Longest Day/Shortest Ride, notes from the Target

"I never thought you could be so unkind, Won't you lay it on the line." -Triumph
The speed of injustice...laying it on the shoreline in a blink. 66th Street beachbreak, Holiday's. 6/22/2017. 

   We have just gotten past the Summer Solstice. The longest day of the year for daylight. I have spoken before on the injustice of it all; that we have the most light so early in the Summer cycle. How much more enjoyable it would be to have the opportunity to bask in the setting sun late on a September night. But, if June is our fate so be it. With that much daylight Thursday, you would think we would be on the beach till almost 9pm. No such luck for us. What looked like a great day from afar was in reality, an evening scattered with chilled wind gusts. Just a few lost souls on the beach. The Audience came prepared. If one would call myself and Lisa an audience. Beach chairs and towels...here for the long haul if the surf were to provide. All beach-break and no one in the water, You'd think Wattman would take the hint. But with water temps still in the upper 60's, (yes the guy on TV who says the water's 70 degrees has not stepped foot in the Ocean ). A light south east wind, and high tide. DWatt had his work cut out for him. But onward he went, the sole surfer as far as the eye could see. The break just an ass hair off on the beach . Short rides. All the conditions allowed. Quick right handers that lasted only a few seconds before becoming beach trash. After only an hour Wattman called it a night even with the sun not yet completely set.
   This time around I had chosen our dinner destination. While taking the "Bat-Cave" way home on on Rt 54, a small Bar/Restaurant had caught my attention over the years. Located in tiny Williamsville; a strip center half way between Fenwick and Selbyville, DE. Next to a gun shop no less- Yellowfin's Bar & Grille. A true local dive with no out of town tourons jamming the place up with all their noise. A tight but nice crowd were on both sides of the place, and with good speakers playing a nice mix of tunes we settled into the bar. With any new place first impressions are important and this place had me with a cold glass filled with my favorite cold Summer Shandy. While they had a limited selection of beer, their prices were more than reasonable. Being a local bar, the daily specials were especially appealing. It was $3 Taco Thursday, and we all three jumped in. DWatt had the oyster taco , which sounds terrible to me but was gone from his plate in less than a minute. Lisa and I took the more conservative options with blacken tuna and shrimp. Both had a nice flavor but were slightly over powered by the sauce. We closed out the meal with a nice dry-rub Old Bay Wing selection. The wings were small in size but were cooked perfectly and severely hot. I would have to say that Yellowfin's is somewhere in the middle of nowhere to stop if chance pays a visit. It may be a little out of the way, but everything about the place is a cut above the normal beach bar. Nice side-Bar for the Revival Tour.

Shrimp 'n Fish Tacos

THE RATINGS - 
Oyster/Shrimp/Fish Tacos: B
Old Bay Wings: B
Beer: B+
Atmosphere: B+
Value: A-
Overall Score = 3.25

Fragmented, notes from the Watt.

Order up: nor'east mushburger fragments. 47th Street Break, the OC. 6/14/2017

   I'm feelin' a bit outta sorts. My surf just ain't there. I could blame the conditions as of late in that the last couple of weeks we saw winds from the Northeast push through nuthin' but left breaking swell. Last week in the waist plus range. This week in the thigh-high or so range. In addition, this week's surf was pretty much powerless; jacking up and petering out almost immediately. Short, fragmented rides ending in the mush. Couldn't buy a frontside slide. Wouldn't blame the suit. Have shed most of the rubber. Wrong to complain though. Very happy to be back. The Crew finding their crease in the fabric of our weekly sorties. Target reconstructing his focus on topic while re-acclimating to the Canon. My Wife temporarily putting her altercations with the humidity on hold; finding her bliss in a beach chair, feet in the sand. Me...need more water time. Like a post tropical system clean -up.
   This has been an odd time of year. Kids aren't quite out of school. Restaurants still trying to find their most productive hours. Everything near closing time by the time last call surf and clean-up get us on the way to our next critique. Seems more than usual this year. The year of return. The season of the Revival. Not good to close your doors on the Crew. Thus, Fenwick Island. Seemed like a good place to carry on the resurgence. Advance our coastal de-frag. Restaurants stayed open. In our case, Big Eye Jacks Bar & Grill.

Formerly Ropewalk Fenwick, and previously reviewed by the Crew. Apart from a few changes in signage and pictures combined with a marginally revamped "Key West Caribbean" menu, the same place. Even the same owners. So while one might argue this is a new place to review, I might be willing to concede that it was a new "concept" being reviewed. Target would say not enough change. One could be hard pressed to make a case in my favor. But, I digress. We ordered. Target was happy in his Shandy. Lisa decided to Margarita Crush it.

Myself, a house brew...Mermaid Tail Pale Ale. Reeled in the Blackened Tuna Tacos and the Sweet Thai Chili Wings. The Crush was good...not great. The brews met the mark and satisfied a post surf thirst. The tacos were "street style." Served up as a trio, Less expensive which translated to small. The wings were meaty, well grilled...pretty good. But again only six of 'em. Smoked then cooked up in a Thai Chili marinade. Nice place before. Still nice. Good experience. Until the tab hit. Fish on! We were hooked and landed. Any drop in the food prices (in addition to drop in portions) were made up in the drink prices. They'd better work on this 'un! The Revival has pulled up stakes from this batten and is moving on.

