FISHERS LANDING — There's a little place on the road between Alex Bay and Clayton that I've been watching evolve over the years.
P.J.'s River Rat Café started out as a gas station and convenience store more than 20 years ago. Along the way, it became a snack bar and a popular drinking bar. I even stumbled in one day about 10 years ago via snowmobile.
Now it's a comfortable, casual restaurant with a cleaned-up bar/lounge and clientele to match. The building is half bar and half newly remodeled dining section, separated by the kitchen in between.
Glass containers of tartar sauce and cocktail sauce dot each table, suggesting seafood is the specialty here. And a peek at the menu pretty much confirms that, with clams, haddock, shrimp, walleye, sole and scallops. Non-fish lovers can enjoy fried chicken, baked ham and turkey breast dinners — burgers and prime rib, too.
Appetizers are mostly run-of-the-mill fried stuff, except for steamed clams and frogs' legs. They were out of steamers, so we ordered sautéed frogs' legs ($7.99).
They arrived lightly battered and fried — not a problem. We picked them up and ate them just like chicken wings. In case you've never had frogs' legs before, the texture of the meat is a little like chicken. A small container of very nice roasted red pepper aïoli came out with the frogs' legs.
A cup of New England clam chowder ($2.99) seemed appropriate. It tasted pretty institutional to me — not necessarily a bad thing — and most people wouldn't even know the difference.
Salads consisted of crisp, chilled iceberg lettuce with tomatoes, shredded carrots, a little red cabbage and red onion served in those little wooden bowls. Our dressings, Thousand Island and ranch, tasted pretty institutional too.
Broiled haddock ($12.99) was quite enjoyable, a relatively small portion in a yummy, slightly creamy lemon butter sauce. Salt potatoes could have been a little saltier. Vegetables looked and tasted like a standard IQF (individually quick frozen) mix with colorful broccoli, cauliflower and yellow carrots. The yellow carrots gave it away.
I believe the walleye ($16.99) was fresh, and it was excellent. It was served broiled in the same wonderful sauce as the haddock (same size portion, too) but had a better flake to it. We could have gotten the salt potatoes or baked or fries, but tried the coleslaw, which was fine. The same veggies came with all the entrées.
Both the haddock and the walleye can be prepared broiled, blackened or deep fried in the café's own batter.
Scallops were rather small, but nicely prepared in a different sauce that wasn't nearly as tasty, although the menu indicated the same lemon butter sauce as the other fish we had. In fact, it was quite thin and watery.
We had checked out P.J.'s Web site in advance and noticed "the commander's prime rib," with a beautiful color photo of a slab of medium-rare beef, available in three sizes: full speed $23.99, half speed $18.99 and slow speed $13.99. Cute, huh?
We were there early in the week and weren't sure if the prime rib would be available. Most restaurants offer it only on weekends when they're sure they'll sell it all the same night. Warmed-up prime rib just isn't the same the next day.
Our server told us that they cook a prime each day during summer since they're almost as busy weekdays as they are weekends. With that reassurance we ordered a medium-rare "half speed" portion of the prime.
I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure we got a warmed-up piece from the day before. It didn't have that vibrant look of a fresh cut. It was cooked more like medium with very little natural juice flowing from it and it had an unappealing tannish-gray color. I would have rather had the piece they used for the Web site photo.
A dip in some OK jus helped a little. I'd estimate the half-speed portion to weigh about 14 ounces.
Desserts are all homemade.
Chocolate peanut butter pie was great. A creamy peanut butter filling adorned with chopped nuts filled a crust made from crushed chocolate cookies. The wedge was drizzled with chocolate syrup. Yummy.
Seasonal blueberries and raspberries were used for the bumbleberry pie. It was full of luscious berry flavors in a nice homemade pie crust. A scoop of vanilla ice cream was offered on the side, but we declined.
Lemon pie was a variation of lemon meringue pie, with a cream cheese layer on the bottom, lemon filling in the middle and meringue on top.
The service was fine and the price was right: $95 for our party of four before drinks and gratuity. And they were nice enough to not charge us for the frogs' legs since they prepared them deep-fried rather than sautéed as we ordered.
If you're a fish-fry fan, it's one of the specialties offered each night for $8.99, served with coleslaw, vegetable and choice of potato. There's a kids' menu too, so you can be confident that P.J.'s is family friendly.
P.J.'s has been open seven days a week throughout summer, but after this weekend it will begin serving dinner Wednesday through Sunday beginning at 4:30 p.m.
TIDBITS
Lovers of Thai food may want to seek out a new restaurant in Phoenix, just outside Syracuse, called Basil Thai. It's owned by "Pong" Siripornsawan, former chef at Bangkok Thai in Liverpool. Check out the Web site: www.basilthaicny.com.
P.J.'s River Rat Café
Intersection of Routes 12 and 180
Fishers Landing
686-5359
Serving dinner 4:30 p.m. to closing Wednesday through Sunday
A comfortable, casual restaurant on the main road between Alex Bay and Clayton.
Try the fresh walleye broiled. You'll love the creamy lemon butter sauce.
Rating: 3 forks
