Helmut Fritz has a busy schedule, and a sense of humor. When I show up to Davenport Roadhouse for a scheduled interview, I ask Fritz, the owner, if it’s still an OK time. “It’s as bad as any other time,” he tells me. Fritz and head chef Erik Soderholm took over at the Davenport Roadhouse last year. Beside a large window with ocean views, they talked to us about keeping the menu current and what they like to eat.
SCW: What have the challenges been so far?
HELMUT FRITZ: On the food side, it’s consistency and also to change the perception a little bit. We added stuff to branch out a little bit, to round it, to suit almost every taste.
ERIK SODERHOLM: Not too fancy but not too casual, somewhere right in between, and that’s taken a lot of tweaking and trial and error. When I first got here, I was trying to do stuff that was too fancy. People loved it, but thought it seemed out of place.
What did you put in this tasty chorizo breakfast burrito?
ES: Just chorizo and some of our house-roasted potatoes and black beans and eggs.
HF: It’s done here in-house. We’re not buying, except the tortilla.
What are some of your favorites?
HF: For breakfast, I have it every weekend—the eggs benedict with salmon. It’s a wonderful taste combination. On the weekdays we started almost a year ago with freshly house-made pasta with seafood on top with a lobster cream sauce. Fresh pasta makes a big difference. It’s comfy but it’s light enough, (patting his belly) still OK.
How do you prepare duck?
ES: We take molasses, brown sugar, salt and dissolve in cold water. We submerge the duck in that with creole seasoning. That’s the breasts. The legs get cured in the same seasonings—but a dry cure—and then they get submerged in duck fat—confit, cooked really slow in the oven.
Where do you like to eat?
ES: Taqueria Santa Cruz. I eat Mexican food and sushi—Akira Sushi, Geisha Sushi and just about any taqueria and Harbor Café. With sushi, I like to eat cold food from the simple fact of working in a kitchen all day and on the hot line. I just want to eat something that’s cold and has clean flavor.
Jacob Pierce
