That's one reason we love going anywhere there's lots of water -- and that's where you'll find some of our all-time favorite restaurants: Mulligan's Raw Bar & Grille, Awful Arthur's Oyster Bar and Fisherman's Wharf on the North Carolina Outer Banks, the Crab Claw in St. Michaels, Maryland, The Wharf in Erie, Pa., and Pickle Bill's and Brennan's in Grand River, Ohio.
Of course, nothing beats the freshness that comes from dragging dinner straight from the water to the table; back inland, it's a bit more difficult to find anything that remotely compares (especially since most restaurants tend to cook fish way beyond the point at which it tastes best). One of our favorite places -- Red Lobster -- may come as somewhat of a surprise. Chain restaurants aren't typically our favorite places, but over the years we've found that the fish here tends to be properly cooked and consistently delicious.
Most of the time, we visit the restaurant on the U.S. Route 422 "strip" in Niles, although
on occasion we've ventured in to other locations. Such was the case a couple of weeks ago, when Jack and I met up with our son Scott, his wife Lilla, and Lilla's mother Sheila at the Red Lobster in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio (that's Lilla and Scott in the photo at the left. The first thing we noticed is that the 
restaurant layout isn't exactly the same as the Niles location -- lots more dark wood and what appears to be a larger main dining room. Although it isn't listed as such on the Web site, we suspect it's been remodeled as part of the company's new "Bar Harbor" design project in which almost all existing restaurants will be getting a facelift by 2014.Menus can vary from restaurant to restaurant as well; if you go online to check Red L
obster's Web site (see below), you'll be asked to enter a Zip Code to see what's available at the one you're interested in. Besides that, menu specials change relatively often, so always check what's new before you decide. One that's noteworthy at press time, for instance, is a choice of three "Surf & Turf" combinations for under $20 each -- chardonnay-grilled shrimp, grilled Maine lobster tail or snow crab legs paired with an 8-ounce peppercorn sirloin. Yum!Red Lobster is, for the record, part of the Darden Restaurants
stable that includes the Olive Garden and Bahama Breeze names. The first Red Lobster opened in Lakeland, Florida, in 1968, according to company reports, and today there are somewhere around 700 locations throughout the United States and Canada.At our Cuyahoga Falls get together, we went whole hog (or more accurately, whole fish). Even though it was lunch time, one of us picked the Ultimate Feast that includes a split Maine lobster tail, steamed snow crab legs, garlic shrimp scampi and Walt's Favorite Shrimp ($24.99). Another picked the broiled seafood platter, with bay scallops, garlic shrimp scampi and stuffed flounder ($13.99).
I must emphasize, however, that one of the things I crave most from Red Lobster isn't seafood at all; it's those wonderful Cheddar Bay biscuits. So popular are these cheesy biscuits that Red Lobster reportedly bakes and serves more than 395 million every year -- making them from scratch and baking them every 15 minutes. The folks at Red Lobster won't divulge the recipe (nor do I blame them), but if you Google "Red Lobster Cheddar Bay Biscuits" you'll find some recipes that come pretty darned close to the real thing.
Our most recent visit was for a spur-of-the-moment late lunch on Christmas Eve Day. The stockings were hung, the gifts were wrapped, and we'd be alone for the rest of the evenings since our family get-togethers were on Christmas Day and the day after that -- so I guess we were feeling a little blue and decided a blast of fresh seafood (and a couple of beers) would cheer us up fast.
Here, we usually sit on the relatively small bar side of the restaurant; the tables border on tiny, but for just the two of us, we manage -- and hey, we
're right next to the bar. We were armed with a $10 gift card I'd earned at MyPoints.com, a site at which you earn points by viewing (and possibly purchasing) offers that are sent by e-mail. I always cash in my points with restaurant gift cards (most often from Darden Restaurants), and over the past few years I estimate I've earned at least a dozen.Besides that, earlier that morning we'd cashed a small dividend check from a local bank, and when Jack put on an Ohio State University winter jacket he hadn't worn for at least a year, he found $15 in one of the pockets! Put all that together, and we decided that for once, money was no object.
In mid-afternoon we were seated immediately, although we've never been to a Red Lobster that was devoid of customers at any hour. Happily for me, Blue Moon was one of the draft choices; Jack was less happy to learn they were out of all the Sam Adams brews on tap, but he settled for a Sam Adams Winter Lager in a bottle. I will warn that beer isn't cheap here; his bottle cost $3.99 and my glass (larger) was $4.50.
For starters, we decided to share a Seafood Sampler ($10.75); this large plate was filled with four lobster-crab-seafood stuffed mushrooms, a handful of fried clam strips and a skewer of four bacon-wrapped sea scallops. The scallops, in particular, are mouth-watering; although our initial plan was to divvy up everything equally, offering a sweet smile and batting my baby blues got me three of the scallops in exchange for that fourth stuffed mushroom, a favorite of Jack's.
As we munched, we noticed a number of customers who were picking up what appeared to be party trays -- this was Christmas Eve day, remember -- and we made a mental note that next time we needed to bring something to a party, this could be a great place to go.
For our entrees, Jack stuck with his usual baked stuffed flounder (the same as he'd had in Cuyahoga Falls) at $8.99; his sides of choice were cole slaw and fries with sea salt. It took me a little longer to decide -- I like the "create your own" entree, from which you can choose any two fish items (for lunch, it's $9.50) and the shrimp linguini Alfredo. In the end, though, I opted for the Sailor's Platter, made up of breaded fried shrimp, garlic shrimp scampi and an oven-broiled fish filet for $9.75. For sides, I picked a garden salad and rice pilaf.
I feel compelled to mention that I used to love the Caesar salad here (you have a choice between that and a garden salad as sides), but they've changed the dressing so it's now heavier and gloppy (my word) compared to what it used to be. The garden salad, though, is very good, as is the ranch dressing I picked. The rice pilaf, though, contains wild rice and plenty of flavor, unlike the rice pilaf I've had at other restaurants (to the point that I rarely order it because so much of it has been under-flavored, over-flavored and otherwise virtually inedible).
Only once in the many times we've eaten at a Red Lobster have we had room for dessert -- it was a piece of delicious key lime pie ($4.99) -- but if you can possibly stuff it in, there are plenty of delectables from which to choose. Jack's had his eye on the warm chocolate chip lava cookie for quite some time now -- a warm, thick cookie with a molten chocolate center topped with vanilla ice cream and drizzled with chocolate sauce ($5.99). Hopefully, he'll give me a bite or two!
If you go: Red Lobster
5701 Youngstown-Warren Road
Niles, Ohio 44446
(330) 544-1321
http://www.redlobster.com
Open Sunday through Thursday 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Friday and Saturday 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Check the Web site for hours at other Red Lobster locations.
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