Wellfleet-The Fishguy Market

The Mayfair Area of Elston Avenue is largely an industrial area.   There is some residential but it is mostly  garages and construction businesses.  This is not an area you would think of for fresh seafood.  Just north of Montrose though, is a seafood market called The Fish Guy.   This market carries carries all manner of seafood including lobster, shrimp, scallops, oysters, and when I visited, langoustines as well as salmon, sturgeon, and other sea fish and sells to restaurants as well as walk-in buyers.  There is also a small cafe that will seat about 16 people between the counter and the tables located inside the market called Wellfleet.  The market (and cafe) are done in white tile and the table and counter tops are stainless steel.  There is also a skylight so between the white tile walls and floor and the stainless steel counter and table lights, they make good use of the available light.  The menu is small and is on a clipboard at every seat when you walk in.  There isn't a lot of description to the things on the menu but the kitchen is right behind the counter and the cooks and chef are very friendly (and right there) and encourage you to ask questions.  When you are ready to order, it's easy enough to order all at once or as you go.  The menu items are fairly simple so it doesn't talk an extensive amount of preparation after ordering and everything is right there so if you will not experience a significant wait if you order one course at a time.  I wasn't sure how much I wanted to eat when I came in so I only ordered a main course and a drink.  As I was waiting, they brought me an Amuse Bouche consisting of Salmon Tartare with a Garlic Lime Aioli.  It was a spoonful of awesome and I thought it boded well for the rest of my meal.  The salmon tasted very good and the aioli both held it together physically with it's creamy texture and complemented the flavors with the savory garlic and the sour of the lime.

For the course that I actually ordered, I ordered the Pan Fried Langoustines in a Garlic Butter Sauce.  I thought that I had had langoustines before and thought them similar to shrimp.  When I received them, I saw that they are a bit similar to shrimp but are more like small lobsters.  I also saw that I had never had them before and I really had no idea how to eat them.  They were served with a sliced lemon and a couple of slices of baguette to soak up the garlic butter sauce.  After the cooks saw me puzzling over how to get the meat, they quickly told me that the best way to get to it was to grab one and to split it along the back and the meat would come right out.  I tried it and while it was messy, it did work well.  The meat was very light, tender, and was slightly sweet.  The flavor actually reminded me more of crab than shrimp but it was really good.

After I fought my way through the langoustines and soaked up the garlic butter sauce, I decided that this had been very good and I should order a dessert.  They had a Tortuga Rum Cake on the menu so that's what I ordered.  A Tortuga Rum Cake is a bundt cake with bundt cake with walnuts that is soaked in Tortuga Rum.  It was sweet, dense, and slightly rum flavored although not overwhelmingly so.  The chef suggested having it with whipped cream but I decided to wave that off because I didn't want to be overwhelmed with the whipped cream and wanted to actually taste the cake.  I probably could have ordered a little on the side but I didn't think about it.  In retrospect, I do think it would have gone really well with whipped cream but it was good as it was.

Wellfleet-The Fish Guy is a small operation but they do some very good stuff.  It does surprise me that they are not located in the West Loop where there are a multitude of specialty food businesses and warehouses and fine dining restaurants but if they can do a good business in their location, good for them.  It is actually to my advantage that they are located where they are because I travel near their location frequently and would not have to make a special trip.  Admittedly, I don't cook a lot of specialty seafood but as it is close to a route I travel frequently, I do see myself stopping in again.