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| - I warn you now, my fish and chips palate is not the most distinguished. Seafood is one thing this born and raised Albertan doesn't know a lot about yet. But what I do know is I enjoyed heading over to visit the Pelican Pier last night after seeing one of the yelpers check in there. Turns out there are a lot of Calgarians who love the fish and chips from Pelican Pier.
I hopped in my car and drove down in the wicked wind storm that was blowing through Calgary. I had to walk sideways to the door to keep the dust from getting in my eyes. This better be good.
It was an hour before they closed and I was the only one inside. Sweet! I've got the place to myself. I sat down and took a look at the menu. Different kinds of fish and chips, shrimp, pastas-I was in a seafood joint alright. I ordered the haddock dinner and a grasshopper to drink.
Decor: The Pelican Pier is not what I expected from the looks of the outside. It's housed in a strip mall on 14th St. Back when I lived up in Huntington Hills, I'd pass this everyday and wonder what it was like. But mom and pop shop seafood places in Calgary scare me, so I never ventured in. The interior is nothing like the exterior. It's painted a bright sea blue and is decorated to look like a pier (go figure!). There's even a large plastic pelican perched on a pole and a live aquarium with a couple of cute little fish swimming around in it.
Food: I quite enjoyed my haddock dinner. I just ordered it with chips, but substitutes of soup or salad were also available. My meal came served on a plate shaped like a fish. A plateful of fries on the bottom, 4 pieces of battered haddock on top and ketchup, tartar sauce and a slice of lemon on the side. What I liked most about the haddock was that it was well battered, crisply fried, but I didn't feel like I'd be increasing my chances of a heart attack after eating it. It wasn't as greasy as I expected deep-fried fish to be. The fries were a-ok. I think next time I'll be diving into the experience full throttle and dousing a bit of vinegar on them.
Service: Lovely. The hostess/server was on her game. She was as cute as a button. I half expected an Eastern Canadian accent to come out of her mouth when she spoke. No accent, but she's just as friendly as any Maritimer I've ever met.
All in all, worth braving the dust/wind storm for :).
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