Thursday, April 19, 2007

An Open Letter To Skipper's Seafood N' Chowder House

Dear Skipper's,

When I was growing up in Washington I loved your clam chowder. I remember going to your restaurant a few times and always enjoying the food.

I always got the chowder and some kind of fish and chip basket. You were one of my favorite restaurants.

When I was at home I also enjoyed making shrimp sauteed with butter and serving it over rice. It was delicious.

But you had to go and ruin it for me.

I know that you thought that having commercials showing live shrimp running across the t.v. with the song "Nowhere to run" was a great ad campaign. You had them play the commercial enough so it must have been a big success.

What you might not have thought about is the fact that the shrimp looked eerily like cockroaches scuttling across the floor and the antennae of the live shrimp with their beady black eyes disgusted me enough that even 15 years later I cannot eat shrimp or any other recognizable shellfish.

Every year at work we have a huge holiday feast. One of the highlights is the ice sculpture that is overflowing with shrimp with bowls of cocktail sauce to dip them in.

One year I decided to try a shrimp and I chewed it three times and had to spit it out when I felt the bile coming up the back of my throat.

You want to know why I almost chuffed? Because that damn commercial kept playing itself over and over in my head and that alone makes me want to spew all over one of your anchor signs.

So thank you Skipper's Seafood n' Chowder House for grossing me out to the point where I can't eat lobster, crab, shrimp or oysters.

I hope that marketing ploy worked well for you.

Sincerely,

Rachel

P.S. I still like your chowder though. I pick out the clams.

18 comments:

Rico said...

So, LOL how do you REALLY feel?

Churlita said...

Hilarious. I guess that's a good way to stay away from food I don't need. I'll just imagine it all as cockroaches.

Anonymous said...

Glad I haven't seen this commercial (or ever even heard of the restaurant) because going with no seafood would be awful! We used to be able to buy this mix seafood here, shrimp, octopus, clams, calamari, etc. We can't find it anymore - bummer :-(

minijonb said...

thanks. you've just ruined one of my favorite foods for me. thanks a lot. now i'll never eat a fried cockroach again.

= ; - )

dmarks said...

Does anyone remember seeing those illustrations of Sea Monkeys, and then finding out what they really looked like?

Tara said...

You need to go to a support group, Rachel, I'm sure there are others who can't look at shellfish without thinking of that commercial! ;)

My brother and I went to a restaurant in Texas one time. We tried different things like turtle soup and crawdads/creighfish. The crawdads still had their little black eyes. Whenever I would try a bite of the shellfish, my brother would make it sound like the animal was pleading with me, "Don't eat me Tara, please don't eat me!" He did that with turtle soup too.

mielikki said...

I'm with you, Rachel. I cannot seem to eat most shellfish without gagging on it. I went on a date awhile back, and the guy INSISTED I try these mussel's? EEEEEEEW.

Skyzi said...

cheap date!

Jaybird said...

Sounds to me like you will never be on Fear Factor...

Speaking of seafood-related comercials, have you seen the one for Vandekamp's fish sticks? The one that says, "There are only two ways to get fresh fish! The hard way (see picture of two yokels trying to fish) and the Vandekamp way! (Mother opens fridge to haul out a box of frozen fish flesh)" Excuse me??? Since when have ultra-processed fish sticks been considered fresh. It must have struck a nerve similar to your underwater cockroach story...

egan said...

You're not confusing Skippers with Sea Galley are you?

We got crab legs, Sea Galley. We got fish legs, Sea Galley.

I don't know of any Skippers left in my part of Seattle.

Rachel said...

Rico ~ Was I a bit vague? I must go back and revamp it...lol

Churlita ~ Scuttling cockroaches. Don't forget the scuttling part. Then you can imagine it scuttling around in your mouth trying to escape.

Reformat ~ If I was with you when you ate that, you would get my share every time!

minijonb ~ Since it is your main food source I will have to try and compensate you somehow.
How are you going to get rid of the critters now? j/k

dmarks ~ Yeah! That was disappointing.

Tara ~ Was the food still good even thought it was begging for it's life?

mielikki ~ I am a big texture freak. It can't be slimy. At all. Mussells are slimy to me.

skyzi ~ If I could find one I sure would be. I get drunk easy too..lol

Jaybird ~ I didnt' see that commercial but I totally get where you are coming from.

Egan ~ It wasn't Sea Gally. I am 99% sure it was Skippers for a shrimp fest or something.
I looked online and there are still a few around. Not as many as there used to be.

kapgar said...

You pick out the clams?!?! Blasphemy!!

Anonymous said...

We haven't had a Skipper's around for years, like since I was a kid.

Does Long John Silvers gross you out too? What about Red Lobstah?

Moonbeam said...

LOL....too funny. Skipper wont be able to row his boat, after reading that literary adventure.

Lydia said...

That's really funny, Rachel, but also a real shame. So much good seafood you're missing out on. I have to say I'm not sure if I were to see the ad that it would make any difference to me as I do love my seafood! Hahaha!

Not so little Woman said...

Ohh man!! I know how that is!! I hope one day you can recover. Maybe we just need to play you new footage of shrimp looking better??

egan said...

Nah, I think you're right about Skippers. They did have some awesome chowder. I didn't know they were still around. I think all the ones in the Seattle metro area are gone.

Tara said...

Yeah, the food was pretty good, actually! Especially the turtle soup.