This is what you hope for every time you order fish and chips, even if the reality almost never lives up to the ideal: a craggy, golden slab of fried fish. The good thwack it takes to crack open the crust and release a wisp of steam. Perfectly tender cod, flaky to the touch of a fork and almost too hot to eat. A first bite that is crunchy and briny, delicate yet burning hot — and, if we're going all out, a sip of sparkling wine, the icy bubbles bouncing off the roof of your mouth, the perfect foil to the temperature, texture and saltiness of the fish.
Yet here it all is, including the glass of good Champagne, at a fast-food spot in a Richardson shopping center. No wonder Fish and Fizz, which opened just nine weeks ago, became such an overnight sensation that owner Nick Barclay says he ran out of fish on the first couple of days. For $14, Barclay is serving up an entree you'd pay more for at a fancier restaurant. And so far, diners have been willing to endure a few hassles to get it.
Fish and Fizz belongs to a new category of restaurant known as fine casual or fast fine, which boasts a pedigreed chef, quality ingredients, careful preparation and a serious wine list, all served in a nice dining room for a relatively low price.
What's missing? Service. At Fish and Fizz, you'll wait in line to order at a counter, and then you'll hustle to find your own table. It may not dawn on you until the food arrives that you also need to grab your own napkins, utensils, soft drinks, water and condiments like British malt vinegar, a scoop of Cornish sea salt and a shaker of pepper. It will take more than one trip.
Barclay, a British ex-pat and veteran of the Dallas dining scene, created the restaurant with his wife, Kelli, a native Texan. Back in the 1980s and '90s, Barclay headed the kitchen at Cafe Royal, a five-star restaurant in the former Plaza of the Americas hotel, and later opened his own restaurant in Uptown, Barclays, serving a modern British menu that includes a few dishes now on the Fish and Fizz chalkboard. After a 15-year interlude on the coast of Cornwall in England, the Barclays are back and eager to share what they love about that beautiful spot.
They've created a restaurant with such a sense of good cheer, not to mention rooms filled with quirky British memorabilia and beachy artwork, that you may not mind being escorted to the bar the moment you walk through the door. On two out of three visits, I was firmly nudged into a boozy wait before I was allowed to wait in line to order food. Once, I was told the kitchen needed to "recover" after an earlier dinner rush, even though no one was in line; another time, it was apparently because the tables weren't turning fast enough.
I ordered an $18 glass of Camel Valley Brut, a dry British sparkler, and was soon escorted back to join other diners juggling wineglasses while waiting, ordering and paying. I felt manipulated and cranky, until I cracked into Barclay's fish.
The man is a master of battered and deep-fried food, but also a careful sourcer of ingredients. The cod, though frozen and not fresh, is sustainably caught in Alaska and the Atlantic, and its delicate flavor is well-complemented by a house-made tartar sauce bright with fresh tarragon. The chips, thick-cut like steak fries, were oddly flabby or undercooked; curious considering how well everything else emerges from the fryer.
The "fizz" on the wine list includes several good choices by the glass, such as an $11 Scarpetta Brut Rosé from Italy. And it's fun to order a whole bottle here, like having Dom at McDonald's. The bottle arrives, unfortunately but expediently popped, in a chilled plastic bucket with proper stemware. Of the six on the list, the minerally Laherte Frères Brut Champagne is the best bet: ideal with the fried fish, and at $70, just $30 over retail, when you can find it at retail. The other bubbles are draft beers from Four Bullets Brewery in Richardson, bottled beer and cider, soft drinks and Irn-Bru, a bubble-gum flavored curiosity from Scotland.
Beyond the fish and fizz, the menu is filled with sentimental English favorites such as bangers and mash, Cornish pasties and mushy peas. A lot of it will remind you why British food was the butt of jokes for so long.
