You should already be quite familiar with California Fish Grill, the largely local seafood chain that has spawned a lot of copy cats trying desperately to replicate its formula of reasonably-priced fish meals with rice or French fries. That many of its imitators have failed is a testament that the original still produces one of the best-prepared seafood deals in the county. The food has been dependably consistent over the years, even as their salsa and coleslaw remained inexplicably bitter and odd-tasting, respectively.
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Every once in a while, the chain puts out specials that I wish were permanent. The last limited-time offer was an immensely enjoyable Hawaiian ahi poke using dice-sized cubes of raw tuna suffused with just a touch of soy, textured with onion in micro-granules, scallions and a not-so-secret ingredient of Huy Fong Foods' popular Sambal Oelek. That dish, unfortunately, is long-gone.
Before becoming an award-winning restaurant critic for OC Weekly in 2007, Edwin Goei went by the alias “elmomonster” on his blog Monster Munching, in which he once wrote a whole review in haiku.