During a trade show in the Orlando area earlier this year, my colleague John and I decided to go out and get some real seafood at a real seafood restaurant. The concierge at our hotel directed us to what she said was one of her favorite places - Big Fin Seafood Kitchen. She said it was along Orlando's "Restaurant Row" on Sand Lake Rd. (see map) We decided to make the trek over to Big Fin for some seafood.
Bobby Moore got his start in the restaurant business when he opened his first restaurant at the age of 20. He took an older rundown tavern and, with the help of his mother Marge, turned it into his first restaurant - Keg-a-Brew - on the east side of Detroit in 1971. The little tavern/restaurant was a big hit and Moore parlayed his success with his love for high-speed boat racing in his second restaurant, The Shipping Channel Restaurant and Marina. The inside of the restaurant featured seating in the wells of high-speed boat frames - there were originally 10 boat wells with 110 seats in the restaurant, but it eventually grew to 50 boat wells with 400 total seats.
Moore then bought the St. Clair Shores location of Pat O'Grady's - a landmark restaurant in the Detroit area - and turned it into Bobby Moore's Blind Fish, a high-end seafood/steakhouse. The restaurant featured a six-pound cut of prime rib called "the Elephant's Cut". It was so named because of Moore's interest in training elephants, one of his indulgences that he enjoyed along with speed boat racing. Moore bought his first elephant in 1982 and trained under one of the top elephant trainers of the day, Robert "Smoky" Jones. Moore's herd of elephants eventually grew to 13 and they were hired by the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus for some tours.
After selling his herd of elephants in the early 90's, he opened a new themed-restaurant - Race Rock - in the suburbs of Detroit. Moore teamed with a number of race drivers including Mario and Michael Andretti, Richard and Kyle Petty, Rusty Wallace and Jeff Gordon to open the racing-themed restaurant. The decor of the place was filled with tons of racing memorabilia, televisions that showed races of all types non-stop, and featured basic bar food like burgers and pizza. In 1996, he closed the Detroit Race Rock and moved his collection to a new Race Rock location in Orlando. The Orlando Race Rock was a huge hit with tourists as it included a race-used car from Jeff Gordon, race suits worn by Dale Earnhardt, and one of the original "Big Foot" monster trucks built by Bob Chandler. (Moore closed Race Rock in 2007 and sold off the vast majority of his memorabilia at auction.)
Bobby Moore also was in the news for a not so savory situation - his Blind Fish restaurant, then known as Bobby Moore's Steakhouse - caught fire in September of 1997. A subsequent investigation turned up that Moore was involved in the fire, as well as racketeering and other illegal activities. However, he was cleared of all charges by a three-judge panel two years later.
Moore opened a new restaurant in Winter Park, FL - Beluga - in 2006. It was an upscale seafood restaurant that was named "Orlando's Best New Restaurant" that year and garnered "Best Seafood in Orlando" a year later. Moore was slated to open a second Beluga location along Sand Lake Road in the Dellagio Town Center, but the original Beluga abruptly closed in early May of 2009.
In the meantime, Moore partnered with English businessman and venture capitalist John Bonner to start Big Fin, located in the upscale Dr. Phillips area of Orlando (the area is named after Dr. Philip Phillips who was the first person to mass-produce orange juice from oranges which came from his 5000 acre citrus grove). Big Fin opened in early December of 2009 and has garnered numerous awards during its current run. Executive Chef James Slattery is a veteran in the restaurant industry who worked for celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse and was also the executive chef at Circa in nearby Winter Park before being hired by Moore and Bonner to run the kitchen at Big Fin when it opened. Many of the staff members who worked for Moore at both Beluga and Race Rock made the move to Big Fin.
It was a 15 minute drive from our hotel to Big Fin. Valets were available to take care of parking for us. The concierge at the hotel had made a reservation for us and we were seated as soon as we checked in. The dining room was spacious and elegant with subdued lighting. The room had sort of a red hue thanks in part to a lighted sign that said "Fresh Seafood" that was on a slow-spinning metal globe hanging in the middle of the room. After we were seated and given menus, our server for the evening Jordan came by to greet us and take our drinks order. I ordered up a High Stepper IPA from the Crooked Can Brewery in Winter Park.
When you come into the entry way of the restaurant there is a display case full of iced down seafood that included crab legs, shrimp and oysters. It was a mouth-watering introduction to the fresh seafood that is available at Big Fin.
They had a number of tasty appetizers including calamari, shrimp cocktail, and even fried alligator served with a remoulade sauce. They even had sushi as either a main meal or as an appetizer. But we ordered up a dozen of the Malpeque oysters for an opener. They were big and meaty with a slight fishy taste to them. But doctoring them up with some lemon juice, fresh ground horseradish and Tabasco sauce gave the oysters a great overall taste. These were some of the meatiest oysters I've ever had.
I knew I wanted seafood that evening, but I wasn't exactly certain what I was looking for. At the top of the seafood menu they had a 14-ounce center-cut swordfish filet - they called it the filet mignon of swordfish. It was blackened and grilled, served with a house-made sauce and served along with asparagus and garlic mashed potatoes. I think I quit looking at the rest of the menu after that.
My colleague John went with Big Fin's "famous" fish and chips - battered fish filets served with fries and a side of cole slaw. He said the fish was delicious. The batter was light and the fish was moist and tasty.
My swordfish filet was very good. It was a huge cut of swordfish and it was a little tough on the outer side due to the blackening, but it was tender and flavorful in the center of the cut. The blackening spices gave it a little bit of a spicy bite that I like. The garlic mashed potatoes were pretty pedestrian, as was the asparagus. But the swordfish filet was very good, so I concentrated on trying to finish that.
Jordan tried to entice us with the dessert menu, and while things like a slice of key lime pie or their signature dessert - a hot brownie with vanilla ice cream topped with caramel and pecans in a milk chocolate cup - sounded good, we both passed as were pretty stuffed from dinner. I got what I wanted - a good seafood meal.
And the meal at Big Fin was good. I wouldn't call it outstanding, but I thought my swordfish filet was very good. My colleague liked his fish and chips, and the Malpeque oysters were some of the better ones I've had. The service we received - sort of a tag team affair with another server helping our main waiter - was very good, as well. There wasn't anything bad about the experience at Big Fin, other than it was a little pricey. But we don't get fresh seafood in our neck of the woods like they get in Florida, so this was a nice treat for both of us.
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