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Every State’s Best Seafood Restaurant

Every State’s Best Seafood Restaurant

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In the past, it was understood that to get fresh and delicious seafood, you had to live near the ocean or be on vacation near the sea. People would holiday in Maine and get the freshest lobster or head down to the shore, whether Maryland, Massachusetts, South Carolina, or Florida, for clams, crabs, oysters, shrimp, and conch. But thankfully, today you don’t have to wait to get some of the finest seafood and no matter where you are, you can use this guide to find every state’s best seafood restaurant.

24/7 Tempo consulted lists, ratings, and reviews from various food-centered websites including Michelin Guide, as well as numerous local and regional sites to determine every state’s best seafood restaurant. Sushi bars and informal seafood shacks will be the subject of future stories, so these were omitted from our final results, though some of the restaurants listed may include sushi on their menu. (This is the best sushi place in every state.) 

These restaurants range from casual eateries to dress-code establishments. Several have perfected their fry game and offer the best fish and chips or popcorn shrimp in town. Others are new American restaurants that combine flavors with fresh, sustainably sourced fish, while others might bring Chinese, Mexican, or Portuguese flavors to the table.

Alabama: Doc’s Seafood

  • Location: Orange Beach
  • Dishes to try: Fried shrimp, crab (fried, grilled, or baked), hush puppies

Alaska: Bridge Seafood Restaurant

  • Location: Anchorage
  • Dishes to try: fresh Alaskan seafood, including tanner crabs, halibut, Alaskan oysters, tiger prawns, salmon, and of course king crab legs

Arizona: The Salt Cellar Restaurant

  • Location: Scottsdale
  • Dishes to try: halibut ceviche, shrimp toast, halibut cheeks, Baja shrimp

Arkansas: Eat My Catfish

  • Locations: Little Rock, North Little Rock, and five other Arkansas locations
  • Dishes to try: fresh fried catfish, boiled crawfish, shrimp (blackened, boiled, or fried), and po’boys, with sides like fried okra and hush puppies

California: Providence

  • Location: Los Angeles
  • Dishes to try: Tasting menu which included uni egg with warm yolk and champagne beurre blanc and Norwegian king crab with sweet pea, sea urchin, and aged ham broth

Colorado: Jax Fish House & Oyster Bar

  • Location: Denver
  • Dishes to try: Raw bar features a proprietary oyster – the buttery and low-salinity Emersum, tuna poke, crawfish gumbo, seared scallops

Connecticut: The Restaurant at Rowayton Seafood

  • Location: Rowayton (Norwalk)
  • Dishes to try: salmon and tuna tartare, chowders and bisques, steamers, crab cakes, popcorn shrimp, smoked fish dips, steamed lobsters

Delaware: Feby’s Fishery

  • Location: Wilmington
  • Dishes to try: fried and steamed platters, seafood pasta, lobster tails, lump meat crab cakes, and raw bar appetizers

Florida: Joe’s Stone Crab

  • Location: Miami
  • Dishes to try: stone crab claws and crab bisque, conch fritters, coconut shrimp, fried grouper

Georgia: Steamhouse Lounge

  • Location: Atlanta
  • Dishes to try: award-winning lobster bisque, raw oysters, stuffed grouper, fried catfish, grits, and po’boys, roasted and chargrilled oysters

Hawaii: Mama’s Fish House

  • Location: Paia (Maui)
  • Dishes to try: oysters with mango-lilikoi mignonette, macadamia nut crab cakes, uku (blue-green snapper) baked with coconut, sweet potato, and charred pineapple

Idaho: Fresh Off the Hook

  • Location: Boise
  • Dishes to try: halibut fish and chips, shrimp scampi, clam chowder, warm teriyaki shrimp salad, salmon BLTs, butter pecan trout, and crab muffins

Illinois: Shaw’s Crab House

  • Locations: Chicago and Schaumburg
  • Dishes to try: oysters Rockefeller, Alaskan king crab, parmesan-crusted haddock

Indiana: Paula’s on Main

  • Location: Fort Wayne
  • Dishes to try: almond-crusted walleye with jalapeño tartar sauce, blackened swordfish with horseradish, crispy shallots, and chive mashed potatoes

Iowa: Waterfront Seafood Market

  • Locations: West Des Moines and Ankeny
  • Dishes to try: raw bar appetizers, fried baskets, pastas, po’boys, halibut royale, Maryland-style crab cakes

Kansas: Mad Jack’s Fresh Fish

  • Location: Kansas City (KS)
  • Dishes to try: Fried catfish, basa, frog legs, red snapper

Kentucky: River House Restaurant & Raw Bar

  • Location: Louisville
  • Dishes to try: blackened ahi tuna with tomato ginger chutney over a crispy parmesan grit cake, crispy grouper cheeks over crab and chive risotto with bok choy and smoked shrimp vinaigrette

Louisiana: Pêche Seafood Grill

  • Location: New Orleans
  • Dishes to try: steak tartare with oyster aïoli, baked drum with mushroom broth, and calas (rice fritters), spicy ground shrimp with noodles

Maine: Eventide Oyster Co.

