Urge Inducing Sandwiches at S'urge

S'urge Sandwiches

Delivery Through Doordash 

It's mid-February, and that means people will be looking to eat more seafood. It used to be that you'd only be able to get seafood at fine dining establishments, unless, you count the occasional Filet-O-Fish, or if you were like me growing up, we'd get to have frozen fish sticks when my parents were going out and left us with a babysitter. Throw in an occasional trip to either Long John Silvers or H. Salt Fish and Chips, and that was pretty much my seafood experience in my younger years. 

Nowadays there are plenty more options for people that want seafood, without the white table cloths and high prices. Casual fish places can be found pretty much wherever you happen to be. Slapfish, Rubio's, King's Fish House, Bear Flag Fish Company, and a ton of poke spots dot the landscape of almost every shopping plaza in OC. One of my favorite fast casual seafood restaurants, California Fish Grill has introduced a new concept, just in time for when so many people are looking for new seafood options, and I was lucky enough to be invited to try them out. 

Their new venture is S'urge Sandwiches, which is a virtual concept that you can access through the DoorDash delivery service. As of right now, S'urge Sandwiches is available in the DoorDash delivery range of Cerritos, Anaheim, Fountain Valley, Irvine, and Tustin. I was just outside that range, so I made my way up to Irvine to give their sandwiches a try. 

The menu at S'urge is nice and compact. They offer five unique sandwiches and four sides. These are not the same old boring, tartar sauce and a few leaves of lettuce fish sandwiches that you grew up with. S'urge Sandiwhces is going for big and bold flavor profiles, that will wake up your taste buds. There are five proteins to choose from; salmon, shrimp, swai, calamari, and for people that are not into fish, there is even a chicken option. The sides offered are a kaleslaw, tots, brussels sprouts, and a combination of the tots and sprouts, which got me intrigued. Let's take a closer look at the sandwiches I indulged in. 

Up first was the S'lammin Salmon ($12.50) with a side of Tots ($3.25). This salmon sandwich was seasoned perfectly with some cajun seasonings, and piled nicely with sliced tomatoes, pickled onions, arugula, and tartar sauce sandwiched between a well-baked brioche bun. Salmon can be hit or miss for me, and I honestly was a little nervous when they brought this one out for me. It turned out fine, as the salmon was cooked better than most others, and the cajun seasoning kicked up the flavor quotient. This was a good, straightforward fish sandwich which I can't imagine most fans of salmon would not like. The tots were just what you want in a tot, crunchy on the outside with creamy potato inside. These were dusted with a little bit of the cajun seasoning, which was a nice touch. 

Fish sandwich number two for me at S'urge was the S'Wai Not ($11.50) and Brussels Sprouts ($5.25). This sandwich came dressed with everything the salmon one did; tomato, baby arugula, tartar sauce, and pickled onions, but with this one, they added their guilty crispies, which not only added a crunchy texture to each bite, but they added bursts of flavor, kind of like the broken off parts of the outside of an onion ring, but a little more substantial. That's kind of the best way I can describe them. The first few bites of this I really enjoyed, and then it became a little too salty. I think this could have been helped with more tartar sauce to help balance things out. The swai was cooked nicely and was not too fishy. The sprouts were nice and crispy and came with a balsamic glaze, herbs, and a sprinkling of parmesan cheese on top. Brussels sprouts have definitely evolved from the slimy things we had when I was younger, and these were mighty good. The balsamic could have been distributed a bit more, but definitely worth getting if you love sprouts.   

The winning sandwich on this afternoon for me was The Louie ($12.50). This shrimp sandwich was the best tasting of all the patties. The texture was very pleasing, and the seasoning was the most balanced on this one, maybe because it had a little more tartar sauce on it. This was paired with the Kalesslaw ($3.25) which, along with the kale, was also made up of red and green cabbage and a creamy dressing. If you've been a reader of this blog for a while, you know that I'm pretty vocal about my dislike for kale, but this version was manageable enough as to where I did not mind it too much. This did not kale my vibe about S'urge at all. Sorry, for the awful pun. 

I was definitely intrigued by the Half Tots/Brussels ($5.25) and how they'd go together. They worked wonderfully together, although as you can see from the picture above they were segregated, with the tots on the bottom and the sprouts on top. The tots stayed mostly crispy, which was nice and the balsamic from the sprouts went well with them. A nice combination that I never would have thought of putting together. 

S'urge Sandwiches should definitely be in your rotation if you are looking for a new seafood option to keep things interesting during this time of year, or anytime really. I don't live in their delivery area as of yet, but I would totally order these big flavored sandwiches if I did. Fingers crossed that they expand deeper into South OC soon. S'urge Sandwiches is another great addition to the ever-expanding seafood offerings that have sprung up in recent years. 

For more information about S'urge Sandwiches, head to their website here: https://surgesandwiches.com/