Tacklebox

why did i not eat seafood for so long? it was not a conscious decision but really, i love seafood. note to self: never not eat seafood for that long again.

good buddy of BOOF, kka and I met up for dinner at one of my many groupons-to-use tacklebox. kka is a buddy that i don't see nearly enough but we we can catch up, it is always such a great time. we both loveee seafood so it ended up being the perfect choice and she had been to tacklebox before but I was an unfortunate first timer.

tacklebox is the sister restaurant to Hook and both are located adjacent to one another on the always bustling picture perfect M Street of Georgetown. tacklebox is the more casual of the two, fitted with picnic table seating and a walk up order service. they have a few meal options but both kka and I decided on the "Maine Meal" which comes with your choice of fish, two sides and one sauce. therefore, the meal definitely becomes a make your own sort of deal which is really nice, especially if you know what you are doing ;-).

for the fish, you can choose from it being cooked two ways: crispy or woodgrilled. Depending on how you want it cooked you can have the choice of shrimp, bay scallops, calamari, catfish, haddock, clam strips (all crispy), or bluefish, trout, tilapia, catfish, cheeseburger, calamari or chicken (wood-grilled).

for the sides you can choose from a sleuth of options: corn on the cob • asparagus • broccoli • side salad • coleslaw • cornbread muffin • mac & chease • mash potatoes • rice • house cut fries • sweet potato fries • portobello mushrooms • potato salad • hush puppies

and you also have your choice of sauce (which is served delightfully on the side): spicy marinara • classic tartar • lemon-garlic aioli • grilled lemons • cocktail • BBQ • Basil.

kka ordered the bluefish woodgrilled with sides of asparagus and broccoli. she opted for no sauce and she really enjoyed the flavor of the fish and the veggies were nice and fresh and so that was also a definite plus. they also had a bit of seasoning, so they weren't bland which was definitely also a plus. veggies need flavor too!

to start i ordered the crispy calamari (you can also have it grilled) and these had great flavor. after having really good calamari at Il Canale and decent calamari at Liberty Tree , I was hoping for more of the former. The calamari was very good, super fresh and had nice seasoning. it had a really good amount of kick but it was not overpowering and they were fried very nicely. i would definitely want to try other appetizers on their menu on a trip back.

for my "maine meal" i ordered the catfish wood-grilled with a side of sweet potato fries and broccoli. I also asked for the spicy marinara on the side. this ended up being really quite delicious. i really enjoyed the flavor of the wood-grill coming through the fish and i think by topping it with the spicy marinara, it gave it that nice kick to balance out the grilled flavor. the sweet potato fries were also delicious but it is hard find "bad" sweet potato fries. i am pretty certain that is an oxymoron. as i mentioned earlier, the broccoli was really good, fresh and well-seasoned.

a favorite thing about both Hook and Tacklebox is that they only use sustainable seafood and ingredients and locally grown produce. they get bonus points just for that. all in all, i would definitely head back to tacklebox again (even minus a groupon) to try out other things on the menu. the seafood is good, not the best i have EVER had but nevertheless it is cheap and good.

Grade: B+

Things to do: Shop. plain and simple.