Fish Taco Friday

Here is a first for Meatetarian Eats: A post without a photo of the food. This, y'all, is why 99 percent of the time I have a camera with me.

Friday just happened to be one of those 1 percent days when I didn't, and oh, does it pain me now!

I was en route to Charleston, South Carolina, to visit my "baby" brother, Barret. He's about to graduate from the Medical University of South Carolina as a pharmacist, and will make approximately WAY MORE money than his older, wiser, shorter sister ever will. I had planned out exactly where I wanted to eat and to a certain extent, what I'd order when I got there.

But those plans went the route of epic fail as soon as I got on the road Friday. In case you live in a rock (or just don't live in Georgia), Labor Day weekend 2015 was the weekend that a million extra people decided to come into our state capital for Dragon Con, Georgia Tech football, Atlanta Falcons football, Georgia State football, Atlanta Black Pride Weekend, Vice President Joe Biden ... and that's just the ones I can remember. It was a shitshow and getting out of Atlanta was just as bad as getting in. After spending an extra hour on the road to Evans, I decided to take an evening pit stop and spend the night there instead of go another three hours.

Photo from BirdDog Grille

Long story short, this pit stop brought Aunt Robbie (you'll remember her from our visit to De Novo) and I to a relatively new place in town, BirdDog Grille. I'd heard mixed reviews about it, but it was someplace neither of us had been. We figured what the heck, at least we'll get a good beer out of it if nothing else. This was the point where I decided to leave my camera at her house. Such a bad decision.

I don't know what on Earth these people ate who didn't like it, but we had experiences 180 degrees separate from each other. This place is a great little gem for Columbia County!

After much laboring over the extensive menu (there are wraps, burgers, dogs, paninis, sandwiches), I narrowed it down to the Peanutbutter Bacon Burger and the Dirty Bird wrap. Then when the waiter arrived to take our order, I did the natural thing and absconded the regular menu for the fish taco special.

I wasn't expecting much. Fish tacos from affordable restaurants are notorious for being the smaller tortillas with three bites (or a tee-tiny fillet) of fried fish with like, three dashes of cheese, a massive handful of iceberg lettuce and a generally amazing salsa of some sort. So when it came to the table, BirdDog's fish tacos exceeded all expectations.

First off, I got not one ... but TWO massive tacos. These were the big kahuna eight-inch flour tortillas, crisped nice and folded over grilled fish fillets. I'm not sure what kind of fish it was, but there appeared to be a lot of mahi mahi on the menu, so I'll assume it was that (still working on eating enough fish to be able to tell the difference between them).

They had lettuce, yes, but not enough to overpower your bites. They had fresh tomatoes, sliced in half so you could clearly see how bright red and sweet they were. And oddly enough, shredded cheddar cheese that was melting on top of the grilled fish. I don't like cheddar - it tends to have almost a mealy quality when it's not melty enough - but the cooks fixed this one up right.

The best part about these fish tacos, aside from the sheer size of them, was the sauce. It was white, creamy and spicy, almost a riff on a tarter sauce. I know from other items on the menu that there's a special BirdDog Sauce, but I'm not sure that this was it. Clearly I should have called the restaurant to address these questions before writing. Hindsight, guys.

Anyway, the sauce was so good. It was the perfect amount, too: just enough to add flavor to every bite and still seep out of the back of the taco all over my fingers. Not to steal the thunder from a certain fast-food chain, but that was finger-lickin' good. Sauce remnants that I didn't lick off my phalanges landed on the plate, so I got to dip my homemade chips in there, too. The chips were great texture-wise, though I did have to add a sprinkle of salt on top. Aunt Robbie had the BLT with avocado added, which was good (although not quite up to par with the one I ate at Folk Art).

I was so surprised when I dashed inside that though the patio (did I mention that we have a place in Evans with a patio now?!) was full, there was hardly anyone inside. On a Friday night! I'm not entirely sure what's wrong with my home county that there's a 45-minute wait at the two Applebee's, but not even the hint of a line at this place that has good food, a freakin' patio and is owned by a guy who graduated from Lakeside High School. We don't get that opportunity very often to support a local kid (term used loosely) opening a good restaurant that's not part of a chain.

Did I mention the patio yet? Having a patio also means that there's a chance to hear great music by Augusta-area talent. On Friday it was Bethany & the Southside Boys. I must say, there are few better ways to enjoy a fish taco than on a patio during a warm late summer night, drinking a cold beer and hearing the raspy, soulful sound of this crooning band reminiscent of Joss Stone and Janis Joplin.

Worth the pit stop.