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OT: My Top Seafood Restaurants in America

Many of my favorites have been mentioned:
I'm surprised I couldn't remember any real standout Seafood meal from the West Coast.

Next time in San Francisco try Scoma's in Fisherman's Wharf. Old style Italian Seafood in an authentic Italian restaurant on their own pier just off Jefferson St. next to pier 45.
 
Ok. For those of us attending the Maryland game, please list the best places for seafood near the Inner Harbor. Thanks in advance.
Nick's in the Cross Street Market has cold beer, oysters, sushi, crab cakes, etc
In Federal Hill, short walk from inner harbor
Definitely not fancy
 
Next time in San Francisco try Scoma's in Fisherman's Wharf. Old style Italian Seafood in an authentic Italian restaurant on their own pier just off Jefferson St. next to pier 45.

I've spent some time down there on the wharf, I've just never had a standout meal. I'll give your suggestion if I ever get back out that way. I've had some great meals in California, just no seafood meals that standout.

For seafood, it's all about New England and New Orleans for me. New England also has some of the best craft breweries in the world. Too bad the weather and traffic is terrible, or it would be a great place to live.
 
Best crab cake is found at G&M Restaurant in Linthicum MD. I was just there on Father's Day with my family. We then drove down to Annapolis to walk around and have some ice cream.

I think they're the same owners as Timbuktu not far from there--fabulous crab cakes.
 
I think they're the same owners as Timbuktu not far from there--fabulous crab cakes.
Not sure about ownership, but the recipe is the same for sure. I was thinking that one of them worked for the other at one time but I don't know. G&M has was completely redone in 2006 and therefore is much nicer, but as you say the crab cakes are the same...the best anywhere.
 
Not sure about ownership, but the recipe is the same for sure. I was thinking that one of them worked for the other at one time but I don't know. G&M has was completely redone in 2006 and therefore is much nicer, but as you say the crab cakes are the same...the best anywhere.
To me, any crab cakes in the MD area are good, but the Crabmeat Imperial's are the best! Little to no filling, just enough to hold all the delicious crab meat together. In the seafood world, it is second in taste only to a real Maine Lobster!
 
Ok. For those of us attending the Maryland game, please list the best places for seafood near the Inner Harbor. Thanks in advance.
1. The Inner Harbor is not the very best place to find good seafood. Its mostly pretty good places/chains like McCormick & Schmick, Phillips, Rusty Scupper. You can get decent crab cakes at any of them and it is an interesting place to see if you don't know Baltimore.
2. Most critics and customer polls say that the upscale Thames Oyster House is the best overall seafood restaurant in Baltimore. It's a couple miles from the stadium. I have not eaten there, so I can't vouch for it.
3. It is hard to get a really bad crab cake in Maryland. IMO. The best are at the Eastern Shore. Some of the best in Baltimore are at Thames (2 miles from stadium), Gertrudes (4 miles), Koco's (12 miles), Pappas (18 miles). G&M, which is mentioned here, is on the outskirts of Baltimore. It is controversial, as they don't always use Maryland crab, has been accused of mixing fish with their crab and it is kind of a dump. I find it OK when in the area but not worth a special trip.
4. One of the best crab cakes I have ever had is at Faidley's Seafood, part of the large inner historic city market called Lexington Market not far from the stadium. Faidley's is clean, sells all kinds of fresh seafood and has a raw bar as well as a crab cake stand. Unfortunately, that market is in a very dicey ghetto neighborhood, a real "experience" for the adventurous that is as different from the tourist-friendly Inner Harbor as you can get - I probably wouldn't take little kids there, unless you want to teach them how drug deals go down - but it has some great fresh crab cakes (the expensive lump ones are the best). Cross Keys Market mentioned by others is similar but much smaller in a better area but I have never had their crab cakes - though probably a good bet.

PS: I agree that New Orleans and Boston/New England have the best all-around seafood, Maryland is about crabs and crab cakes. But BUYER BEWARE - a lot of crab cakes are made from crab not from the Bay.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bal-crab-mislabeling-20150331-story.html#page=1
 
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Ok. For those of us attending the Maryland game, please list the best places for seafood near the Inner Harbor. Thanks in advance.
There was a fancy place there a couple of years ago (a quick search leads me to the name being Ouzu Bay - they also have very good Greek food) where they had the fish on display and you could pick which fish you wanted and how it'd be prepared (although the chef had recommendations on how they should be prepared). You paid by the pound and type of fish, generally they were large enough for the table to share.
 
