GREAT EATS HAWAII: THE CATCH

THE CATCH RESTAURANT

ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA

We arrived in Los Angeles on a Friday during Lent. This means no meat for the day. We checked into our hotel in Anaheim and drove just two blocks down the street. We saw a restaurant called The Catch. Figured it was a Seafood joint for "Fresh Catch". After parking we looked inside and saw a whole lot of suits and smartly dressed people. We just got off the plane and were really dressed down in sweat pants and jeans. We opted to eat in the lively and spacious bar area where the patrons were a bit more casual and relaxed. Turns out that "The Catch" is a baseball turn as the restaurant sits in the parking lot of Angel Stadium. There are wide screen monitors throughout the bar showing live sports programs. Baseball memorabilia is all over the walls. The staff here was exceptional. Our waitress was courteous and very attentive. Could not ask for better service. She made us feel very welcome in a place we had never been to. Her name was Anastasia according to our receipt. After receiving our menus, a person wearing a cook apron appeared with a plate of vegetables, fruit and Quesadilla for our daughter. This was complimentary and very much appreciated by Keli. She ate the whole plate before I could finish ordering our food. We started with the Calamari Quiles ($11.95). This was a huge portion of lightly breaded and fried calamari served with tortilla chips and a bit of sour creme, guacamole and chili sauce. Kind of like Calamari Nachos. This was delicious, but there was a little too much of the chili sauce. We also tried a dozen raw oysters ($28.95). Kind of expensive but so fresh and delicious like the ones we had in Seattle. The Oysters were from Washington State and were served very cold with fresh horseradish and cocktail sauce and vinegar. Keli enjoyed the Kids Meal ($9.95) which included a Grilled Chicken Breast, Broccolli and mashed potatoes. She said it was good. We tried the Shrimp Christopher ($26.95). This was crab stuffed shrimp served with mashed potatoes. Shirley said the crab and shrimp were tasteless and said the crab was also mushy like out of a can. A big miss for the price. The menu boast that the Signature Entree for The Catch is the Chilean Sea Bass. To quote the menu, it is "Legendary". At $35.95 I was hoping this would knock my socks off. It did deliver on taste. Great grilled topside caramelized to perfection. Served on a bed of rice pilaf with a pureed sauce of some sort. There were four fried shrimp on the plate that didn't need to be there and added nothing to the dish. They were tasteless even with the sauce. All in all this was a pretty good meal for just finding the place out of the blue. Our waitress made the evening good as well as a giant hamburger that was served to the table next to us. The Catch serves a gigantic burger that can feed an army. Eat the whole thing in one sitting and they will pay you $500. Only one person has finished this mega eating challenge. There is also a "WTF" burger that is even larger.