Buck & Rider – Gilbert, Arizona
If you believe you can’t find great seafood in Phoenix because it’s landlocked and nine months out of the year its temperature rivals that of the sun, you would be mistaken. As my friend Steve Coleman reminded me recently, 200 years ago, passenger trains in England made fish and chips possible throughout the country by facilitating the transport of fish to interior cities. Similarly, advances in air travel and refrigeration have made seafood much more available to those of us whose only fresh seafood is the Rio Grande minnow. Sure, you can catch some fish in the rivers and canals throughout Arizona, but you won’t find lobster, crabs, oysters, mussels, stone crab and other “real” seafood. For years, my dear friends the Plata Brothers Bruce and Loren have been singing the praises of Buck & Rider. Though the name sounds like a children’s cowboy cartoon, Buck & Rider offers a soiree of fresh fish and seafood sourced daily from coastal regions. Those coastal regions aren’t solely within the fruited plain, but even New Zealand where fresh hamachi comes straight from the net to shipping containers designed to preserve its freshness. There are three Buck & Rider restaurants in the Valley…
