Due to the stark contrast in my experience with others here, I did a little Googling and found an article by Nestor Ramos of the Boston Globe published in 2016. He utterly slammed the place... not only the recipes (which are clearly pretty simple), but the quality and freshness of the seafood.

This was clearly not my experience when I went there (and I like to think I know good seafood), which after a little recollection, turned out to be in the late 90's. Long time ago, but I understand it was with the same owners as today. We had a group of about six or so... what we had was simple, fresh, and high quality, and I don't recall any of us being put off by the prices.

So sometime between then and now it went off, or we caught them on a surprisingly good and out of the norm evening during the MacWorld Expo. So yet another simple seafood haunt closed or otherwise off my recommended list. Growing up in so. Cal we had a number of these kinds of places: Millies, Redondo Beach; Sea Lion, Malibu; Fish Shanty; Beverly Hills... all gone now.

I have a Grand Hall gas grill, and a cast iron griddle I can replace one of the three grates with. It has a flat surface on one side and ridges on the other, much like the Lodge cast iron griddle.

I have used it for many seasons... I just scrape it clean while still relatively hot, wipe it off with an oily dish towel, and let cool on the grill with the hood down.

At the end of the season, I bring it in, wash with hot soapy water, dry, coat with oil and bake in the oven for 20 minutes and let cool in the oven.

No rust so far, and even if you do let it rust, it is easily restored via a wire brush in a drill motor, and then a good seasoning with oil.

I really do think cast iron is your best bet. It's cheap, lasts forever, and was designed to be used over open fire/coals.

I love these, although I purposely don't make them all that sweet. I like to top them differently with various fruit concoctions...

Cheesecake Cups (6)

2.65 oz (75 g) Nabisco graham crackers (processed fine)
1/8 cup (30 g) melted butter
Mix together and press into cups.

5.3 oz cream cheese (150 g) (room temperature)
A little less than 1/4 cup (40 g) sugar
Beat on low until creamy.

1 egg (room temperature)
mix until incorporated

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Juice of 1/2 lemon
2 1/2 teaspoons (7.5 g) flour
Mix just to combine.

3.25 oz (92.5 g) sour cream
Mix just to combine.

Scoop into cups, shake to level, and bake in preheated 325° oven for 15-18 minutes. Remove, leave to cool, then refrigerate at least 4 hours.

I have both ceramic and gas cooktops, and recently added a single induction unit. The new unit is not a high current model (120v/15A table top) so I wouldn't use it to deep fry or bring a large pot of water to a raging boil, but I much prefer it for seafood and sauces where I want a lot of control. I also like the idea they turn off automatically when there is no pan on them after a minute or 2 (yes, I have woken up in the morning seeing I left one ceramic burner on low all night long). And cleanup is a breeze with no physical controls or nooks and crannies.

And while gas gives me a lot more control over ceramic (where I frequently have to use two burners to go from high heat to medium low), I actually get more control with induction as there are so many more accurate heat settings than with gas (especially at the low end), plus it heats the pan more evenly. Granted if you are using long bouts of high heat, the pan will heat the glass of the induction cooktop to the point you will lose some of that control.

Prices seem to be coming down here in the States. I noticed a Frigidaire Gallery (I like their stuff) 36" unit here for around $800-$900, which wasn't all that much more than the ceramic one. As for reliability... I really can't say as I have only had mine a short while. What I have read is that it can be an issue. Lots of electronics can make for sophisticated failures as well as diagnostics, and spendy replacements. The elements themselves are relatively inexpensive, but they are not the usual point of failure. Heat and electronics are unhappy bedfellows, and my little 120VAC single hob has a "serious" fan in it.

BTW... this little single hob was sixty some odd bucks and came with a couple of pans. If you are curious, the point of entry is very low. If you do a lot of delicate sauces, custards, fish, etc... having one of these may very well float your boat.

Thanks again guys... I ended up pitching everything except the vodka, butter, and non-dairy condiments. The bananas (which I froze only a couple of weeks ago) looked nasty, and the berries and pineapple were little more than balls of ice.

Sad as it is, it wasn't that much... and I'll hit up the local Safeway tomorrow in the hopes that they actually have food to sell. They, like one of the local gas station/market/SubWay are fully backed up by generators (unlike ComCast apparently), which I truly appreciate.

BTW, that SubWay "good as Texas BBQ" brisket is a joke, much like the rest of their menu.

So the driveway has been cleared, the generator brought in, the garbage out, the battery backed up devices charged, clothes in the washer, my servers and smart home back online, and a clean freshly showered me (now that we have hot water), I will soon sit down and enjoy some ice that is left, along with some WhistlePig 10 year old straight rye, Carpano Antica, and Tillen Farms "Merry" maraschino cherries while I tune into today's golf.

Cheers,

-SiP

I do most of the cooking in SS (except grilling/baking). I like the visibility, handling, and cleanup. Plus I often use tomatoes and other acidics which wreak havoc on my seasoned pans.

I have one AllClad skillet, but the rest of the collection is Tramontina TryPlyClad, which I actually prefer. It is stainless-aluminum-stainless, NSF certified, and have great handles. Had em for years, use them everyday, and with the exception of some scratches, look like the day I bought a them.

Some I have are made in China, and others in Italy or Brazil, although for the life of me I don't notice any difference.

So if you 'are' looking for some top performing SS at a fraction of the price of AllClad, I recommend you give them a look.

Have you considered a cast iron panini press. I use a Lodge grill pan and panini top for my grilled Rubins.

Stack the pans, heat to 375 in oven, assemble sandwich, butter top and bottom bread. Pop it between the two pans and in three to four minutes you have perfection (inside and out).

I also use it stovetop for Monte Christos. Heat both pans on separate burners, dip the sandwich in batter, toss in pan and cover. 5 minutes to a perfect Monte Christo.

Heat on top, bottom, and a fair amount around the sides due to the "pan sandwich" makes for really fast and perfect heating. Also works great for chicken breasts and thin cuts of meat, bacon, plus grilled veggies.

The Lodge combo goes for about fifty bucks, and there are cheaper ones as well like the Norpro.