I'm confused. Shouldn't chefs in Omaha get the best beef, cause, you know that's where the cattle are slaughtered?

Look, nothing on the menu at Yasuda is coming into Manhattan by boat, thank God. Closest thing would be squid guts that might be from Port Judith up in RI. (And $200 per diner at Yasuda is over the top, it's not that expensive a place.) The fancier Greek places bring fish in from the Mediterranean -- good but mostly farmed. If you believe the porgy at Venus, the Cypriot place here, is qualitatively different from what's on hand in Astoria (or the Astoria place with Midtown rent, Estiatorio Milos), cool. One wonders whence the fish at the Las vegas Strip branch of Estiatorio Milos (wait, the menu says -- Europe). Regarding fresh cheap seafood in New England, clam bellies and lobster, yes, I'll take it. As for the "local" fin fish, I'll take walleye over broiled scrod, thanks. On the flip side, Russ & Daughters and Barney Greengrass get their hands on some really fine Great Lakes whitefish and chubs. But it didn't swim up the East River.

All sorts of places here in Chicago have overnighted fish. Ask to see the fish prep at a big crowd-pleaser like Gibsons ( a place for which I have no particular affection, so a good example). You'll see guys breaking down whole never frozen halibut every day. Now consider Joe's, Shaw's and dozens of similar spots.

You might make the point that only cities of a certain size with a market for seafood can get the good stuff, whatever its origin. If you don't think Chicago is one of those towns, OK. PS, I'd like a spot like Yasuda here; we don't have such a place, but it's not because fish logistics rule it out.

PS, I really like the idea of places such as Fish Bar and GT Fish & Lobster. I love pork as much as the next guy, but I like fish just as much. Happy to see the trend.

sr1329 wrote:

chgoeditor wrote:Two faults with the "only coastal towns can have good seafood" argument (which should perhaps be broken off from the Fish Bar thread):
1) Even places on the coasts aren't necessarily serving local seafood.
2) Fish served raw (except tuna, I think) has to be frozen prior to serving to kill parasites. In addition, a lot is flash frozen if it's caught by a boat that's offshore for days at a time. Once it's flash frozen, distance from boat to plate becomes a non-issue.

Point 1: true

Point 2: You have that the other way around. Tuna is the fish that must be frozen to kill parasites. Even Tuna sold at the Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo is flash frozen onboard the fishing vessel.

My bad on the tuna parasite thing, but not all tuna sold at Tsukiji is frozen. Unless it's changed in the last year, I saw both fresh & frozen tuna when I was there in late May 2010.

sr1329 wrote:

chgoeditor wrote:Two faults with the "only coastal towns can have good seafood" argument (which should perhaps be broken off from the Fish Bar thread):
1) Even places on the coasts aren't necessarily serving local seafood.
2) Fish served raw (except tuna, I think) has to be frozen prior to serving to kill parasites. In addition, a lot is flash frozen if it's caught by a boat that's offshore for days at a time. Once it's flash frozen, distance from boat to plate becomes a non-issue.

Point 1: true

Point 2: You have that the other way around. Tuna is the fish that must be frozen to kill parasites. Even Tuna sold at the Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo is flash frozen onboard the fishing vessel.

You have it the other way around. Or is it the New York Times that is confused?

In April 2004, Julia Moskin in the New York Times wrote:Food and Drug Administration regulations stipulate that fish to be eaten raw -- whether as sushi, sashimi, seviche, or tartare -- must be frozen first, to kill parasites. ''I would desperately hope that all the sushi we eat is frozen,'' said George Hoskin, a director of the agency's Office of Seafood. Tuna, a deep-sea fish with exceptionally clean flesh, is the only exception to the rule.

I think it's the FDA that is confused.

I'd like to take this opportunity to say that while I know nothing about this place, it can't be any good.

My wife and I went last night. We liked it for what it is. I started with a No. 7 cocktail, Sort of a riff on a Negroni. It was poured from a premade batch but I thought it was tasty. Not too sweet, not to bitter. Not a classic Negroni in any sense but it’s not trying to be. I could drink about 8 of these on a hot summer day. (As if)

We started with the Rock Shrimp wet. Really tasty, plump, sweet shrimp. Good ratio of batter to shrimp. The sauce could have been spicier but we gobbled them down quickly.

Next was the octopus from the A la plancha section. Pretty fresh tasting. Tasty lemony dressing.

