Fire Street Food: Not packing the heat

Like books, you cannot judge restaurants on appearance alone. Fire Street Food on 13 East Perry Street is a shining example.

Everything inside is so perfect and so hip it hurts. When I see an interior that is so nice, I automatically assume that the restaurant is so successful, they can afford top of the line everything.

This place is so cute inside

On Friday night, Mike, Ingela and I sauntered in to Fire Street Food at about 10 p.m. and there was a line. Good sign.

We learned two things standing in that line. One, they ran out of sushi by 8 p.m. that night, and three, despite boasting many flavors of bubble tea, by10 p.m. on a Friday, they were out of a few of them. Bad sign.

Traditionally, I order things I know, but this blog has made me step outside of many of my normal boundaries. So I decided to try the Laos Egg Noodle Soup with braised pork.

My Laos pork soup

When the manager dropped my soup off at the table, he asked, “Do you want hot sauce?” I agreed

and proceeded to make my once clear soup a pleasant pink with the addition of about 10 shakes of Sriracha. And while I could handle the heat, the taste of the soup was just not good.

There were a few pieces of pork that tasted like the pork from fried rice at a Japanese restaurant, there was an unidentifiable floating substance that I shared with my dinner companions and they also had no idea what it was. It looked like tofu, but it tasted like meat.

Did I mention how cute the inside of this place is?

Mike's Gang Dang Gai

Mike had the “Gang Dang Gai” with chicken. The menu description lists this as a curry, coconut milk, basil entrée. Sounds good, right? Unfortunately, this was also not very tasty. Mike also ordered a green tea flavored bubble tea that he didn’t enjoy. Seriously, as I’ve mentioned before, Mike eats and drinks everything. For him to not finish a meal or a $5 bubble tea, you know something is wrong.

I tasted his meal and I’m sure I’ve had much better curry in at least two other restaurants in the city.

Ingela's winner chicken sandwich

Finally, of course, we laughed at Ingela when she ordered an American chicken sandwich. Of course, I tasted said chicken sandwich. Of course, said sandwich rocked my world and I ate half of her dinner. It almost tasted like a Louisiana Po-Boy with the same messy and delicious factors. To top it off, her French fries were banging.

So three Americans walk into an Asian restaurant and the one who orders the American chicken sandwich has the best dinner. The end.

North Beach Café: Great Food, Amazing View

I walked into North Beach Café in a crappy mood. And that’s never a good way to start a meal. Tybee Island, home to the café, requires you to pay to park until 8pm. After finding the first three parking meters did not work, my patience was exhausted. Mike’s guffaws only exacerbated the situation.

The sign from the parking lot

The restaurant was empty except for a gathering of Red Hats women sitting at the tables inside and a few beachcombers sitting outside. For fear of the Red Hats women breaking into song with lyrics like “There may be snow on my roof, the foundation’s shot, but if you come into my kitchen, the oven’s still hot,” we decided to sit outside.

Chips and Salsa

Our waitress was chipper. Of course Mike harassed her and asked her how local the “local seafood” was. She came back and said, “We buy it from a local salesman.” Mike of course wanted to know where he got the fish. She left and returned. I’m not entirely sure what they were talking about, but the fish is not from the Gulf, which pleased Mike.

           

We ordered chips and salsa for an appetizer. They make their salsa and chips from scratch. They taste like they have cheese baked into them. Score. And see that little pot the salsa is in? Mike drank the juice once the salsa was gone because it was that good.

Chicken Tortilla Salad

For my meal, I had the Chicken Tortilla Salad. It was killer. There were more of those tasty chips at the bottom of this plate heaped with chicken and black beans and I was satisfied and full. Well done for a salad.

Non-Gulf Crab Cakes

Mike ordered the crab cakes after yet another dialogue about the birthplace of the crabs and a conversation about where they did their undergrad. He said they were some of the best crab cakes he has ever had. A healthy serving of red beans and fresh veggies accompanied the crab cakes.

Unbeatable view from our table

Overall, this restaurant was exactly what we wanted: Quality, taste, and affordability. The view from our table was priceless and if you’re heading to this restaurant, it’s probably a good idea to do it before tourist season.

At around 7:30 p.m., the bugs got hungry. We skipped dessert and opted for a walk on the beach instead. If you head here at night, bring some bug spray.