Best seafood restaurants in the US…NOT — 32 Comments
The bias of the piece is revealed in its praise of stuff like “tuna poke with mangoes and cucumbers.” Snort. I am of the same opinion as Walker Percy, who believed that a piece of fish covered in a sauce has something to hide.
I don’t know about the west coast, but I have sampled alot of seafood restaurants up and down the east coast, and without a doubt New England has the best.
The last time we were in Yankeeland we found a book about the best seafood restaurants on the coast. It instantly became our guidebook for the trip. The Clam Box in Ipswich was just amazing and if I were to go to New England today, I’d probably get off the plane and drive straight there!
I was surprised to find an Austin restaurant on the list. Never been there and I live 45 mins. away. May have to try it although it does sound kinda “uppity”.
I did go to a small seafood joint in Kerrville, TX last weekend and had the best fried shrimp I’ve ever had there. What a surprise. Owners are from Cajun country.
…and BTW, New England seafood IS fantastic but don’t leave “Nawleans” off of the list of good seafood cities either. Or Galveston, or Corpus Christi, TX for that matter.
I hear Lobster House in Cape May, NJ is supposed to be pretty good.
I’ve never been there, but I do the typesetting for their menus.
I ate at Mama’s Fish House some 23 years ago while spending time on Maui waiting for some equipment to be repaired and sent out. IIRC, the fish was good, the prices reasonable for that type of establishment, and the dress code Hawaiian. But the best fish I recall from that time was a tuna burger I bought for lunch near Hana.
For the last 37 years I’ve lived along the Florida Gulf Coast just north of Destin. Some of the best seafood places are the little Mom and Pop places located in the small towns scattered throughout the Panhandle. The menu is usually limited. Sauces are limited to some home grown tarter or cocktail sauce. And side orders usually include fries, slaw, and/or beans.
But what they serve is always fresh and cooked by the same recipes they use in their own homes. And the recipes have often been passed through the generations. Nothing fancy; almost always reasonably priced; and food so good it makes you wanna smack your mother.
I visited Maui a couple of years ago and ate at Mama’s. It was great but insanely expensive. As for New England, two words – Legal Seafood. Although looking at their website they are now a large chain (useta be 1 or 2 spots) so maybe not as good as I remember.
“a piece of fish covered in a sauce has something to hide.”
Yep. Just give it to me grilled.
Gary:
As a person old enough to remember airports that had no food more sophisticated than that purchased from a vending machine, I make a beeline for the Legal Seafood restaurant at Logan Airport (Terminal B, I’m pretty sure) for a plate of fish and chips, washed down with as many Sam Adams’ as I can swallow before my plane leaves.
A little slice of heaven, or maybe a little filet of heaven.
No sauce on fish? Then you would not like my sauteed sole with roasted pepper, black olive and caper sauce. Damn, I’m getting hungry just typing about it.
As for seafood restaurants, depends on the coastal location. I grew up in Norfolk, Va, next door to Va Beach. Lobsters, sole and the like were not on my menus. Shrimp, flounder, crab, oyster, now those I grew up eating.
As for Boston, I once went to an only open seasonally hole in the wall retaurant in Salem called the Lobster Shanty (well, it was a hole in the wall years ago). Had the scrod sauteed in butter and boy was it good. What, butter’s not a sauce? Tell it to the lobster. Crab, too.
Oh, another Legal story:
I wanted to make a good impression on my then-girlfriend, now wife, by preparing her a swordfish dinner.
I was living in Boston at the time and visited Legal’s fish market. I asked for a couple pounds…
Butcher took out an entire side of swordfish (it was huge) and hacked off a couple of enormous steaks.
A little bit of mayo and lemon based sauce, on to the BBQ and twenty years later, we’re still married.
When you see an oyster house in Illinois at the top of the list, you know something is seriously wrong.
Also, Cantler’s is good, but not great. They’re one of those places that has a good reputation because they have a good reputation (probably because of lists like this). There are a half dozen better crab houses in the area.
I finally persuaded my sister that when I visit from TX, the last thing I want to do while visiting back home in New England was to find out how bad “Mexican” restaurants were in New England. [I am sure there are good Interior Mexican or TexMex restaurants in New England, but I have not yet eaten at one.] Now we eat out at what New England does best- seafood. As far as I can tell, Legal Seafoods is as good as ever.
