Text 2421, 98 rader
Skriven 2013-07-14 09:12:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: Maxie's 870
===================
People have been winding me up since the last picnic about
this place Maxie's, which serves Cajun/Creole stuff and lots
of seafood, including half-price oysters at happy hour
between 4 and 6.

I looked it up on the Web and discovered that there's a Max's
and a Maxie's, both pronounced more or less the same. The
former is in the Holiday Inn and gets mixed reviews; the other
is in a house on the corner of State and rte 13 and is one of
the darlings of the city. We got there around 5 and were
seated quickly at what is apparently one of the only 6-tops;
it was right near the kitchen and pretty darn hot. I think
perhaps we were foolish not to explore other seating options,
but as people keep irritatingly reminding me, it is what it is.

I ordered the oyster sampler (on half-price, so $9 rather
than the normal extortionate $17.95), followed by the fried
green tomato appetizer at about the same price.

Janis and Ron got a large plate of steamed clams to start.

Nobody else had any appetizers, choosing to go straight
for the main event.

An assortment of beers and other drinks. I ordered a local
pilsner, but Dale asked me what he should get; I ordered a
Troegs and gave him my pilsner.

The oysters were pretty good - two Canadians (from PEI or
Nova Scotia, I forget what they said), two Cotuits, two
Martha's Vineyards. The Canadians were like what have been
sold to me in the past as Malpeques but less sweet and more
salty. I forget what the restaurant called them. The Cotuits
were pretty much what I expected only on the small side,
and the Martha's's, not too surprisingly, tasted almost
exactly like the Cotuits but were a tad fatter.

Janis and Ron handed out samples of their clams: littlenecks,
steamed, pretty good. I prefer softshells, but it is what it is.

Our main courses, peculiarly as nothing seemed to be too
taxing for the kitchen, took like an hour to come out.

So in the interim I ordered a cup of gumbo, which was decent
but that the roux used to make it was dark dark dark. I passed
around tastes, and both Dale and Janis thought I should take it
back, as it was bordering on too bitter. I thought it not
strictly burned, just too dark, and ate it. There were bits of
andouille and small shrimp, a reasonable quantity, and a
perfunctory topping of converted rice, a couple tablespoons,
and scallions, a couple teaspoons.

Still no food. People were beginning to get fractious, and
I was thinking that I might start getting bitten around the
ankles or something.

Promises that the food would be coming right out. It didn't
for another quarter hour at least.

When they did come, the green tomatoes had a nice crisp
crust but were slightly underdone inside; not bad and made
better with a pleasantly sour remoulade. I was reasonably
satisfied.

Nancy ordered the crabcake po'boy, pronounced it good, so
Dale took a bite, reporting that it wasn't Maryland, not a
surprise, as Maryland crabcakes are a rarity even in Maryland,
and there was too much filler for his tastes (which meant that
there would be too much filler for mine as well, which meant
that I wouldn't bother to beg a taste). Fries were good.

Janis got an oyster and shrimp po'boy hold the po'boy, and
the serving of rather overbreaded seafood was generous and
I am told pretty good.

Dale's shrimp and grits were creamy and good but quite a bit
less red and Cajun than I'd have expected. My smallish taste
seemed to cry out for a milk pill.

Ron and Gail had boiled shrimp; this didn't come until a bit
later despite being the easiest thing to make. The servings
were bigger than expected (we thought this was by way of
atonement), and the shrimp were firm, sweet, and nicely
seasoned. We had enough left over to augment the poorman's
jambalaya for the next day, making it into more of a rich
man's jambalaya.

All were served efficiently and with good humor - we had no
issues with our waitress or her helpers, so we ate efficiently
and with good humor.

The food was generally pretty good, but we thought we should
get a break for our wait. I don't think we asked for anything
straight out, but apparently the management agreed with us, and
when the bill arrived the clams and the oysters had been comped.
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