Clarks Fish Camp - Jacksonville, FL

Last night we tried Clark's Fish Camp off of St. Augustine Rd in Jacksonville. It's been over 10 years since I was there last. Since then I have traveled quite a bit and samples a lot of great places. This place is right on the water at a boat dock on the river and it opens at 4:30 p.m. and it startes filling up fast after 5 p.m. So we go over there and the first thing we see on the menu is that they use MSG in their spices. That's strike #1. They do have a full menu of stuff, and even wild game. This is the first place I have seen where you can order Kangaroo!

I had the charbroiled grouper and some steamed mussells. I wasn't impressed. The fish was overcooked on the top and the mussells were real chewy. The sides were the best. The hushpuppies were good, the green beans were also good. But it was probably injected with MSG flavor enhancers.

The one thing I can say is that the service was good. I just cannot for the life of me figure out what makes this place so popular. The food I saw on other people's tables just didn't hit me as all that pleasant looking. The smell in the bar area was very musty (wet I suppose from being on a dock basically) and there was this very thick moldy stuff covering the air vents in the ceiling. It definitely needs a little clean up job. But when we left they had cars parked all along the sides of the road, and this was on a Wednesday night. So you would have thought this was the best place in town. NOT! I am still looking for a good seafood place. We are in Florida and less than 10 miles from the beach so you would think this would be relatively easy. So far it has not been.

Today we are going to try "Down South" BBQ out at Ponte Vedra. We'll see if the fancy, dancy part of JAX has anything better to offer than the mustard swill found in other places.....

S