The TX Gu’f has some pretty good seafood, also. Years ago I had some fantastic shrimp dinners while working on an offshore oil rig in the Gu’f of Mexico.
Gary Rosen Says:
““a piece of fish covered in a sauce has something to hide.”
Yep. Just give it to me grilled.”
Yep. From the restaurant (and/or shack) in the harbor the fish just came off the short range fishing boat that caught it… Its not a local food ideological thing… its that it tastes bad if it is not right off a boat…
I’ve never heard of that restaurant in Atlanta, but will try it. I would dearly love to do a 5 day driving tour of Maine and eat lobster and clams every night. Hate to admit it, but I’ve never been north of Connecticut.
I clicked through further on the list, and the following restaurants, out of a total of 30 or 31, were listed:
The Clam Shack, Kennebunkport, ME
Straight Wharf Restaurant, Nantucket, MA
Neptune Oyster, Boston, MA
Shaw’s Fish and Lobster, New Harbor, ME
Oh bother,
I think the best clams can be found at Woodmans, but you really can’t go wrong with clams in Ipswich.
My favorite chowder is at Kelly’s in South Boston.
Also loved the fish at Legal Seafood in Cambridge when I lived there in the 80s. Now I pick up frozen Legal chowder at Costco here in Pittsburgh.
We actually have some great seafood here in the Burgh. Wholey’s, Benkovitz, Penn Ave. Fish. This is the nation’s largest inland port, after all!
Ipswich.
I can’t see the name of that town without thinking of Dunwich, the Miskatonic River and H. P. Lovecraft.
Those places are real aren’t they?
Like Tara, down here?
The Clam Box on Wollaston Beach is really good. For a special treat and to get your cholesterol up go to Woodman’s in Essex MA where they invented fried clams.
It depends on whether you’re talking clams, lobster, fish, shrimp, etc. Maine might have the best clam chowder. New England probably has the best seafood of the types it specializes in. My Dad, after 60+ years still speaks glowingly of wild trout caught while camping and cooked in GA clay over a campfire.
I’ve mainly eaten in Fl and Calif. but the best seafood I ever had was in coastal Louisiana…
If you like raw seafood the oyster bars at The Union Oyster House and Durgin Park in the Fanieul Hall area used to be really good. I haven’t been in ages but it could be fun.
When I was an undergraduate you could get lunch for a dollar at Durgin Park on the weekend if you got there on time. Raw oysters to start, then a full lunch with corn bread, and Indian pudding with ice cream to finish it off. There was no need to eat for the rest of the weekend. Sort of a python diet.
I recommend Brown’s Lobster Pound in Seabrook, NH for lobster in the rough … with a side of conservative politics.
I just want to know why the closer you get to the ocean the more seafood cost.
I almost forgot about Abbott’s Lobster in the Rough, in my native Connecticut. Closed during the winter. They have real clam chowder, neither creamy Boston or the oxymoronic Manhattan, but a clear clam broth.
SteveH: not necessarily true… when I return home to Denver, I still can’t get over the 3x prices for what looks like to me spoiled fish compared to CT.
Gary: I live 20 miles from Abbott’s; ‘nuf said!
You are lucky, physicsguy, I haven’t been there in years.
I misspelled “chowder”, should be “chowda”.
My best ever seafood experience was consumed in the Osa Peninsula of Costa Rica; raw ahi minutes out of the Pacific with a light mango-chili sauce. Second best were mussels served in Sicily with a garlic, lemon, and butter. NE does have great seafood, but best in the world is a matter of experience. Good seafood is a gift from Poseidon.
Linked by Instapundit, but a Neo-Neocon mention as well!
I love fish, but I doubt I’d eat oyster in Chicago. I like to eat the local fish, wherever I am. I had a wonderful “redfish” in Austin; local clams and fish in Cedar Key, FL; and Great Lake fish at various eateries in Michigan and Ontario.
The only thing I can’t eat is lobster. I lost a lot of weight when I visited relatives in Massachusetts because they put it in everything, including tossed salad. As for prices, the cheapest seafood I’ve ever seen was in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Lobster was cheaper than steak.
