The Best Seafood Shacks in America

Calabash styles itself the “seafood capital of the world,” and is home to a vast array of seafood restaurants. The well-loved Calabash Seafood Hut is known for the thin, crunchy coating on its fried seafood. Shrimp, scallops, and flounder are particularly appreciated.

Fried shrimp or fish tacos and sandwiches are the specialty at this actual shack on Topsail Island, but there are also daily specials – for instance seafood stew or black sea bass with sautéed peppers.

Housed in a converted gillnet boat at the mouth of the Columbia River, across the street from the Columbia River Maritime Museum, Bowpicker Fish and Chips primarily serves, yes, fish & chips, drawing lines of customers from Oregon and beyond. The eatery has won rave reviews, with customers noting the perfectly crisp breading on the fish.

The Old Oregon Smokehouse, on a dock in Rockaway Beach, offers a variety of seafood items like fish and chips, crab melts, and clam chowder – a customer favorite. Much of the fresh seafood served is caught along the Oregon coast.

In 1989, Tony Roszkowski began to steam crabs out of the tackle shop he’d just bought at the mouth of the Coquille River, quickly gaining a following among locals and tourists alike. Today, the menu includes oysters, grilled halibut, smoked salmon, and more as well as crab, and Tony proudly notes that everything is always fresh and never deep-fried.