Fish River Grill - Foley, AL

We went up to Foley, AL during our stay along the Gulf Coast of Alabama to check out the Wilbourne Antique Rose Trail.  After being thoroughly disappointed in what we were led to believe was an eye-popping array of roses along a mile-long trail, we decided to find someplace to get lunch.  Not far from the start of the rose trail was a restaurant that was touted as being "where the locals eat".  We should have known better, but this place sort of looked like a place where the locals would eat - situated in a strip mall, not too fancy on the outside.  We thought we'd give Fish River Grill a try.  

The Fish River Grill in Foley is the second of what are three Fish River Grill locations in the Alabama Gulf Coast area.  The first one was established in between Foley and Fairhope, AL located about 12 miles to the north and west of Foley.   A third Fish River Grill is in Gulf Shores, AL near the Gulf of Mexico, all of which are owned by Diana Rohe-Pennington.  There is also a Fish River Grill by the Bay on the shores of Mobile Bay in Fairhope.

It was well after the lunch hour rush when we found Fish River Grill in Foley, just south of the downtown area a bit off the main north-south road that goes through Foley.  (see map)   The outside front was pretty basic and we found that the inside wasn't all that fancy, either.  It definitely wasn't decked out like the type of place tourists would be flocking to.  

The main dining room at Fish River Grill featured a hodge-podge of tables and booths in the middle of a large open space.  A light blue ceiling hung over the dining room with walls affixed with nautical items and signage circled the area.  Hard wood floors helped to make the room a little more loud than it needed to be.  

The nautical theme extended into a back room that was used for overflow dining.  Located just off the bar, the room was well-lit with fluorescent lighting and featured posters, paintings and life-preservers hanging on knotty pine walls.  

Speaking of the bar area, it also had a nautical motif with netting hanging from a cabana-style overhang above the bar.  The bar and the back room were understandably empty during the lunch hours, but the bar looked like the kind of place I'd like to hang out in from time to time.  

We were taken to a booth in the center of the dining room and given a couple menus to look through.  Our server that day was a middle-aged lady by the name of Natasha who started and ended many of her sentences with "hon" - as in "Hon, I'll be with ya in a minute."  Or, "What can I get you to drink, hon?"  Her syrupy drawl almost made it sound like "Hon" had two syllables instead of one.  We immediately liked her down-home and folksy demeanor.  

Now, I wasn't all that hungry, but being that close to the coast I knew I wanted to have some seafood.  The only problem is that - well, with most Southern food - a lot of it was fried.  Fried shrimp, fried catfish strips, fried alligator bites, fried green tomatoes - you get the picture.  They had a number of burgers to choose from on the menu as well as a number of sandwiches including Cajun-style po' boys.  But, once again, the po' boys featured fried shrimp, fried oysters, fried catfish or fried alligator for the choices.  And I didn't really want a burger for lunch.

My wife has to have 3 squares a day, but not anything all too filling for lunch.  There weren't a lot of choices of non-fried food, but she saw a fish sandwich that had grilled white fish.  She asked our server if she could just get the fish without the bread.  "Hon, we can make it any way you want," Natasha replied in her smooth Southern drawl.  "We can grill it, we can blacken it, we can fry it.  Anyway you want, hon."  

So my wife went with two pieces of grilled whitefish.  A basket of French fries with fried okra and hushpuppies mixed in came on the side with a small container of coleslaw.  She took a couple bites of the fish and said it was delicious.  "Exactly what I needed," she said as she cut another piece off.  She wasn't too enamored with the fries, fried okra or the hushpuppies, but she said she really did like their coleslaw.   

I saw something on the appetizer menu that I thought I could try.  It was a dozen peeled shrimp and I asked Natasha if I could get them blackened.  "Sure thing, hon," she replied as she wrote down the order.  And I asked her to have the chef "step on" the blackening seasoning.  But there was also something else on the menu that I wanted to get - a bowl of Fish River Grill's crab and shrimp gumbo.  

For not being hungry, well, hell, this was a lot of food.  The gumbo was very tasty and I had our server get me some Crystal Pure Louisiana Hot Sauce to bump up the flavor a bit of the very good gumbo.  

The blackened shrimp were also very good.  I small tub of cocktail sauce, but I didn't need any of it because the blackened seasonings were excellent.  They were cooked perfectly, not rubbery in consistency at all.  

But the one thing that stood out - to me - were the hushpuppies.  Now, the fries were pretty much the crinkle-cut/throwaway variety, and I stayed away from the fried okra, but the hushpuppies were outstanding.  

The hell of it is, I'm not big on hushpuppies - I've never been a big fan of corn meal-based foods.  Yeah, I live in Iowa, lived here most of my life, but I can't stand corn bread, corn dogs, corn bread muffins, corn bread quiche, nothing with corn meal in it.  And up until this time in my life, I definitely didn't like hushpuppies which are basically deep fried balls of corn meal dough.  And for the life of me, I have no idea why I picked one up and took a bite out of it on this visit.  

They looked like just regular hushpuppies that you'd find anywhere they serve hushpuppies.  But that's where the comparison stopped.  The corn meal was mixed with chunks of spicy red and green peppers and a subtle herb seasoning.  The outer shell was crisp, but the inner core was warm and nearly melted in my mouth.  I know hushpuppies are far from healthy, but these were outstanding.  I ate all the shrimp, about half the bowl of the gumbo, and four or five hushpuppies - even pulling some out of my wife's basket of fried foods she got for her side.

OK - so maybe Fish River Grill WAS the kind of place where the locals eat.  We didn't exactly see many people wearing beachwear in the place (then again, it was cool and spitting rain when we were in Foley).  But I thought the blackened shrimp, as well as the shrimp and crab gumbo were both very good.  My wife enjoyed the grilled white fish she had, and I was able to broaden my palate by thoroughly enjoying the great hushpuppies they had as part of a side of fried foods (we WERE in the South, you know) that came out with our meals.  Plus, we liked the down-home Southern friendly manner of our server, Natasha. While Fish River Grill isn't a fancy place, we liked it because it wasn't a tourist trap like many places we checked out while we were on vacation along the Gulf Coast of Alabama.   

Comments

[Robert N Phillips]

Did you try the swamp soup? That stuff is HEAVENLY!

[Donnaro Farrar]

that's what's up me and my wife are locals and it's one of our favorite spots to eat