Leave a Reply
HTML tags allowed in your
comment: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>
The bias of the piece is revealed in its praise of stuff like “tuna poke with mangoes and cucumbers.” Snort. I am of the same opinion as Walker Percy, who believed that a piece of fish covered in a sauce has something to hide.
I don’t know about the west coast, but I have sampled alot of seafood restaurants up and down the east coast, and without a doubt New England has the best.
The last time we were in Yankeeland we found a book about the best seafood restaurants on the coast. It instantly became our guidebook for the trip. The Clam Box in Ipswich was just amazing and if I were to go to New England today, I’d probably get off the plane and drive straight there!
I was surprised to find an Austin restaurant on the list. Never been there and I live 45 mins. away. May have to try it although it does sound kinda “uppity”.
I did go to a small seafood joint in Kerrville, TX last weekend and had the best fried shrimp I’ve ever had there. What a surprise. Owners are from Cajun country.
…and BTW, New England seafood IS fantastic but don’t leave “Nawleans” off of the list of good seafood cities either. Or Galveston, or Corpus Christi, TX for that matter.
I hear Lobster House in Cape May, NJ is supposed to be pretty good.
I’ve never been there, but I do the typesetting for their menus.
I ate at Mama’s Fish House some 23 years ago while spending time on Maui waiting for some equipment to be repaired and sent out. IIRC, the fish was good, the prices reasonable for that type of establishment, and the dress code Hawaiian. But the best fish I recall from that time was a tuna burger I bought for lunch near Hana.
For the last 37 years I’ve lived along the Florida Gulf Coast just north of Destin. Some of the best seafood places are the little Mom and Pop places located in the small towns scattered throughout the Panhandle. The menu is usually limited. Sauces are limited to some home grown tarter or cocktail sauce. And side orders usually include fries, slaw, and/or beans.
But what they serve is always fresh and cooked by the same recipes they use in their own homes. And the recipes have often been passed through the generations. Nothing fancy; almost always reasonably priced; and food so good it makes you wanna smack your mother.
I visited Maui a couple of years ago and ate at Mama’s. It was great but insanely expensive. As for New England, two words – Legal Seafood. Although looking at their website they are now a large chain (useta be 1 or 2 spots) so maybe not as good as I remember.
“a piece of fish covered in a sauce has something to hide.”
Yep. Just give it to me grilled.
Gary:
As a person old enough to remember airports that had no food more sophisticated than that purchased from a vending machine, I make a beeline for the Legal Seafood restaurant at Logan Airport (Terminal B, I’m pretty sure) for a plate of fish and chips, washed down with as many Sam Adams’ as I can swallow before my plane leaves.
A little slice of heaven, or maybe a little filet of heaven.
No sauce on fish? Then you would not like my sauteed sole with roasted pepper, black olive and caper sauce. Damn, I’m getting hungry just typing about it.
As for seafood restaurants, depends on the coastal location. I grew up in Norfolk, Va, next door to Va Beach. Lobsters, sole and the like were not on my menus. Shrimp, flounder, crab, oyster, now those I grew up eating.
As for Boston, I once went to an only open seasonally hole in the wall retaurant in Salem called the Lobster Shanty (well, it was a hole in the wall years ago). Had the scrod sauteed in butter and boy was it good. What, butter’s not a sauce? Tell it to the lobster. Crab, too.
Oh, another Legal story:
I wanted to make a good impression on my then-girlfriend, now wife, by preparing her a swordfish dinner.
I was living in Boston at the time and visited Legal’s fish market. I asked for a couple pounds…
Butcher took out an entire side of swordfish (it was huge) and hacked off a couple of enormous steaks.
A little bit of mayo and lemon based sauce, on to the BBQ and twenty years later, we’re still married.
When you see an oyster house in Illinois at the top of the list, you know something is seriously wrong.
Also, Cantler’s is good, but not great. They’re one of those places that has a good reputation because they have a good reputation (probably because of lists like this). There are a half dozen better crab houses in the area.
I finally persuaded my sister that when I visit from TX, the last thing I want to do while visiting back home in New England was to find out how bad “Mexican” restaurants were in New England. [I am sure there are good Interior Mexican or TexMex restaurants in New England, but I have not yet eaten at one.] Now we eat out at what New England does best- seafood. As far as I can tell, Legal Seafoods is as good as ever.