We ordered the fried clams. I thought they tasted terrible but my wife loved them. Fried clams have never been my thing anyway.

Next up was the lobster roll. I liked it. She didn’t. It’s a looser, less dressed version than GT Oyster. So I’d say it’s as good, just a different prep. You could taste the lobster front and center and the other veg-herb-mayo combo didn’t overpower. Nice toasty, buttery bun.

We also shared an order of tater tots that I thought were really good. But I love all things tater.

Service was great. Friendly, knowledgeable and efficient. We waited maybe 30 minutes at 6:30 on a Wednesday. A waitress brought around complimentary beer samples while we waited.

This place is small so you kind of feel like you need to move along quickly when you are finished.

Again, we liked it for what it is. A faux fish shack in Lakeview. It’s a short walk from our house so we’ll gladly go back. I don’t know or care if the seafood was swimming yesterday or last month. I do know that we enjoyed ourselves and will return.

Strolled in last night for the first time. Completely enjoyed the experience. Food, "ambience" (to use an old-fashioned word), "energy" coming off the staff (to use a newer-fashioned word), etc.

We got there around 6:30, pretty much on a whim, and serendipitously there were two adjacent seats at the counter which the hostess showed us to. After a short wait--our waitress was right in front of us, but she allowed an interval before she "engaged" with us, which I think was a very smart decision her part and may even be policy when they see "newbies"--the waitress took our order. (My God I'm using a lot of quotation marks in this post.) It gave us time to get the "lay of the land" and acclimate ourselves to the different way this place does business.

I really enjoyed my food and drink. I had a Belgian beer, Saison Dupont, served in, yes, a Mason Jar, which was very good. For a starter I had one of the daily ceviches, this one made from Cape Cod Razor Clams. Clams very fresh-tasting and tender, entire presentation very clam-centric with other ingredients refreshing with just-enough and not-too-much acidity. Followed that with a lobster roll. Again--and untypically for Chicago and a lot of other places, even some on the East Coast--the sandwich was highly lobster-centric. Not just a few pieces of lobster stretched out with dressing, but lots of lobster, satisfyingly-sized chunks of it, fresh-tasting, just tender enough, with a dressing that complemented deliciously rather than overwhelming. Even the lightly toasted bun, an authentically-New England bun, contributed deliciousness. Sandwich somewhat "pricey" for a sandwich at $18, but well worth it.

I thought the backless stools might be a problem for my back, but they weren't. Time flies when you're having fun.

We weren't there long, perhaps not much more than forty minutes all told. Food comes out pretty fast once ordered. Bill was $60 including tip. On the one hand, you could say that sounds like a lot for sitting at a counter not much longer than you might have sat at a Woolworth's lunch counter back in the day. On the other hand, I've had meals that cost twice as much that I enjoyed half as much. Very glad to have Fish Bar in the "hood."

As something of a key lime pie fantatic, it is not lightly that I exalt the version at Fish bar - which is made for the restaurant by Mindy Segal - as the best I've ever had. Now if only they could outsource the fish cooking to someone half as talented as she, Fish bar might be on to something.

Excepting the pie, nothing I had was good and some things were terrible. A lobster roll had woefully undercooked meat whose flavor was obliterated by celery and cayenne. We sent this back for fear of illness, and with apologies the kitchen quickly brought out a new sandwich with better-cooked meat that did nothing for the flavor imbalance. White tuna carpaccio should have been called egg salad with capers, because the big mounds of those admittedly-well-handled ingredients took over the dish. Grilled calamari was flavorless and tough, while the fried calamari dish was tender and tasty, but had mushy breading.

I like MK, but I'm not a fan of either of the man's Lakeview spots.

Kennyz wrote:As something of a key lime pie fantatic, it is not lightly that I exalt the version at Fish bar - which is made for the restaurant by Mindy Segal - as the best I've ever had. Now if only they could outsource the fish cooking to someone half as talented as she, Fish bar might be on to something.

Excepting the pie, nothing I had was good and some things were terrible. A lobster roll had woefully undercooked meat whose flavor was obliterated by celery and cayenne. We sent this back for fear of illness, and with apologies the kitchen quickly brought out a new sandwich with better-cooked meat that did nothing for the flavor imbalance. White tuna carpaccio should have been called egg salad with capers, because the big mounds of those admittedly-well-handled ingredients took over the dish. Grilled calamari was flavorless and tough, while the fried calamari dish was tender and tasty, but had mushy breading.

