Nurturing my inner... many fish in the sea

Unhealthy option coming up next.  Get ready for it.  Though you may turn your nose up at me, there are just times to just dive into the local fare.  (No matter how deep fried, artery clogging and against your usual personal philosophy it is.)  And to let your family choose the place you have lunch, so no one fights.  Who is to say your genetically realted kinfolk like to eat as wholesome as you do?  (I've never said it, that's for sure.)  Carbs with a side of carbs?  Follow the leader.  Why yes, and I'll take that with some coleslaw as well.

Lenny & Joe's Fish Tale in Madison, CT.  They have a satellite one in Westbrook, but that's just for take out.  We wanted to sit down inside, so Madison was it.

Looks like a house from the outside.

This place was HOPPIN'!!  People were everywhere.  It was super fast paced.  Order and move on or be crushed!  After I ordered and set my coat down at the table, then and only then did I sneek up to get a shot of the board.  (Before people hurt me.  New Englanders aren't so forgiving when you get in the way of them and their lunch.)  But I couldn't have snapped it any closer because it was wall to wall people.  So they clearly are doing something right to draw these crowds.  They must make a pretty penny.

I hardly had time to read the boards. Glad my
family told me what they normally order so I
was prepared ahead of time.

This, my friends, is what you might think of as low brow food, but not to me.  I grew up in these parts.  Things served on Chinet or paper plates were more the norm than you might believe.  Fancy presentation is less important than great food.  No need for artistic design when you're having a simple, yet tasty, fish fry.  Just pile it up on a disposable plate and be happy.

So I got the fried scallops, which is my go to for this type of food genre.  INCREDIBLE!  Oh yes.  I say that without reservation, coupled with nary a bit of guilt.  (Because I don't do this often.)  And though this portion size was well past my normal capacity, I could not leave one tender, lightly fried, sweet scallop behind.  (I didn't make it through all the fries though.  One can only do so much no matter how ambitious one wants to be.)  I might also have to note that no one in my family was willing to split a plate, which I would have been fine with.  The scallops were not heavy, nor greasy.  Just crispy on the outside and tender and juicy on the inside.

Let's be honest, they were SO good, I probably 
wouldn't share the next time I go either!

Texas has its Tex Mex, California has its fresh fruit and New England has its fried fish.  Can't help where I was born.  I can only make the best of it... by supporting my local restaurants.

And on a random note, here is another Connecticut institution: The Wiffle Ball Factory.  You always wondered where they were made.  (Or possibly IF they were still made.)  Now you can rest easy.



A childhood favorite factory.



Leave it to me to find some odd, and inedible, thing to throw into a food posting.  Guess I like to surprise you.  You just think you know me.