked across the street going back to Santana Row to get our car, and saw some sights along the way…Merry Christmas, and to all a good night.