I like MK, but I'm not a fan of either of the man's Lakeview spots.

That killed it for me as well.

I'm in no rush to head back, but if i'm in the area, a beer and an order of fried belly clams would work.

My wife and I had a nice little lunch at Fish Bar the other day. We had the fried clams, carpaccio (which I believe was barramundi), and octopus a la plancha. Each one was cooked nicely and I especially liked the carpaccio. Tater tots were fun. Bloody Marys were excellent.

I tried lunch at Fish Bar last week, and found it hit or miss. The clam chowder, while not totally traditional or loaded with clams, was nonetheless very tasty. Fried clams were a major disappointment. They were so small, you couldn't get any clam flavor at all - they mostly tasted like breaded rubber with a mild seafood sweetness. Nothing like the juicy belly clams you get on the east coast. The fried oysters, however, are fabulous. Big, fresh and juicy. I'll be back for those and for the pristine raw oysters.

jpo wrote:The fried oysters, however, are fabulous. Big, fresh and juicy. I'll be back for those and for the pristine raw oysters.

While I enjoyed my lobster roll quite a bit, I did violate one of the Ten Commandments by coveting my neighbor's fried oyster po'boy. It really did look great, and I thought, "That's what I'm getting next time."

jpo wrote:I tried lunch at Fish Bar last week, and found it hit or miss. The clam chowder, while not totally traditional or loaded with clams, was nonetheless very tasty. Fried clams were a major disappointment. They were so small, you couldn't get any clam flavor at all - they mostly tasted like breaded rubber with a mild seafood sweetness. Nothing like the juicy belly clams you get on the east coast. The fried oysters, however, are fabulous. Big, fresh and juicy. I'll be back for those and for the pristine raw oysters.

I must have been lucky - my batch of clams was juicy and the clams were quite large.

We were at Fish Bar yesterday for a late lunch, and for a restaurant that cannot quite decide whether they want to emulate a New England clam shack, or a New Orleans oyster bar, they still delivered the goods on both planes.

I am a transplanted New Englander, and I was beside myself with pleasure as I tasted my first fried belly clams (top necks) in Chicago since the long lamented Glory closed its doors. Were they the best I ever had. No. I'm not in Ipswich right now. But they are certainly good enough, and I intend to return to Fish Bar every time I get a craving for them.

I am fond of saying that the only dish I really want that I cannot get in Chicago is Ipswich fried clams. Until now. These are authentic New England fried clams, with enough of the larger clams so that I could get the real sensation of intensely flavored bellies. The coating was authentic, and light enough to let the clam flavors shine through. I only wish the portion size was a bit bigger, as I am used to the pints of clams from Cape Cod that I ordered in my youth. And Fish Bar would be well advised to add malt vinegar to the condiments offered.

My wife had the soft shell crab po-boy ( cross posted in the soft shell crab thread ) and it was extremely good. It was in keeping with New Orleans po-boys, with a remoulade cole slaw, and it really delivered the goods.

I am a student of New England Clam Chowder ( I can tell the difference between Boston, Gloucester, and Providence Chowder with my eyes closed ) and I found the chowder here to be pretty close to authentic Boston style, except that there was a larger cayenne kick than I expected. But I could taste the salt pork, and liked the fact that it included celery, which is near and dear to my heart, and too often omitted. I agree with the previous comment that it could include a few more clams, but I think this version is as good as any in Chicago, and maybe a touch better than most.

We liked the "beer and lemonade served in mason jar" touch, and thought the ambiance was fine. Service was extremely good.

We were chatting with one of the managers, and she was kind enough to comp us a fried sliced lemon, jalapeno and onion appetizer. I thought it was well executed, but jalapenos are not my favorite. The fried lemon was cool, and very intense. I suspect that if you like this sort of item, it is really, really good.

I definitely will be returning.

...now that's information that will get me in the door. Fried clams and good beer.

I can't add a lot to this discussion, but a photo is certainly overdue.

Now $19, but I ordered it anyway since it would make my third Chicago lobster roll of the summer.
I certainly had no cause to complain about the quality, quantity, or freshness of the lobster. The bread/roll was also very good. Unlike some of the posters above, I tasted no competing overpowering flavors so maybe they've made some adjustments.