The Cornish pasty, made by the Proper Baking Co. for the restaurant, is a half-moon-shaped hand pie filled with bone-dry chunks of potato and beef. A shrimp cocktail dressed in pink Marie Rose sauce, a classic British concoction based on mayonnaise and tomato, is completely flavorless, and that includes the tiny bay shrimp. Bangers and mash — three large sausages, mashed potatoes, brown gravy — is a simple, homey dish, topped off by three gloriously deep-fried onion rings.
If you remember Barclay's Uptown restaurant, the bread and butter pudding will be familiar. Warm and custardy in a pool of caramel sauce, it makes a sophisticated finish to a casual meal. You will probably want to order it, or the Cornish cream tea ice cream, made by Sweet Firefly, with Devonshire cream, a ripple of British strawberry jam and chunks of scone. Either makes a fine ending.
But unless you want to eat melted ice cream or cold pudding, you'll have to brave the line again because the kitchen will not serve desserts after the rest of your order. Same if you want another glass of wine or beer, and you just might, if you were herded into the bar early on.
At a place doing so many things right, it's puzzling that diners are expected to pull out their wallets and wait three times during a meal that will last about an hour. Why not figure out a way to order dessert or drinks without getting back in line? For that matter, why not leave at least the salt and vinegar on the table instead of expecting us to ferry it along with so many other essentials? Just a little more hospitality amid all the good cheer would make a jolly big difference.
Fish and Fizz
Rating: One and a half stars
Price: $$ (starters $7 to $9; mains $12 to $16; dessert $3 to $8)
Service: DIY. You'll stand in line at least once to order dinner and maybe two more times if you're directed to the bar first and want dessert after. You'll also have to find your own table and fetch all your utensils, napkins, soft drinks, salt, pepper and condiments. Keep a stiff upper lip.
Ambience: British ex-pat Nick Barclay, a veteran of the 1980s Dallas food scene, has brought the "fine casual" trend to a nondescript Richardson shopping center. In a snug room decorated to evoke a merry day on the Cornwall seashore, Barclay turns out fabulous fish and chips along with other sentimental English favorites like mushy peas and bangers and mash, and offers some impressive bubbles to wash it all down. The locals have been lining up since day one.
Noise: Shouty (78 decibels)
Drinks: The six bottles of "fizz" include two selections from Camel Valley in the UK ($80 each) and the best bet: Laherte Frères Brut Champagne ($70). By-the-glass wines range from $7 to $18. The other bubbles are draft beers from Four Bullets Brewery in Richardson ($6), bottles and cans of beer and cider ($4 to $6), and specialty soft drinks ($2.75 to $4.50).
Recommended: House favorite fish and chips; mushy peas; black treacle cured salmon; Cornish cream tea ice cream; bread and butter pudding
GPS: If you're lucky, you'll score one of the three picnic tables housed inside little beach shacks built within the restaurant; if not, a high communal table will lift you out of the fray. Or eat in the bar — this may be the only place in town where that is the more civilized choice.
Address: 400 N. Coit Road, Richardson; 469-687-0022; fishandfizz.com
Hours: Tuesday-Sunday from 4 to 9 p.m. Takeout available.
Reservations: Not accepted
Credit cards: All major
Health department score: Not inspected at publication time
Access: Entrance and dining room all on one level; space between tables is tight.
Parking: Ample free parking in shopping center lot
Ratings Legend
4 stars: Extraordinary (First-rate on every level; a benchmark dining experience)
3 stars: Excellent (A destination restaurant and leader on the DFW food scene)
2 stars: Very Good (Strong concept and generally strong execution)
1 star: Good (Has merit, but limited ambition or spotty execution)
No stars: Poor (Not recommended)
Noise Levels
Below 60: Quiet. Maybe too quiet.
60-69: Easy listening. Normal conversation, with a light background buzz.
70-79: Shouty. Conversation is possible, but only with raised voices.
80-85: Loud. Can you hear me now? Probably not.
86-plus: Tarmac at DFW.
Prices
Average dinner per person:
$ -- $19 and under
$$ -- $20 to $50
$$$ -- $50 to $99
$$$$ -- $100 and over
