Home Cooking....Dad's home to be exact

It's always nice to get back to the beach in NJ. Dad and Lucy have a house 1/2 a block off Main St., and about 8 blocks from the beach. Klein's Fish Market is a few blocks away too. Needless to say, Dad is a frequent flyer there and gets good deals on fresh goodies.
Clams and shrimp before throwing them on the grill. These were splashed with a little olive oil, tossed with minced garlic, and topped with some chardonnay, salt and pepper.
Dad was kind enough to break out one of his French futures wines. He's got a decent collection of French and Italians. This particular bottle was an '05 Sansonnet Cab. Very nice. We followed that up with an '05 Paradux Marriage. Different than the French Cab, but still a nice bottle.
Look at the size of that cow! These were tasty. I messed up and got them a little closer to medium than I would have liked as I wasn't used to his grill. That thing kicks out some serious BTU's. I think it's a DCS. I've stood over many grills in my years in many kitchens and on many patios and I was having trouble standing close enough to turn the steaks over when all the burners were on. Yowza.

So, needless to say, it was a tasty trip home. I've got one more restaurant to post about from this trip before I get back to posting about DC Metro spots again. The post will be about a restaurant named Sunsets in Belmar.

Until next time......thanks for reading.

Klein's Fish Market on the River

If you're ever in Belmar on the Jersey shore, one place you should make time for is Ollie Klein's Fish Market.

It's more than a market, it's actually a couple of restaurants and a fish market all operated by the same folks. There is a market to the far left, then a very casual restaurant directly behind it along the inlet, and another restaurant to the right that is a little more upscale.

They all focus on the seafood. It couldn't be more convenient for them to get it fresh as they're less than 1/2 a mile away from the Belmar Marina where fresh fish comes in almost hourly.

We ate at the very casual portion of the operation. We had just driven a couple of hours from Upper Greenwood Lake and needed some lunch before we went to Dad's at the beach. Cheryl had the fried clam sandwich.

Got enough clams on that? It was good. The clams were fried just long enough. These are not the full-bellied clams you might see at some other places. Some prefer those, but I don't like them on my fried clams, only on the grilled or broiled clams.
I had the sushi combo with a nice little sake bomb. They were kind enough to ask if I had any preferences on the fish included, but I defered to the chef and said whatever came in today would be fine, though I did request that they give me a spicy tuna roll instead of a California roll. It couldn't have tasted fresher.
The reason for this freshness is visible as you walk through the doors. The market is right there and that is where the restaurants get their fish. It's nice to cut out the middle man and be your own best customer. It never hurts your food cost either.
Here's a view of the display case where you go to pick our your take-home items. The place is clean and the service is friendly. I suggest to anyone that travels in the area to give it a shot.

Happy trails folks. I'm not sure what the next place will be, but you can be sure it will be tasty.

Thanks for reading.