It was good, quite good in fact, but there was still something missing. Perhaps that the lobster was over-chilled? I didn't get that wonderful sweet taste you're supposed to get from a lobster. I wasn't unhappy, and would certainly go back to try some of the other menu items, but it wasn't transcendent. And at $19 it probably should be.

ronnie_suburban wrote:I really enjoy raw shellfish but last summer I ended up with cholera because of a bad oyster I ate at a local restaurant. Needless to say, I've been pretty skittish about eating raw shellfish ever since but the clams at Fish Bar were quite tasty, so I'm glad I took the leap of faith and had a couple.

=R=

Cholera? Wow. I lived on the East Coast for a short period and grew to love fresh oysters. But after getting violently ill from my last two servings of fresh oysters here, they are off my list permanently. No problem with cooked oysters, but the fresh ones seem to have me in their sights. Nothing else has caused me any malaise.

Cogito wrote:

ronnie_suburban wrote:I really enjoy raw shellfish but last summer I ended up with cholera because of a bad oyster I ate at a local restaurant. Needless to say, I've been pretty skittish about eating raw shellfish ever since but the clams at Fish Bar were quite tasty, so I'm glad I took the leap of faith and had a couple.

=R=

Cholera? Wow. I lived on the East Coast for a short period and grew to love fresh oysters. But after getting violently ill from my last two servings of fresh oysters here, they are off my list permanently. No problem with cooked oysters, but the fresh ones seem to have me in their sights. Nothing else has caused me any malaise.

After the incident, my doctor naively recommended only eating cooked shellfish but I've recently gotten back on the raw bandwagon with no ill effects...knock wood.

I found it interesting that it could be determined simply from identifying the bacteria in my system that it was cholera and that it had come from raw shellfish. When the health department called me to investigate the incident -- something they are obligated to do when a positive cholera result comes back -- one of the first things they asked me was where I'd eaten raw shellfish in the past 30 days. They then followed up with about 50 other questions. The gentleman there with whom I spoke seemed almost giddy (in a sympathetic way) since he hadn't seen an incident of cholera in over 20 years. I'm just lucky that way.

And just to be clear, this did not happen at Fish Bar.

=R=

I managed to make it back to Fish Bar and this time I ordered far more wisely.

The oyster poor boy was terrific. I loved the spicy slaw and there were three big juicy oysters perfectly fried. Not bad for $9.


The pie is not such a bargain, at $5 a slice, but I had to try the key lime.
All the goodness KennyZ speaks of. Worth stopping by for that alone.

Fish Bar started serving some new items for their Fall menu last night, and I made it down to try a few.

Lobster bisque--was good. Menu noted butternut squash, but this wasn't at all front & center. Several good chunks of lobster meat were pleasing. Not a soup of crazy depth, but I still enjoyed it. I had them split the soup into 2 cups so my friend & I could share; FYI if you're looking to sample soup.

Scallops--this was from the market/daily section of the a la plancha menu, but last night's prep was clearly fall-focused as the scallops were served on a butternut squash puree (not sure what else was included in the mix). Very tasty, although I would have like more than 3 modest scallops at the $11 price point.

Steamed mussels--yum. Served in a tomato saffron sauce with chorizo. Sausage was spicier than I expected, which was a good thing IMO. Good tasting mussels, though I would have liked more than a couple pieces of toast to sop up the broth. I'd order this again.


New menu isn't up online yet, but couple of other new things include a re-worked po'boy and a "BLT"--belly (pork), lettuce, tomato mash. I may have to try that one soon.

We stopped by Fish Bar late on Friday night. We hadn't been back since the first weekend they were open, mostly because of the crowds and difficulty parking. Given that it was 10pm, we thought we'd have a good shot at fast parking and seating, and we were correct.

The fish sandwich was just as good, if not better than the first time. Really nice, large portion or flaky fish, perfectly fried. The fried smelt was also a winning dish (also available as a po boy), served with great mustardy aioli.

The only miss was the oyster po boy. I looked back at my initial post, and I reported that the sandwich had three large oysters. On Friday, the oysters were more plentiful, but they were small and dry. While the bread and slaw were good, the star of the show was a failure. Looking back on it, it was enough of a disappointment that I probably should have said something.

But I didn't - - and I didn't mostly because the service was solid, extremely friendly and helpful, even comping us a glass of Stone's 11.11.11.

I'll happily return, and hopefully sooner rather than later. But, I'll probably again wait for it to be at an off hour.

