The QZ Friday Fish Fry at Janet's Kitchen

If it’s Friday in Quartzsite, it must be fish night. Seems like every restaurant in the area bows to that timeless tradition. Not sure how the fish feel about it, but on a "scale" of 1 to 10, the attraction is an 11, "just fin with them."

Next door to everybody’s nemesis, the Post Office, is Janet’s Kitchen. Yep, it used to be called Mark’s Family Restaurant, but Mark lit out for parts unknown, and Janet and a couple of her partners took the place over last fall. If you’ve ever been to the P.O. and looked east over yonder, you know that Janet’s place is not exactly what you’d call prepossessing. It’s an older building with schizophrenic tendencies about exterior decoration, and the interior, well, it’s a bit rough, too.

Still, Janet and Company put on food they way a lot of folks like it, even on days of the week that don’t start with the letter "F." Some may label it, "Typical greasy spoon grub," but if you have a hankerin’ for liver and onions, a ground sirloin steak, or the usual "American" dinner fare, you’ll find it here. Breakfast runs the usual suspects: A gauntlet of cakes and eggs--but the latter is a bit creative, as you can order up an omelet dubbed, "The Kitchen Sink." It’s not exactly a plumber’s nightmare, but does contain (among other things) ham, sausage, bacon, onions, tomatoes, cheese, mushrooms . . . you get the idea. Prices for dinner range from the mid sevens to the upper twelves, and yes, seniors get started at $5.49.

But about that Friday fish: We dropped in one night with a gang to test out the fish--nice white fish, pollock (as you might expect). The better-half of our party is not exactly a fish fin-atic, so she was quite pleased to report that, "The fish doesn’t taste fishy!" It’s an all you can eat special, but the "firsts" were bounteous enough that neither of us needed a refill. I won’t say that for Charlie, but, well, that’s Charlie for you. The fish was a bit on the oily side, but hey, this is QZ.

The cook that night was an efficient kinda guy, making up the clam chowder with "the night before’s" baked potatoes. Another one of our grubmates, Aggie, checked out the "shrimp." A nice portion, but they were big enough they could easily have classified themselves as prawns. And Joe-Bob was happy that the waitress kept the coffee coming. All this and only 11% sales tax on restaurant sales in this big little town.

Janet’s Kitchen, next door to the post office on the B-10.