Central Harlem, 126th Street at Frederick Douglas Boulevard

Mary Sargent © 2009 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

This is what gets me about this project. I posted this photo because I liked the long shadows, the dilapidated building, the dynamics of the people all going in different directions. (Please enlarge it.) And then there's the House of Seafood. I was going to say something like, I've been looking for a place to eat and this is the first one I've seen so far, but I don't think I'll be dining there tonight. Ha ha. Dismissing it. But just in case there was something to know about it, I googled it. Here's what I found: The Village Voice: "The unprepossessing storefront—a hovel, really—offers no clue that its fish sandwiches are thrilling, a quartet of whiting filets caught locally, fried to perfection, and plunked down on whole-wheat bread with tartar and Tabasco." Thrilling. This opinion is echoed by a reviewer on Yelp: "You'd never guess that this place makes ridiculously good whiting sandwiches, on par with Famous over on 145th St." (Note to self: remember Famous when I'm on 145th Street.)

The problem, you may have noticed, is that House of Seafood is closed. Here's an article from the New York Post in October 2007 that tells why. Redevelopment.

I do like a good fish sandwich, and the best one I ever had was a whitefish sandwich in upper Michigan. But even that wasn't thrilling. And now it looks like I'll never have a thrilling fish sandwich.

But what I mean about what gets me about this project is that it seems everywhere I look there's more there than I think. It's so rich. There's so much. This is why I go ever slower and slower.



See map.