Regarding San Francisco, there are so many good sea food restaurants it is hard to pick but for the wharf area I like Scoma's and off the wharf I like the Tadich Grill.
In the winter I am in New Smyrna Beach, Florida and a classic southern fried food sea food joint within walking distance of the house is called JB's Fish Camp and if you like southern fried food at a sea food shack this is a good place to visit.
 
There was a fancy place there a couple of years ago (a quick search leads me to the name being Ouzu Bay - they also have very good Greek food) where they had the fish on display and you could pick which fish you wanted and how it'd be prepared (although the chef had recommendations on how they should be prepared). You paid by the pound and type of fish, generally they were large enough for the table to share.
I think it is actually a little east of the Inner Harbor, next to The Charleston, which is often considered the best restaurant in Baltimore. While I haven't been there, I believe the fish is flown in, not local, so it is no doubt very pricey though fresh.
Some might want to consider a crab feast, offered at places like Schultz's in Essex, Nicks in the Cross Street Market or Cantlers in Annapolis. Call ahead to see if they have local crabs.
 
If you don't mind some travel --
lobster and king crab purchased from any vendor/fisherman on Cannon Beach, OR
lobster from a hotel/b and b overlooking the Atlantic in Humacao, PR
king crab legs from almost any restaurant in Anchorage, AK
 
B&G's Oyster House in S. Boston. That is all.

The best (from New England) oysters on the planet as well as fresh, crispy, flash-fried calamari. In fact, don't go there. All other seafood restaurants will disappoint after one visit. And sit at the bar.
 
Although Gramercy Tavern in NYC is not a seafood restaurant, when Tom Colicchio was the head chef, the front room there had some of the best seafood I've ever eaten. That's the casual part of the restaurant, and everything in that room was cooked over a wood grill. I recall an amazing salmon with lentils and a baby octopus appetizer, among others.

The tuna appetizer I had at Mama's Fish House in Maui was the freshest fish I've ever eaten. The tuna was translucent. I believe it was poke, which is a sort of Hawaiian tuna tartare. The other seafood there didn't impress me. Too much sauce.
 
Wow! Did someone say Anthony's Pier 4 in Boston is closed? That is too bad - it was my TOP selection. I've also been to Legal and it is excellent (don't remember the exact location but definitely NOT the one in Cambridge).

Monterey Bay here is town got two mentions I see - well deserved. Excellent, however finishes up the track from the Boston places.

I will also put in a plug for the lobster at the White Horse Tavern in Newport, Rhode Island.
 
I've been to Legal's.

I love Rockefeller's in Virginia Beach. Probably eaten there 20 times while on vacation.
 
Wow! Did someone say Anthony's Pier 4 in Boston is closed? That is too bad - it was my TOP selection. I've also been to Legal and it is excellent (don't remember the exact location but definitely NOT the one in Cambridge).

Monterey Bay here is town got two mentions I see - well deserved. Excellent, however finishes up the track from the Boston places.

I will also put in a plug for the lobster at the White Horse Tavern in Newport, Rhode Island.
The original is closed. There seem to be branches still open.
 
I am 62 years old and grew up in the Philly area. When I was a kid, the restaurants my parents took me to that I absolutely loved were:

1. Zaberer's - Atlantic City - best Shrimp with stuffed Crab I ever had!
2. Captain Starn's - Atlantic City - best Cherry Stone Clams on the half shell
3. Kelly's Seafood - Philadelphia
4. Woodbine Inn - NJ just over the Tacony Palmyra bridge - My first peel and eat jumbo shrimp!

As an adult and after travelling fairly extensively. my favorite seafood restaurants are / were:

1. The Union Oyster House - Boston
2. Anthony's Pier 4 - Boston
3. Allioto's - San Francisco
4. Joe's Stone Crabs - So. Miami Beach
5. Legal Seafood - Original in Cambridge, MA
6. Any seafood restaurant in New Orleans
7. The Clam Box - Stamford, CT? (Don't think it is there anymore) - The Belly Buster!!!

What are your favorites?
 
You hit some seafood restaurant's in Atlantic City. Remember Hackney's (near Capt. Starn's). Many people I knew preferred it to the Captains.
 
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