We find ourselves in Lodi. Close to home but
doesn’t happen very often, we are not outlet shoppers and haven’t
discovered another reason to make the trip. This week our county is
either kind or daffy enough to collect appliances free of charge and
given the number of charges inherent in everyday life we will take
all available discounts. What’s for lunch? Well, I hoped we had
found a reason for return trips. The Lighthouse café comes with
laurels and epic songs from the locals. Just up the road a piece the
café sits right on the town square and is absolutely packed solid.
We get the last little table up against the window and watch as the
line grows behind us.
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Small space, a little overdone with lighthouses: wall paper, calendar, figurines, etc. Our server is very friendly if a little simple and started to lag as the tables were turned over and over after the traditional lunch hours. We ordered pierogies, a fried cod sandwich which came with a bowl of clam chowder and an Alpine burger with fries.
The pierogies were a question to start with…our server said she
would have to check with the kitchen to see if they had been done
yet, since they are usually served at dinner with the all you can
eat fish special. Hmmmmmmm. They might be done in house. Then they
arrived, they don’t look homemade (too clean and pretty) but the
widely varying stuffing makes me think otherwise. Loaded down with
carmelized onions, sour cream, cheese and chives these tater stuffed
noodles were awesome. Oh my! We are going to be coming to Lodi over
and over. We even started talking about who we were going to be
inviting to justify our trips. Well…. |
Best Thing By Far Arrived First |
If These Aren't Made Locally They are Very Clever Forgeries |
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It Was Nice to See Our Old Friend for the First Time in Five Restaurants |
Over Thick and Underwhelming |
The chowder was next and while it would pass for any roadside joint it just couldn’t match the quality of the pierogies. Too, too thick, chewy clams bits and little else but cream for flavor. Too many calories for way too little payoff. We are batting 500. The cod sandwich looked awesome. It fell short in translation from retinas to taste buds. The crust ended up being mealy instead of crispy and really detracted from the flavor of the fish instead of elevating it. We were dreaming of Friday night fish fry glory and then woke up with a start, dreams forgotten. The burger (Alpine) with Swiss and mushrooms was much better, juicy with great ratios of toppings. The fries alongside looked stupendous but were horrifically greasy and were disappointing not French fryey.
So we will be returning to Lodi. Next year, if we have an appliance
on the fritz. Maybe we will find another place to try then. We have
pretty good burgers all over the place around here and the pierogies
just aren’t enough to make the drive. My best guess is t'ain't much
competition for really solid food in Lodi. |
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Burger Wasn't Bad |
Fish Wasn't Good |
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Ratings | |||||||
Food |
Service |
Ambiance |
What's Best |
What's Worst |
Overall |
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D | C- | C | B | D | D | ||
Starchy Pillows | Batter and Chowder |