Interior of JW Snack's Gulf Coast Bar & Grill
Interior of JW Snack’s Gulf Coast Bar & Grill in Craig, Colorado.

Place: JW Snack’s Gulf Coast Bar & Grill

Category: Road Food, BBQ, Seafood, Southern

Website: n/a

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/jw-snacks-gulf-coast-bar-and-grill-craig

Location: 210 E Victory Way Craig, CO 81625

Date of visit: 2021 April 8

On April 8 I decided to spend the night in Craig, Colorado. After evaluating my options for dinner I ended up at JW Gulf Coast Snack Bar & Grill. I expected it to be more of a pub with food but it turned out to be more of a local casual food style restaurant (think TGI Fridays or Applebee’s but smaller and more unique with better food). That said, part of me wonders if the feel would’ve been different without COVID restrictions. 

Pork poppers
Delicious Pork Popper Appetizer

For an appetizer I got pork poppers. I am not sure I’ve seen these anyplace else. They were basically what I think most people would guess: deep fried battered pieces of pork. And as people that like pork and deep fried things would guess, they were amazing. If you ever find yourself in Craig and you eat pork, you must get them. You will not be disappointed!

The food genre at JW’s was predominately southern. I decided to go with the blackened catfish but it was a tough choice because a lot of the menu items looked good. I choose the catfish because I used to eat it often when I lived in Alabama but you really don’t see it in California much. The cook did a great job and I really enjoyed it. It wasn’t as good as the best catfish I ate in Alabama but it could hold its own in the South and it really hit the spot. The sides I got were dirty rice and baked beans. The dirty rice was okay but nothing to write home about. The baked beans, however, were pretty good and I’d get them again.

Blackened Catfish
Blackened Catfish from JW Snack’s Gulf Coast Bar & Grill in Craig, Colorado.

As far as the service, it was great. The server had good timing and I was never looking for her nor did I ever feel she was

trying to rush me out the door. She and the other staff were also friendly. My only real complaint was the beer selection wasn’t very good. They only had a couple of beers on tap and they were your typical American swill. The bottle selection wasn’t great

either but I did end up getting a decent IPA. I guess the moral of the story is to go here for the food and not the beer.

Place: Scrumptious Fish & Chips @ Corralitos Brewing Company

Scrumptious Fish & Chips
Scrumptious Fish & Chips

Category: Seafood, English

Website: https://www.scrumptiousfc.com/

Yelp: https://ww.yelp.com/biz/scrumptious-fish-and-chips-food-trailer-santa-cruz

Location: Santa Cruz area (This visit at Corralitos Brewing Co. in Watsonville)

Brewery website: http://www.corralitosbrewingco.com/

Date of visit: 2021 March 27

I can some up this blog post in one sentence: If you live in the Santa Cruz area and like fish and chips you most go visit this food trailer! Keep reading for more details.

On Saturday, March 27, 2021 I went to Corralitos Brewing Company to get fish and chips from the Scrumptious Fish & Chips food trailer. I’ve been following Scrumptious on Facebook for a while and have been wanting to try their food. I’ve been to Corralitos Brewing one time previously before the pandemic and it is nice location with good beer. If it was closer I’d go more but because I’d have to drive home from their I? can really only have one or two beers (if they are not strong) so generally it is not worth the effort for me. My only suggestion for them would be to change  the “lit” in their name to just a “d” because Corrado’s is a better name J.

Chips and Mushy Peas
Chips with a side of Mushy Peas

The owners of Scrumptious Fish & Chips are from a village named Dedham in England and they know what they are doing when it comes to fish and chips. The fish, at least the day I had it was Alaskan Cod. The fish was cooked perfectly and the breading was amazing. The chips were cooked perfectly. While the piece of cod I received was huge, the food was so good I went back and got more chips and small container of mushy peas. The mushy peas were also excellent. They also have some other English food offerings including bangers and chicken tikka masala. I’d really like to try them but the fish and chips are so good I am not sure I well except as a side.

I am a huge fans of fish and chips and I think Scrumptious Fish & Chips were the best I ever had in the United States. There are a couple of pubs in Monterey that make delicious fish and chips but they are not as good as Scrumptious’s offering (I’ll still order it at the local pubs though!). As I stated in the opening of this post, if you are in the area and like fish and chips you need to try these. Scrumptious is scrumptious!

Photo of the Scrumptious Fish & Chips trailer
Scrumptious Fish & Chips food trailer