My friend over at Stalking Moon Comics was moving his store this last weekend* (and that, in itself is a story equally as “amusing†as my iPod’s Tale) and I was helping out as much as a could, recovering from the flu as I was and all. On my way over on Monday night, at 35th Ave and Greenway, I passed a place called “The Codfather†which I could just make out said “fish & chipsâ€, along with a large banner saying “Now open.â€
I’m always on the lookout for some place that could make good fish & chips, although I’m usually disappointed. Arizona is just nowhere near enough to an ocean to get good fish.
Now, I’m the first to admit, I grew up in the desert, and I don’t appreciate much in the way of seafood, but I love fish & chips. When we went to the UK, one of the things I liked best was the fact that British fish & chips really are the best. We ate in chippies from London to Ft. William and only once did I get sub-par fish.
So, later in the week I returned to the Codfather at dinner time with the family. The first thing I noticed was that they emphasized that they were “English fish & chips†and the second thing I noticed was that the place was completely devoid of customers. Considering how busy the nearby restaurants were, that wasn’t a good sign.
Inside it’s clean, and decorated with few English-themed pictures, plus a wall mural of Parliament and Big Ben. The most important (or, more often, the most unimportant) piece of decoration was a New Times Best Fish & Chips of Phoenix 2005 award. Since the New Times is not always known for having good taste, the award is meaningless, but it did tell me the store was open longer than I thought, since those awards are given out in September, meaning the store has been open more than a year.
Their menu contains the obvious fish & chips, which come in the traditional cod, plus haddock, halibut, mahi-mahi, salmon and catfish. Haddock was common in the UK, more so up north, but I’ve never seen it in a chippie in the US. Their menu also includes other traditional British items such as saveloy sausages, battered sausages, steak & kidney pie, shepard’s pie & bubble and squeak.
I was there for the fish.
So how was it? For once, the New Times got it right – this was the real deal – an English fish & chip shop smack dab in the middle of the desert. We all had cod and you get 1 piece with the combo (fish, chips & soda), but it was an enormous piece of fish, fully 10“ or more long and at least 2†wide.
The chips were of that authentic, soggy British variety and when the whole thing was soaked down with vinegar it was great.
Some research after the fact reveals that the Codfather is run by a British ex-pay who trained in the UK as a fish fryer. You can’t ask for more authentic than that.
*He actually moved weeks ago, but I wrote this back then and for some reason for got to post it. 🙁
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