Grand Ave. Shrimp House

I finally got around to trying the food at GASH. I've been driving past place for many years, and curiosity finally got the better of me. It was an interesting experience.

GASH is a small take-out only (no tables at all) venue located on the NE corner of Grand Ave. and Long Ave. They have a pretty good selection of seafood available; the walleye and lake perch immediately caught my eyes as these two items are harder to find than the other usual offerings. I noticed that almost everything was available as a dinner, or by the quarter, half, or full pound. I asked the guy if I could get a half pound of walleye and a half pound of lake perch, to which he replied that they were only available as dinners, but everything else was available by weight. I said OK, but can you tell me why the walleye and lake perch are not sold by weight? He said, because we don't do it that way, do you want to order something, or not? It was obvious that this guy had flunked out of finishing school and that I was not going to get an actual answer to my question, so I ordered a walleye dinner and a half pound of jumbo shrimp. It took an inordinate amount time to get my order, over 20 minutes, and I chatted up some guy who was an obvious regular customer. He was raving about the giant scallops, apparently they are the bomb. I finally got my order and went home.

Almost everything in the bags was a bit of a surprise. The walleye was great. It is easily the best fast-food joint walleye that I have had in years. Better than Johnson's and Culver's, but different. It wasn't coated with the typical fish house breading you usually get in these types of places. I got a nice half-fish filet that seemed like it had been lightly breaded and pan fried. The taste and texture were very good. I would go back for this item any time. It came with fries, white bread, and potato salad. The fries were awful. They were undercooked, greasy, and hard in the center. How hard is it to make fries? A place like this should know better. The salad and bread were pretty typical. Now for the shrimp. GASH states that they only sell fresh-caught Gulf shrimp. I can't dispute that claim. They were pretty big and had a medium density breading on them that did not overpower the shrimp itself. I thought they were pretty good-tasting, and would definitely order them again. They came with some "cocktail" sauce, which I assumed would be the usual ketchup/horseradish variety that is common in most shrimp joints. But no. This sauce was more like a mixture of ketchup and spicy mustard. I did not care for it at all. I would recommend this place for the walleye and shrimp, as long as you don't want a pound of walleye or some typical seafood sauce for your shrimp. I plan to check out the scallops, catfish, and smelt on my next trip.

Grand Ave. Shrimp House
5358 W. Grand Ave.
Chicago, IL 60639
773-622-1890

Thanks for the find!
Another place less than 15 min from my house - WooHoo!

After Cogito found this place right by my house I had to try it. I called yesterday hoping for some late night dining - open till midnight on Fridays - bingo!
I decided to take a trip at 10:30. My oldest daughter was the only one still awake so I talked her into a late snack with the promise of fried mushrooms (the menu is online in a few places).
It took maybe 10 min to reach from north Oak Park and street parking was not a problem as previously noted.
After a quick look at the board I went with 1/2lb. jumbo shrimp, 1/2lb scallops, 1/2lb. fried oysters, crab salad, french fries and an order of mushrooms.

french fries:



mushrooms:



jumbo shrimp:


scallops:



oysters:



My fries were not as bad as Cogito's but they weren't great. Next time I'll skip those and double up on the mushrooms which were fresh and well done.
The crab salad is awful. No taste what so ever. My daughter commented that it tasted like cardboard. I think she gave it too much credit. Skip it.
My shrimp were just as described above and as noted the “cocktail” sauce is really really bad. Luckily I made some of my own before heading out so it would be ready and waiting when I returned. The tartar sauce is actually pretty good though if used sparingly.
The scallops were the highlight here. Large, lightly battered and well fried, not over done. Daughter and I polished these off first.
The oysters I could live without, but I may not be the best judge here. I really only eat them raw or grilled a la jimswside so maybe I'm just not used to the taste of them fried but I thought they were a little funky. Won't order them again.

I'll definitely be back but I'll remember to order ahead. The buffalo shrimp (10pc. $7.00) takes 20 min just like the dinners so I'll give that a shot along with the clam strips.
No matter what you choose though you'll wait if you order at the counter which is actually a good sign as they fry everything to order.

Nice photos, Zoid! Isn't it strange how lousy the french fries are? I wonder if that oil needs changing, mine were very dark like yours. Apparently my friend was spot on about the scallops, I am looking forward to those very soon. Good move whipping up some cocktail sauce, that stuff they give out is just plain wierd. In retrospect, I'm thihking the shrimp were pretty good, going to get some more those soon also.

I got some jumbo shrimp and large scallops a few days ago. Both were excellent.

zoid wrote:My shrimp were just as described above and as noted the “cocktail” sauce is really really bad. Luckily I made some of my own before heading out

Making your own cocktail sauce is so the way to go, whether or not eating from Grand Ave. Shrimp House (which I'm really glad to hear more about, having cruised by many times without stopping). For years, we sought the best bottled sauce only to conclude it was largely pointless. Back home, a cup of catsup, juice of lemon and horseradish is really all it takes (we like to go very heavy on the horseradish). Sometimes I throw in some Tabasco.

Don't forget a little worcestershire; Lee @Perrin of course!

local597 wrote:Don't forget a little worcestershire; Lee @Perrin of course!

Certainly a worthy ingredient, though I usually use either hot sauce/Tabasco or worcestershire, but usually not both.

Have to agree, I prefer a few good shots of Tobasco.
I've tried other hot sauces but Tobasco just seems to have the perfect balance for coctail sauce.