The TX Gu’f has some pretty good seafood, also. Years ago I had some fantastic shrimp dinners while working on an offshore oil rig in the Gu’f of Mexico.
Gary Rosen Says:
““a piece of fish covered in a sauce has something to hide.”
Yep. Just give it to me grilled.”
Yep. From the restaurant (and/or shack) in the harbor the fish just came off the short range fishing boat that caught it… Its not a local food ideological thing… its that it tastes bad if it is not right off a boat…
I’ve never heard of that restaurant in Atlanta, but will try it. I would dearly love to do a 5 day driving tour of Maine and eat lobster and clams every night. Hate to admit it, but I’ve never been north of Connecticut.
I clicked through further on the list, and the following restaurants, out of a total of 30 or 31, were listed:
The Clam Shack, Kennebunkport, ME
Straight Wharf Restaurant, Nantucket, MA
Neptune Oyster, Boston, MA
Shaw’s Fish and Lobster, New Harbor, ME
Oh bother,
I think the best clams can be found at Woodmans, but you really can’t go wrong with clams in Ipswich.
My favorite chowder is at Kelly’s in South Boston.
Also loved the fish at Legal Seafood in Cambridge when I lived there in the 80s. Now I pick up frozen Legal chowder at Costco here in Pittsburgh.
We actually have some great seafood here in the Burgh. Wholey’s, Benkovitz, Penn Ave. Fish. This is the nation’s largest inland port, after all!
Ipswich.
I can’t see the name of that town without thinking of Dunwich, the Miskatonic River and H. P. Lovecraft.
Those places are real aren’t they?
Like Tara, down here?
The Clam Box on Wollaston Beach is really good. For a special treat and to get your cholesterol up go to Woodman’s in Essex MA where they invented fried clams.
It depends on whether you’re talking clams, lobster, fish, shrimp, etc. Maine might have the best clam chowder. New England probably has the best seafood of the types it specializes in. My Dad, after 60+ years still speaks glowingly of wild trout caught while camping and cooked in GA clay over a campfire.
I’ve mainly eaten in Fl and Calif. but the best seafood I ever had was in coastal Louisiana…
If you like raw seafood the oyster bars at The Union Oyster House and Durgin Park in the Fanieul Hall area used to be really good. I haven’t been in ages but it could be fun.
When I was an undergraduate you could get lunch for a dollar at Durgin Park on the weekend if you got there on time. Raw oysters to start, then a full lunch with corn bread, and Indian pudding with ice cream to finish it off. There was no need to eat for the rest of the weekend. Sort of a python diet.
I recommend Brown’s Lobster Pound in Seabrook, NH for lobster in the rough … with a side of conservative politics.
I just want to know why the closer you get to the ocean the more seafood cost.
I almost forgot about Abbott’s Lobster in the Rough, in my native Connecticut. Closed during the winter. They have real clam chowder, neither creamy Boston or the oxymoronic Manhattan, but a clear clam broth.
SteveH: not necessarily true… when I return home to Denver, I still can’t get over the 3x prices for what looks like to me spoiled fish compared to CT.
Gary: I live 20 miles from Abbott’s; ‘nuf said!
You are lucky, physicsguy, I haven’t been there in years.
I misspelled “chowder”, should be “chowda”.
My best ever seafood experience was consumed in the Osa Peninsula of Costa Rica; raw ahi minutes out of the Pacific with a light mango-chili sauce. Second best were mussels served in Sicily with a garlic, lemon, and butter. NE does have great seafood, but best in the world is a matter of experience. Good seafood is a gift from Poseidon.
http://articles.philly.com/2012-10-21/news/34629079_1_jobless-claims-consumer-confidence-index-consumer-credit/2
Linked by Instapundit, but a Neo-Neocon mention as well!
I love fish, but I doubt I’d eat oyster in Chicago. I like to eat the local fish, wherever I am. I had a wonderful “redfish” in Austin; local clams and fish in Cedar Key, FL; and Great Lake fish at various eateries in Michigan and Ontario.
The only thing I can’t eat is lobster. I lost a lot of weight when I visited relatives in Massachusetts because they put it in everything, including tossed salad. As for prices, the cheapest seafood I’ve ever seen was in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Lobster was cheaper than steak.