Ronna

We had a great early dinner at Fish Bar tonight. The place was nearly empty at around 6:15 but there was a short wait by the time we left at around 7. We ate mainly from the night's specials, one of which was a cod cheek po boy.



Everything about this sandwich was fantastic. The cheeks were perfectly fried, the bacon thick and smokey, and the Tabasco mayo added just the right kick. About as perfect of a sandwich as one could ask for.

jesteinf wrote:About as perfect of a sandwich as one could ask for.

I would probably ask that the sandwich not cause a panic attack. I'm wide-eyed just looking at that thing.

Fish Bar doesn't get much love around here and I'm not sure why. I stopped in for lunch yesterday and had a magnificent soft shell crab sandwich. Perfectly fried, slightly spicy, and packed with that great soft shell flavor. I'd highly recommend grabbing one while they're still in season.

jesteinf wrote:Fish Bar doesn't get much love around here and I'm not sure why. I stopped in for lunch yesterday and had a magnificent soft shell crab sandwich. Perfectly fried, slightly spicy, and packed with that great soft shell flavor. I'd highly recommend grabbing one while they're still in season.

That looks fantastic. Thanks for sharing...will have to get there soon.

Had a disappointing meal here last pm. Way too casual service (too much personal waitron info, sitting down to take order). We ordered two items devoid of fish flavor (shrimp and crawfish poorboy, crab cake sandwich). Not one iota of the said items could be discerned- no shirmp taste, no crab taste, no crawfish taste, the sauces provided the only flavor. Plenty crunchy though but crunch is not a flavor (or what I wanted to taste). The breading overpowered both dishes. Speaking of crunch, we did enjoy the tater tots but felt $36 to enjoy tater tots to be a bit much.

A beautiful fall day and the inside was stuffy (and empty) so we sat outside. Wonderful setting if you're into hearing sirens every five minutes as Masonic Hospital is across the street. We enjoyed the Belgian Pale Ale and the clam chowder was tasty with the right consistency, no gumminess. Some of the clams were very chewy. The soup of the day, corn chowder, was thin and tasteless. Waitress gave us a sampling of the octopus salad-corn, mango, onion and god only knows what else totally conflicted and the taste was completely off. Moved onto "fish bait fries" described as "like smelts". They were little skinny, more fishy tasting smelt-like fried things. These left such a bad aftertaste that we couldn't eat them and totally turned us off from ordering further. We had that taste in our mouths for hours. Nothing exciting here at all.
I honestly see no future for either the Fish Bar or DMK Burger Bar.

It's been a year and a half since anyone posted about this place and that's not right. Not sure why it doesn't get much attention. I'm also not sure why it's been two years since my last visit. Those last two sentences might be related.

Was there for lunch today and we enjoyed everything we tried, though nothing mind-blowing. The smoked whitefish spread that was better than good - much more fish than mayo - though nothing special (in their defense, it's possible that there is no such thing as special whitefish spread). The combination of fried sliced lemons, fried onions, and fried sliced jalapenos was really good - a nice balance of tart, spicy and sweet all fried in a light batter.

We also tried two specials that we really liked a lot. First was a cioppino with two head-on shrimp, clams and mussels. I would have liked more broth and a little more bread to sop up said broth, but I suppose that would go against the "order a lot of small plates" ethos of the restaurant. The other special was corvina from Ecuador served with roasted mushrooms, a sunchoke puree, and Swiss chard.

MarlaCollins'Husband wrote:The combination of fried sliced lemons, fried onions, and fried sliced jalapenos was really good - a nice balance of tart, spicy and sweet all fried in a light batter.

I like the sound of that!

Describe the fry technique pls. Batter/no batter, deep fry/pan fried...

MarlaCollins'Husband wrote:The combination of fried sliced lemons, fried onions, and fried sliced jalapenos was really good - a nice balance of tart, spicy and sweet all fried in a light batter.

Don't often see batter-frying in a pan but I suppose it's possible. Pretty sure it's deep fried, and, as noted by the poster, in a light (by my recollection maybe only a flour coating) batter. So maybe not batter at all exactly. Very tasty. I've had this trio at other places around town tho can't recall where at this moment.

I ate at Fish bar twice and felt pretty much the same as the poster--good, not great. Would rather go to New England Seafood or Boston Fish Market--avoid the "small plates preciousness" and get better all around food. That said, if someone suggested it, I wouldn't say no. Just not a place that I wound rush back to on my own.