Off The Hook adds seafood to the fast-food menu

In serving fast food, speed trumps everything else.

That’s why fry pouches tend to enter the bag upside down, that’s why salad dressing occasionally doesn’t leave with the meal and that’s why drive-through servers ask customers to pull off to the side even when the next customer’s food isn’t ready. The clock is ticking, and the window sensors do not lie unless they are manipulated.

But the imperfections are expected to an extent and brushed aside in the name of speedy service convenient to the consumer. That is why people return to the well despite dissatisfaction, right? It is an intrinsic cycle.

If efficiently serving fast-food hamburgers is difficult, adding fried shrimp and catfish to the menu could only complicate matters further.

Off the Hook seeks to disprove that theory. The first and only restaurant by that name, the fried chicken, shrimp and catfish hut opened last summer on Canal Boulevard in Thibodaux.

Structured like a waterfront bait shack, the restaurant isn’t accommodating for big dine-in crowds. Roughly 15 chairs are available for seating around a handful of tables. Decorated with wood and tin, and a declined roof over the ordering counter, it does set the mood for seafood.

On my trip, the service is faster than any previous trip to a fast-food joint. Within 5 minutes of my entrance, during the lunch hour, I am eating.

I ordered the half fish/half shrimp combo ($11.95), and received a heaping pile of hot seafood, wedge cut fries and hush puppies. Lemon slices, coleslaw, tarter sauce and T-Boy Sauce (named after the restaurant’s beaming, bucket-hat wearing mascot) accompanied the meal.

The seafood wasn’t spectacular, but it was fresh. Neither jumbo nor popcorn, the shrimp is fished out of local waters. The seasoning on both dishes seemed to be toned down, yet I would gladly order it again on a return visit. I’ve had worse from places masquerading as dine-in restaurants.

The fry cooks aren’t hiding anything, either – the batter was light on everything, giving way to substance, in particular on the thick fries.

The best part of the meal is the hush puppies. Corn is embedded into these moist orbs, and they are among the best I’ve had anywhere.

While I can’t comment on the tarter sauce, the T-Boy sauce bears mention. Think a blend between Cane’s sauce and boiled seafood sauce. It has a slight kick that accents the food, and it grew on me.

If nothing else, members of the Thibodaux working class can drive through and sample for themselves with a Lenten Friday lunch.

My trip featured flawless service, and the food was better – if a tad pricier – than most fast-food restaurants. What more could be expected?

$11.95