Fish & Chips

While I'm at the reviewing stage, I guess I'll bring myself totally up to date on all the places I've been to in Spruce Grove. My assistant guilted me into going for lunch with her the other Friday because she didn't bring a lunch and Debbie wasn't there to go with. Since I had only brought terrible salad I reluctantly agreed to go. We went to Docherty's, which is a Fish & Chip place on McLeod Avenue. I walked in and knew that I was in my kind of place. First off, the seating is at benches around tables all packed into this space which is open to the fry-room (I hesitate to say kitchen). The walls and parts of the ceiling are covered with souvenir tea-towels from all over the UK and other bits of the commonwealth. "A Geordie's Prayer", "Scots Wa Hae", "The Rules of Cricket" and whatnot sort of thing. Very very authentic. Also authentic is the food, which is heavily into the fried zone. You can also get haggis. In fact, there are few items on the menu which are not fried fish, potatoes, clams, oysters, shrimp, scallops, or onion rings. They would be as follows:Corn fritters, mushy peas, gravy, chicken fingers, haggis, and drinks. 2 draft beers, Moosehead and Newcastle Brown. That's it. Oh, wait, one gem amongst the fried-ness - Mussels in wine butter sauce. Prices include GST and are reasonable in the extreme. At lunch I had a 2 piece fish & chips for $7.25 that would choke a donkey. The chips are home-cut but are pre-blanched for extra goodness. Nothing is on a heat table, the takeout menu admonishes customers to allow 15 minutes for preparation, and if you can't wait to call ahead.

The fish was terrific, the chips were terrific, the decor was terrific. I will definitely be going back to this place, as long as I can get enough other places out of the way on my long journey to utter knowledge of the food environment in Spruce Grove and Stony Plain.

Five pints of Newcastle Brown Ale, because, simply, that's what they serve.

I can't help but feel that I have been giving out a lot of good ratings to these establishments in Spruce Grove, but my feeling is that if the places weren't any good, the town is small enough that word of mouth would kill the weak.