A Little Bit of New Orlean in Louisville (The Fish House and... Mike Liggin's)

Fish... at times, I think Louisville is known for its fish sandwich more than any other food.  The history of fried fish in Louisville is salient.  Cunningham's, Mike Liggin's, The Fishery, Hill Street Fish Fry, Kingfish, Mitchell's Fish Market, and Seafood Connection... just to name a few.  I've been to all of the above minus Mitchell's Fish Market and must say, Cunningham's has the best fish sandwich in my mind. 

The previous night (Thursday January 30, 2013), I had been at Mike Liggin's... a places that I've been told by many people to have a solid fish sandwich... It may have been the day... as it was rainy... or that it was rather late at night... I decided to have a "seafood order" (comprehensive spectrum of fried seafood), which consisted of 2 White Fish pieces, 4 scallops, 1 frog leg, 1 shrimp, 4 fish nuggets, 1 fried Oyster, 1 piece of salmon, 1 crab cake, 4 spicy fish nuggets, and 2 hush puppies.  Does that sound like a lot of food?  Well... it gets worst.  They decided to feed me a little extra that day.  How? The doubled of everything in the order.  I think I almost died eating that day. 

The fish was good and the hush-puppies were excellent but everything else was too dry or too mundane.  I left very disappointed.

Rating
Food: 6.5/10
Ambiance: 7.5/10
Service: 7.5/10
Overall: 7/10

The following day, I told my boss (one infamous Shelton Poole) about my experience at Mike Liggin's.  Shelton (one of the people who recommended Mike Liggin's) decided to say, "They don't make food like the old days.  I haven't been there in years... Have you tried The Fish House?"  You see... this is my problem.  People bring up food and I can't keep it off my mind.  Shelton later went by my desk and mentioned that the place also served beignets.  Beignets?  In Louisville?  My mind was salivating.

As I walked on the restaurant I felt a rather timorous as well... it was definitely a hole in the wall place.  The menu was divided into The Fish House and Cafe Beignet.  Cafe Beignet was only open on the weekend... I felt disappointed not to get a beignet this trip.  I asked about the scrod sandwich and the catfish sandwich... inquiring which one was better.  The server said, "We sale scrod the most, but if you like catfish, we have a really good catfish sandwich."  I decided to take the catfish and added onion rings.  I went to get some jalapeno tartar sauce... wow, was that good!  The catfish itself had corn breading and man was it juicy.  One good sandwich.  The union rings... At times, I'm weary of buying onion rings as most place doesn't make onion rings special... and they can be rather expensive, sometime $5 which simply isn't worth it.  The onion rings here was only $2.50 so I decided to give it a try.  The onion rings were lightly breaded just right and the onions had some juice to it.  One of the better onion rings I've had in recent days.

I was sitting with a gentleman from Louisiana who was at the restaurant.  He was waiting for his to-go order.  I asked what he got and he replied, "Some beignets."  What?!  They serve it today?  I asked and subsequently order some for myself to-go.  Since the catfish sandwich was so good, I "had" to get the scrod also.  The scrod was just as good as the catfish.  Now the beignet... I hadn't had one since I was down in New Orleans for the Final Four at Cafe Beignet and Cafe Du Monde and were they good.  Let me say... beinet is a french pastry made from deep fried choux paste (butter, water, flour, and egg) with confectioner's sugar on top.  I took my first bite and it was truely a delight.  It felt just like New Orlean's... the bread was slightly warm, which complemented the snow that was falling outside.  The powered sugar made it just sweet enough where the bread wasn't over overpowered.  

Rating
Food: 8.5/10
Ambiance: 7/10
Service: 7/10
Overall: 8.5/10

I'll definitely be back for this one day.  Dinning at Cafe Beignet... a taste of New Orleans right here in Louisville.