Grilled shrimp and oysters

Whitecap Seafood, Gulfport, MS

I love sea food when I am down at the gulf coast. I have never liked sea food in Chicago. I was talking to the restaurant owner while he was shucking the fresh oysters used in the grilled oysters pictured here. I told him about what I thought of the difference between Chicago and here in Gulfport MS. He said something interesitng that after thinking about it makes sense.

"The very best sea food, at the finest restaurants in New York, or Chicago, or LA, is what the very worst restaurants on the Gulf coast don't want".

There IS a difference. Freshness in sea food makes not just a difference , but is key. When in Dodge City Kansas, have chicken fried steak, when you are anywhere along the "Redneck Riviera", have sea food. Don't tolerate the crap passed off as sea food in Chicago, no matter how fancy the restaurant looks. And NEVER, NEVER go to a corporate slop factory like Red Lobster, and eat the garbage served there . Never. Never.

Don't be fooled by, "oh I eat fish because it's healthy". Factory fish like Tilapia might as well come out of the Sanitary and Ship canal in Joliet. It is full of Mercury, and poly-chlorinated toxins. I also don't want to hear, I cant go to all these places you do. Ok, fine. still no reason to eat garbage, frozen, 6 month old sea food, or more likely pond food.

Want to "eat healthy" in Chicago? Want something low in fat? There are many great Mediterranean and Indian restaurants that have wonderful vegetarian dishes.

I was thinking, the last time I had Halibut was in a little restaurant on the dock in Seward Alaska, Lobster? North of Maine in Quebec. Shrimp? Last week in Gulfport. This is the ONLY way to experience good sea food.