Eatery - Slapfish (CA) Revisited

19696 Beach Blvd, Huntington Beach, CA 92648
Pricing - $/$$ | Dining - Casual | Cuisine - Seafood
www.slapfishsocal.com

[You can read my first review here.] I finally took Duc to Slapfish after having raved about the restaurant to him. I especially liked telling him all about the sustainable seafood philosophy and practices of Chef Andrew Gruel and his awesome staff. We even got to see Chef Gruel when we came in and had a quick chitchat. Thanks for the awesome food!

So since it was Duc's first time, we decided to order a whole lot to give him a wide array of food to try. We started off with some Dang! Butterscotch Root Beer though because we have a penchant for bottled sodas (smooth and creamy - who wouldn't like this one?). Then we dug into the crispy lobster quesadilla with its huge chunks of fresh lobster and deliciousness. I love how green apple plays a large role in some of the dishes, particularly any spicy and lobster-y dish. The crunch and tang gives a nice playful refreshment to the seafood. We didn't even need the accompanying sauce.

Next we had the chowder fries which I had declared earlier to be my favorite dish and boy was it still fantastic. The seasoning on the fries alone make the side dish worth it but once you add on top a hearty chowder with large chunks of potatoes and crunchy pieces of bacon, you've turned it up a whole other level. I would've wiped the drool off of Duc's face if there were time between bites of the fries. There was no shame - chowder was all over his fingers despite the fork next to his arm. Another good run of this, no doubt.

Then we had the "because we have to" fish taco, fried. Quote of the day came from Duc when he said, "I've never put anything this big in my mouth before." The fish was bigger than the tortilla it came on that was slathered in avocado lime. There was also some crunchy pickled red onion which presented the taco with a tangy flavor. I enjoyed how wholesome the fish was as well - I mean, check out the picture of how flaky and white the meat was! A+

Even after all of that, we had more coming - the special for the day was a firecracker fish burrito. That burrito was huge. It was bigger than we thought it would turn out to be considering the under $10 price tag. It was also full of quality ingredients - spicy fish, black beans, loads of lettuce, sticky rice, and a whole lot of lovin'. We only managed to get through half of it because of sheer willpower after all of our other amazing food.

So of course, guess what the chef thought would be funny? He wanted to send a huge piece of cake our way (the triple stout chocolate cake I so dearly loved from Simply Sweet Cakery) "to see how much more you could take!" so he said. Ha ha, dear chef. Well we had to throw in the towel and take it to-go but really appreciated his good-naturedness and asking if we'd take it home with us. We both found it hilarious that the slice was so big, its container had to be saran-wrapped all around for transportation purposes. Believe me, we enjoyed it much too much. Thanks again for the fabulous food, the fun service, and the kind offering! Slapfish is a great place to eat and it hasn't even been around as brick-and-mortar for half a year; I'm going to definitely keep bringing people here.