  • Location: Portland
  • Dishes to try: Maine oysters, crab claws, and clams, lobster stew, clam chowder, New England clam bake, brown-butter lobster roll

Maryland: The Oceanaire Seafood Restaurant

  • Location: Baltimore
  • Dishes to try: East and West Coast oysters, Maine lobster cocktail and sturgeon caviar, crab cakes

Massachusetts: Neptune Oyster

  • Location: Boston
  • Dishes to try: spicy cioppino with shellfish saffron rice, whole mackerel with Basque pepper stew and fennel, sea scallops with fava beans, pancetta, and kelp butter

Michigan: Joe Muer Seafood

  • Locations: Detroit and Bloomfield Hills
  • Dishes to try: deviled crab balls, lobster corn dogs, tiger shrimp with shaved garlic

Mississippi: Caet Seafood / Oysterette

  • Location: Ridgeland
  • Dishes to try: shrimp and grits with tasso, corn, and mushrooms, jumbo scallops with white truffle risotto, green tomato pico, and tomato parmesan broth

Missouri: 801 Fish

  • Location: Clayton
  • Dishes to try: Russian osetra and American hackleback caviar, seared tuna and scallops, lobster tail risotto

Montana: Feast Raw Bar & Bistro

  • Location: Bozeman
  • Dishes to try: crab cakes, bison carpaccio, halibut with jasmine sticky rice, mango salsa, and coconut sauce

Nebraska: Plank Seafood Provisions

  • Location: Omaha
  • Dishes to try: oysters Rockefeller, crispy alligator, blackened catfish with dirty rice and creole beurre blanc, walleye puttanesca

Nevada: Lakeside

  • Location: Las Vegas
  • Dishes to try: fresh langoustine, Hawaiian mahi mahi, Ligurian octopus, and Mediterranean pink rock lobsters

New Hampshire: Jumpin’ Jay’s Fish Café

  • Location: Portsmouth
  • Dishes to try: scallops with lobster risotto and broccolini, haddock piccata, New England clam chowder.

New Jersey: Sol-Mar Restaurant

  • Location: Newark
  • Dishes to try: seafood paella, clams in garlic sauce, octopus salad, bacalhau à Brás (salt cod with matchstick potatoes, scrambled eggs, and black olives)

New Mexico: El Zarandeado

  • Location: Albuquerque
  • Dishes to try: whole fried mojarra, molcajetes (dishes served in a volcanic stone mortar), ceviche, caldo de siete mares (fish stew)

New York: Le Bernardin

  • Location: New York City
  • Dishes to try: thin-sliced yellowfin tuna layered with foie gras, baked striped bass with baby leek mousseline, seafood-based tasting menus

North Carolina: Captain Tom’s Seafood Grill & Bar

  • Location: Kernersville
  • Dishes to try: flounder filets, popcorn shrimp, she-crab soup

North Dakota: Beer & Fish Co.

  • Location: Fargo
  • Dishes to try: oysters, lobster rolls, bang bang shrimp

Ohio: Frank’s Fish & Seafood Market

  • Location: Columbus
  • Dishes to try: fried platter, po’boy, gumbo, lobster bisque, salmon salad, clam chowder

Oklahoma: Brent’s Cajun Seafood & Oyster Bar

  • Location: Edmond
  • Dishes to try: boudin, crawfish, shrimp etouffee, seafood jambalaya, gumbo, po’boy, breaded catfish filets

Oregon: Jake’s Famous Crawfish

  • Location: Portland
  • Dishes to try: crawfish étouffée, parmesan-crusted steelhead, seafood fettuccine, crab-and-shrimp-stuffed salon

Pennsylvania: Vernick Fish

  • Location: Philadelphia
  • Dishes to try: mushroom-crusted fluke with morels, peas, and spring onion butter

Rhode Island: Matunuck Oyster Bar

  • Location: South Kingstown
  • Dishes to try: jambalaya, po’boys, passion fruit oysters with cucumber and salmon roe, lobster pizza on naan bread with mascarpone, arugula, and prosciutto

South Carolina: 167 Raw

  • Location: Charleston
  • Dishes to try: lobster rolls, tuna burgers, and swordfish pastrami

South Dakota: Jambonz Deux

  • Location: Rapid City
  • Dishes to try: crawfish étouffée, oysters served fried, roasted, on the half shell, or shooter-style in a shot glass with cocktail, lemon, and spices

Tennessee: Henrietta Red

  • Location: Nashville
  • Dishes to try: poached scallops with horseradish mousse, red shrimp with charred onions, wilted greens, boiled peanuts, and orange butter, smoked whitefish hand pies

Texas: Hai Cang Harbor Seafood Restaurant

  • Location: Houston
  • Dishes to try: ginger scallion lobster, soft-shell crab with butter, spotted prawns with tamarind sauce, razor clams with basil leaves

Utah: Current Fish & Oyster

  • Location: Salt Lake City
  • Dishes to try: char-grilled sea bass with chili buttermilk whey, yu choy greens, and roast tomato, fish stew loaded, with scallops, prawns, mussels, and fish, accented with peanuts and serrano pistou in a coconut lemongrass broth

Vermont: Anchor Seafood Restaurant

  • Location: Wilmington
  • Dishes to try: lobster rolls, chowder, fried clams, seared ahi tuna, crab and shrimp rangoon, baked stuffed haddock

Virginia: Merroir

  • Location: Topping
  • Dishes to try: locally raised oysters and Chesapeake Bay crabs

Washington: The Walrus and the Carpenter

  • Location: Seattle
  • Dishes to try: fried oysters with cilantro aïoli, grilled sardines

West Virginia: Just in Time Seafood

  • Location: Martinsburg
  • Dishes to try: fresh grouper, snapper, cod, salmon, soft shell crab, fried catfish, hushpuppies, grilled fish and shrimp tacos

Wisconsin: St. Paul Fish Company

  • Location: Milwaukee
  • Dishes to try: lobster rolls, Baja fish tacos, seafood sandwiches, fried and grilled fish, raw oyster platters, fried walleye

Wyoming: Rocky Mountain Seafood

  • Location: Afton
  • Dishes to try:  halibut tacos, salmon parmesan, clam chowder
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