Nothing quite says “I love you” on Valentine’s Day like fish, batter, potatoes, and oil. (Actually, “I love you” may be Latin for fish, batter, potatoes, and oil.) So that’s why we decided to hit up Red Robin on 95th and Metcalf this past Thursday for a healthy dose of V-Day Fish and Chips. Red Robin was the place to be on V-Day for those with children. Christ, you couldn’t take a swig of beer without elbowing some little urchin. Nevertheless, the service was fast and the food worth talking about. I’d only eaten at a Red Robin once prior, in Wichita, and had some crazy burger with avocado oozing out of it. Messy and good. So, how’re Red Robin’s fish and chips? Well, the standard fish and chips were standard – cod and chips. You can see the ratings here. No side of slaw was kinda disappointing, especially for close to 11 bones, but you do get 4 pieces of fish with your order. Buuuuut, it’s not the standard fish and chips I want to discuss…oh no, it’s the salmon and chips that Red Robin sells that is worth my writing and your reading this. The succulent salmon and chips that are so rich and satisfying that you can’t even finish a beer with the meal…yes, that’s what I want to discuss. The texture near perfection: crispy batter with a surprising amount of flavor covering a solid chunk of one of nature’s perfect foods, itself not massacred to dryness by an inexperienced fry cook nor given to an underexposed middle section as though a sushi massa were behind the endeavor. I’d never before eaten salmon and chips and now that I’ve got that flavor in my memory, I can see cravings springing up for such tasty shiznit. Salmon is such an oil-rich food to begin with that to dip it in batter and fry it up is – well, overkill – but what a tasty way to go beyond what’s necessary. Literally, I ate one bite initially simply to test the thing. Then one bite doused in malt to see how the batter held up. After that, I entered some sort of fish-and-chips-induced fugue that lasted about 3 minutes total ending with me coming back to awareness to see my lightly-greased fingertips resting on the edge of my malt-soaked and mostly-empty plate. In short, I highly recommend this dish.

Other KC fish and chips related news:
Sarah called the food critics on Walt Bodine this past Friday to get fish and chips recommendations. A fishy flurry of call-ins ensued.