Why Fish & Fizz in Richardson is going back to takeout only (for now)

Nick Barclay ended September with an apology to his guests. Fish & Fizz was actually just a fish and chip shop before everything changed: This casual place in the middle of a shopping mall in Richardson was a hideaway, a place to weather the pre-apocalypse.

Dine-in meant tossing crispy, deep-fried prawns in endless cocktail sauce and dipping brochures of fried cod in savory tartar sauce. Before the pandemic, Barclay had done things to make life better, such as reducing his work week to four days. In the small restaurant he runs with his wife Kelli Barclay, everything went well, he says.

Then the pandemic struck, forcing restaurants to rock back and forth. There were no rules, no street signs for mom and pop shops. And now Barclay faces another challenge: a labor shortage like he’s never seen before has plagued his dining room. Job advertisements lead to a number of applications from a single source. Interviews result in no-shows.

“I’ve been in this business all my life and I’ve never been in a situation where work is as challenging as it is now,” says Barclay. Why? Barclay has many theories. It is an existential departure from the food industry. It’s the struggle to find a way to pay the bills and the mind-boggling, “downright ugly” situations some have gone through in the last nightmarish year.

The key position he needs is a kitchen manager, in addition to a prep cook and a couple of waiters. “It’s a small stick so you take a stick or two away and it’s hard.” He says the pay is “competitive for the right candidates”.

He even tried a robot server for a week and named it Chip. “It was very interesting. I think there is a use for it down the street,” he says. “The kids really loved Chip. The downside is the technology doesn’t work well in a crowd.” But an informal poll among his customers found that 66% of people liked the robot, he adds.

Brit Nick Barclay is the chef and owner with his Texan wife Kelli Barclay at Fish & Fizz.(Smiley N. Pool / Employee Photographer)

One thing the pandemic taught Barclay, thanks to roadside takeaway and pickup powers, is that his company could be shrinking its footprint and keeping moving. So, with an apology and thanks to his loyal guests, he has switched Fish and Fizz to take-away for the time being.

“We want to go out to eat as soon as possible,” he says.

Takeout seems to be working fine for Fish & Fizz. Their star dish – a large slice of fried cod and thickly sliced ​​fries – is a ray of light through the clouds. The dough wraps itself around the scaly, tender fish like a breeze. A to-go box with a large order of fish and chips is a treasure chest: open it and you’ll find chips like scattered coins and gold bars. In fact, the fried fish is just the weight and thick-sliced ​​freshness of a wad of hundred-dollar bills, fried to a crispy sky.

Barclay had spent months looking for the right source for his fish. The dish would be everything to him – it’s the big cheese, the marquee star. He’s had enough of the thick, donut-like batter of beer and buttermilk that is often found. Frozen cod that was too spicy and shipped from distant oceans for days would not work either. After all, he comes from England, the western county of Cornwall.

To do great things, Fish & Fizz keeps very clean rapeseed oil, just the bare stuff. There is a deep fryer for the fish and one for the fries. His fish is caught directly on the sea and frozen, no later than an hour after it is caught. When his first shipment arrived, he said his order was thawed and it just smelled of salty sea.

“You can’t fry fish and chips in the same oil that you fry Scottish eggs or chicken wings in. It can’t be black as thunder, ”he says.

The whole, cloud-light dough clings to the fish and drops fragments of crispy pieces into the take-away box like a bonus order for french fries. You will find yourself smashing lemon and showering malt vinegar. Dip in and repeat.

On a recent visit, an outdoor table and two seats were occupied by customers eating their takeaway. The chairs are roped down inside. “Until I get a little help on site, I don’t have enough staff to eat,” he says.

Is there hope? He looks up.

“I’ve never seen anything like it, but I think it will calm down,” he says. “I think it’s time the whole world calmed down a little.”

Fish & Fizz is located at 400 N. Coit Road # 1908, Richardson. fishandfizz.com.

A diner pours Sarsons malt vinegar on her order of fish and chips at Fish & Fizz.(Smiley N. Pool / Employee Photographer)

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