THE RATINGS-

Street Tacos/Tuna: B-

Sweet Thai Chili Wings: B-

Beer: B-

Atmosphere: B

Value: C-

Overall Score = 2.60

Rattled, notes from the Target.

A Nor'easter's limited choices...lefties with a slap of salt. 67th to 65th, Holidays and points south. 6/8/2017

   It was a dark and stormy night. Well not entirely. It looked it. Kind of let you know this was not going to be an easy evening of sun, surf, and fun. And Karma did not disappoint. Started with the wind. Sand blowing. Beach chair rattling. Here...have a snack of sand to eat. And, why did we come again? Ah yes, the Ocean and all of her joyous ways. But, we are not faint of heart. We had come prepared. Jeans. Hoodies. Long sleeve shirts. Hats. Large billowing beach towels used to block the wind. I think DWatt, regardless of the rattling he took, had more fun even if he was being wind blown, rolled, and dragged a few blocks for every attempted ride. For with the wind came an angry surf and nothing but left hand breaks. This evening's battle, three rounds in an hour were enough for the Watt. The two good rides would have to fill his need for another week.

   So tonight we headed to the 9th Street Taphouse on the Boards. Really 'bout a half a block off the boards. Nested into he back corner of the Paradise Plaza Inn. Not the up-scale kind of tap house you read about in magazines by any means. A bit rundown. Definitely an OC dive. A view of the hotel's parking lot slightly obscured by the A/C units. Amazing that this place stays in business year after year. On the boards technically, but definitely no destination bar from its view. Flat screens and one projection TV set up. Our first review of the place. Joined by the Watt's Son and new girl friend, gave opportunity to sample several types of beer. Yeah, about a dozen or so crafts on draft. Some room temp. Some cold. None iced. I enjoyed a cold Belgium White. Wattman, a room temp IPA...a fatal flaw for any beverage. Lisa, a cold Apricot Wheat. His Son, the coffee creme lager. After everyone got settled in with their respective brewskies we put in our orders: Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ Wings, Ahi Tuna Tacos, and Blackened Mahi Tacos. Sweet Baby Rays rarely disappoints as the wings were meaty and well cooked. The tacos had enough fish. Unfortunately for the fish, they were drowned in pico and crema. While several of the group enjoyed both tacos, my examination revealed the hard truth. Just warm, over veggied, over sauced. Did not score a gold star from this Crew member. Hard Target for a reason. On further review I have adjusted the scores downward. We cannot be overly nice, even if we have been gone twenty months. Only the hard truth will be told here. This will be a challenging season!

THE RATINGS - 

BBQ Wings: B

Tuna Tacos: C+

Blackened Mahi Tacos: C

Beer: B-

Atmosphere: C

Value: C

Overall Score = 2.33

Revival, notes from the Target

Knee-high meat 'n potatoes. some mashed, some not. 66th street side of Holidays, the OC. 6/1/2017

   Time for a revival. That's right, a foot stomping, hand clapping, jumping up out of your chair, old fashion revival. For even the worst offenders can come home. All they have to do is humbly ask. We the good people of the Eastern Shore are a forgiving group. So even after 20 months away we welcome the Watt back home. And while we may forgive we do not easily give full citizenship to those now known as "Come To-er's." He must earn his "Down Home" status back. But, this week is really about more than just DWatt's return to the Shore. Its about seeing if the Crew has run its course or if it still has the legs to carry on. We have changed multiple times over the years. From the eleven hard drinking Crew members that worked together to just two guys who enjoyed keeping the ethic of the Crew over the last couple of years. Now we must restart the process of deciding where to go. Those heavy decisions will come. This evening we celebrated. 80 degrees on the beach, the sun was out. Dead low tide. Small but rideable knee to thigh waves. Everything just seem full of stoke in the world. That is if you discount the Watt being a hour late. And, picking a bar that was not open.

But, as I settled in on the beach none of that mattered. For the next hour or so as Wattman slowly got his surf back on catching several small rights, I relaxed and spent the time talking with his Wife and being at home in the sand. The crew is back. What the final form will be...to be decided later.  As I said, we are back.

   As if giving a push, we exit the beach on the heels of a sudden wind change and a 10 degree drop in temperature...Mother Nature's boot off the dunes. We paid it no mind as we headed to 58th and the Bad Monkey Bar & Grill. Crew reviewed this joint a couple of years ago when the Monkey first opened, same time of year too. Never know what type service or type of crowd you will get. However, a decent number of people were present and our lady barkeep ran an efficient ship. While DWatt and Lisa chose local craft brews, I took the opportunity to savor my first Leinie Summer Shandy of the year even if it poured from a can. Nice. With 40 plus brews available in cans, bottles, and draft it's kinda hard to go wrong.

Tossed the orders in as follows...the Blackened Mahi Fish Tacos were good but needed more fish and less veggie filler; the Old Bay Wings- nice flavor, just small in size and a tad peppery. And this year, we've decided to add a new element to our reviews. Value. Bring in a correlation between price and the level of score. A chunk of our best Joints have been some of the smallest tabs. And there it was. Call it what you will. A Crusade. A Journey, An Expedition. Or a Revival so to speak. We did our parting gestures. Until next week...

THE RATINGS-

Blackened Mahi Tacos: B

Old Bay Wings: C+

Beer: B

Atmosphere: B

Value: C

Overall Score = 2.65