Phannie

Phannie
Photo taken near Monument Valley, Utah

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

We Brave the Cold Wind…to Review Restaurants for You!

At Gulf Waters RV Resort, Port Aransas, Texas…

The cold north wind began blasting late yesterday and didn't let up for about 24 hours; the temperature plunged about 30 degrees overnight.  Even so, it didn't reach freezing, and we were glad for that.  That's more than we can say for our home base near Forth Worth, where it was in the teens last night.

We decided this frigid bluster gave us a good excuse to stay in Phannie most of the day, and that's what we did, until late afternoon.  In the park, we noticed a TV satellite service truck performing work for another RVer, so we asked him to stop by.  We could not get our Direct TV remote to work in the RF mode. (This means we had to point the remote at the DVR to get it to work; in RF mode, you don't have to point the remote at all.)  He took a look at our remote and said it wasn't RF-capable; then he went to his truck and brought back a new one that worked perfectly.  Voila!

We needed to pick up a few things at Walmart, so we decided to go to the store in Rockport and have dinner at Bellino's, a little Italian restaurant on Fulton Beach Road. Boy, am I glad we did!  Sandy had pasta primavera with shrimp, and I had spaghetti and meat balls.  Both dishes were excellent, and the meat balls may be the best I've ever had.  The service was excellent, and the place was really crowded, a good sign on a Monday night.  Best of all, we arrived before six p.m., so we were able to order from the happy hour menu, a big saving over the dinner version.  
Bellino's in Fulton

This has inspired me to include in this post and the next one reviews of all the restaurants we've visited in the area on this trip.  Here, this will catch you up:

Fins (no photo) - A seafood restaurant recommended by Ed and worthy of my recommendation as well.  The fried fish and shrimp platter was enough for Sandy and me to share, and we ordered a side of onion rings, which they advertise as a signature dish.  The seafood was excellent and very fresh, but the onion rings, while good, had a little too much breading for my liking.  They had the A/C cranked down, and the dining room was a little cold.  It would definitely be worth another visit, though.  

Oceans of Seafood - This is a combination seafood market and restaurant that offers indoor and outdoor dining and the promise of the freshly-cooked seafood straight from the display cooler.  However, the guy manning the cash register, who I assume was the owner, had the personality of a boat anchor and gave us a bit of a surly greeting to boot. I feared this wouldn't go very well, and it didn't.  We had grilled red snapper and fried popcorn shrimp and a bowl of seafood gumbo.  The snapper was quite good and obviously fresh, but the popcorn shrimp turned out to be nothing but little pieces of fried breading around something gelatinous  that may or may not have been a shrimp; it was certainly not identifiable as such.  I suppose it's my fault for ordering popcorn shrimp, because I generally am disappointed, as I was this time.  (I think there is a lesson here somewhere.)  The gumbo was okay, but it was missing the richness that a good roux would have added.  The waitress completely ignored us during the entire meal (reflected in her tip) and, at one point, we were jolted a bit when a small dog came to our indoor table, sniffed at us and walked away.  Port Aransas is pretty laid back, but I'm pretty sure this was a health code violation.  Worst of all, the food was grossly overpriced.  Don't bother with this place.


Oceans of Seafood - Skip This Place; the Ocean Needs to Reclaim it.
Port of A Pizzeria (No photo) - This isn't a chain restaurant, which normally is a good thing in my experience as a foodie; however, this one disappointed.  They have a constant pizza buffet, which I suppose is a big draw.  But while the pizzas on the buffet were fairly fresh, they were not inspired at all, and I noticed a peculiar taste that may have been in the sauce or sausage--I'm not sure.  Sandy had a hot italian sub that was not at all memorable.  My suggestion, if you're pizza hungry, is to go down the street to the new Pizza Hut that just opened; don't bother with this place.

If you're wondering why I'm not posting about activities and sights other than restaurants, it's because this is not our first visit to the Corpus Christi area.  When we were here before, we did most of the touristy things and posted about them, so we're basically just relaxing at the seashore while avoiding the cold up north. We are enjoying this nice park and doing whatever we feel like doing--or not doing.  Am I getting the hang of this retirement stuff, or what!

4 comments:

  1. Always nice when someone takes the time to spend their money on places that we need to avoid. It really is nice to just enjoy rather than having to be out and doing. You're doing good.

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  2. Mike...your restaurant descriptions almost leave a taste in my mouth...good or bad. I'm not sure that's a good thing!

    And, yes, you appear to have found the retirement groove quite nicely......

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  3. I mentioned The Gaff and the belt sander races the other day. The also have some of the best pizza I've ever eaten.

    JC

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  4. Our RV park was within walking distance of Oceans of Seafood. We considered eating there, but after seeing the terrible reviews online we did not go. Good thing. We did eat at the microbrewery in town. We went for their lunch calzone special and it was good. Kevin enjoyed the beer. The belt sand races were an entertaining way to spend some time on a Saturday afternoon.

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