Fish Bar

I went to Ada Street recently, I decided to go to one of their sister restaurants when I was going to be in the area.  I went to Fish Bar last week before a concert.  Located next to it's sister restaurant DMK Burger Bar, it looks like a transplanted Atlantic coast seafood shack (at least on the inside).  The walls are covered in wood planking that is painted a light blue and is very weathered.  One wall looks like a colorized postcard of some deep sea fisherman with their catches.  There is a counter for take out ordering in the center of the dining room with two other counters for seating perpendicular from the take-out counter.  There were also about 4 booths on the outside of either counter that could be served from behind the counter.  Counter seating was on metal bar stools soif the place is busy, which it frequently is, you will probably be sitting by someone you don't know.  This is not necessarily a bad thing and can be pretty interesting but it can also get a little weird.  More on that in a minute.  The menu is divided into 9 sections with dishes divided by how they are presented like Raw, Salad, Sandwich or Crispy.  All of the sections have at least 3 selections with the exception of tacos which only has one and desserts which has two.  While this sounds like a pretty extensive menu, it's actually even bigger than that because it varies based on what fish and seafood is available.  While many things sounded really good, I decided to go with a Satchmo Po'Boy which was a bunch of Fried Crawfish and Shrimp in a Bun with Bread and Butter Pickles and drizzled with Garlic Aioli.  This was really good if a little messy.  The shrimp and Crawfish were lightly breaded and while fried, the meat maintained it's tenderness and the breading was slightly crispy.  The Bread and Butter Pickles were sweet and added a nice vegetal crunch, and the aioli added the garlic flavor.  The sandwich also apparently looked pretty good because one of my dining neighbors thought it looked so good that he actually asked for a bite.  While I am a sharing person, I will share with people I know.  This was a little weird (if harmless) and I couldn't do it.

As a side, I had Tater Tots.  I don't know if the tots were house made but they  were salty, potatoey, and perfectly fried to give them a nice crunch.  Tater Tots are simple, but they go well with fish and seafood and these were good tots.

The dessert menu, while limited, did have a couple of items on it and they both sounded good, Key Lime Pie and S'mores.  While they both sounded good and the S'mores really looked good, I had to go with the Key Lime Pie because it seemed (to me) to go more obviously with seafood.  It was served with house made whipped cream and while it was simple, it was also very good.  The crust was flaky, the whipped cream was sweet and fluffy, and the pie itself was firm (like a well chilled pudding) and tart as it should be.

Even with the little bit of weirdness with my dining neighbor, I liked Fish Bar.  The servers were friendly, as is the crowd, the food is really good, and the menu changes with the available seafood.  If I am ever in the mood for good seafood at a good price, this place will definitely be in the running.