Where to Find the Best Seafood in Every US State

For those of us who love seafood, we typically have a favorite specialty whether it's tuna steaks, teriyaki salmon, or coconut shrimp, and where we choose to enjoy these dishes differs for everyone. Specific dining establishments may serve one type of dish over another or may prepare it in a precise way that is exactly to our liking, and what we may believe are excellent and delicious restaurants not to be missed, there may be another even better one.

While restaurant offerings may vary no matter where you reside, certain menu dishes can often transport you to another locale, perhaps a dish you had on vacation, and each time you eat it, you are reminded of that area. Delicious seafood dishes like crab cakes, oyster shooters, and lobster rolls, can take you back to that coastal vacation, whether you are in the geographic center of America (South Dakota) or on one of several coastlines.

There was once a time when you could only satisfy your seafood craving when you traveled to areas close to the ocean to enjoy fresh and delicious seafood options but those days are over. You no longer have to wait while you're on holiday or off on a travel adventure to experience all that the ocean has to offer. Just like Lamborghini and Ferrari at the 24 hours of Le Mans race in the city of the same name, these restaurants are at the top of their game, but you don't need to travel to France to experience them.

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 the top seafood restaurant in every state. Sushi bars and informal seafood shacks will be the subject of future stories, so were omitted from the 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 of them have perfected their fry game and offer the best fish and chips or popcorn shrimp around. Others are new American restaurants that combine world flavors with fresh, sustainably sourced fish, while others might bring Chinese, Mexican, or Portuguese flavors to the table.

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

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

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

• 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

• 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

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

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

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

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

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

• 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

• 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

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

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

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

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

• 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

• 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

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

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

• 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

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

• 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

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

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

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

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

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

• 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)

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

• 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• 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

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

• 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

• 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

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

• 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

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

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

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

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

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

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