Fish restaurants in Louisville

With the exception of Mitchell's and to a degree Bonefish Louisville really doesn't have any Fish/Seafood restaurants other than ones that serve fried fish. Sure, many of the locals have fish specials on a regular basis but I'm talking about a place that you know you can go to and get a good fish dish when you want one. Since we are the major hub for UPS air operations it would seem like a neck from place to have great in land fish restaurants because fish from anywhere in the country could be imported in a day. Does anybody have any ideas why we don't have any fish restaurants around here?

[Robin Garr]

What is Seviche? Chopped monkfish liver?

Seriously, Mark, I view Louisville's relative lack of all-seafood, all-the-time restaurants as a sign of our restaurant community's maturity. With all the sources you mention in town, our top eateries, almost without exception, offer high-quality seafood, carefully and even creatively prepared, as part of what they do. Who needs a place with a nautical shtick, fishnets and cap'ns, when you can have so many great places that do it all.

Ruby's does a pretty good job offering seafood.

http://www.jeffruby.com/louisville/menu


OCEAN MEATS


Yellowfin Tuna - 28
Orange Horseradish Glaze, Asian Vegetable Salad & Sesame Vinaigrette

Atlantic Salmon - 33
Asparagus, Crimini Mushrooms, Roasted Tomato & Caper Vinaigrette

Diver Scallops - 34
Sauteéd Cauliflower, Brussels Sprouts & Bacon-Truffle Glaze

Sea Bass Forte - 37
Leeks, Shiitake Mushrooms, King Crab & Lemon Butter Sauce

Now you have me all craving some belly clams.

Help is on the way!

Back when Hiko-a-Mon opened, they were a fish restaurant with a couple of sushi and non-seafood items; they billed themselves as a Kyoto-style seafood restaurant. Over time, the customers have demanded more and more sushi, and they've complied, but their fish dishes still are incredibly fresh, numerous, and cooked perfectly. We have many friends who will not eat sushi, but are eager to go there with us because their fish is so good.

Robin, don't get me wrong, we certainly love Seviche but it's something special and not really the type of fish restaurants I'm talking about. I wasn't really aware that Rubys had fish on their menu but I was so turned off by that place the only time we went there I haven't been back. I've had fish at Hiko-a-Mon one time although it's hard to get past their sushi, I think it was pretty good when I had it but I don't remember them having much variety. It seems like Salmon is one of the mainstays in Louisville restaurants and it's really not what I think of when I think of fish. We love Seabass, Halibut, Mahi, Grouper and other fish along those lines. Hopefully the new restaurant going and where Garretts used to be will be good although that announcement was made three months ago and nothing has happened around there yet.

If we had have as many nice seafood restaurants as we have steakhouses I'd be happy! It seems like it should be very easy to get around here so I don't know why we don't have more restaurants that feature it. I guess until something better arrives I'm going to have to be satisfied with the seafood specials that many of our favorite restaurants including Selena's run on a regular basis.

I've had fish at Hiko-a-Mon one time although it's hard to get past their sushi, I think it was pretty good when I had it but I don't remember them having much variety.

They also have daily seafood specials (fresh fish of the day), but this is from on-line (the actual menu has a number of sauce options, or you can get it simply grilled):

Broiled Chilean sea bass$24.95Your choice of fresh fish and tasty sauce; comes with sautéed seasonal vegetable
Grilled ahi tuna$21.95Your choice of fresh fish and tasty sauce; comes with sautéed seasonal vegetable
Grilled salmon & jumbo shrimp$19.95Your choice of fresh fish and tasty sauce; comes with sautéed seasonal vegetable
Grilled salmon$15.95Your choice of fresh fish and tasty sauce; comes with sautéed seasonal vegetable
Grilled silver cod with saikyo miso sauce$17.95Grilled silver cod marinated in saikyo sweet miso sauce; Japanese traditional meal
Yellowtail teriyaki$16.95Grilled yellowtail with teriyaki cabernet sauce
Grilled lobster$35.95Two grilled lobster tails served with lemon butter sauce

I'm with Robin in regard to good fish being available at many of our restaurants. Jack Fry's on occasion will have 4-5 fish selections when you include specials to their three menu standards (which are excellent).
I'm a big fish fan and used to love going to McCormick & Schmick's, especially the one in Kansas City. Unfourtunately, they were bought by Landry's (former owner of Joe's Crab Shack) and they quickly went downhill.

I'm with Robin in regard to good fish being available at many of our restaurants. Jack Fry's on occasion will have 4-5 fish selections when you include specials to their three menu standards (which are excellent).
I'm a big fish fan and used to love going to McCormick & Schmick's, especially the one in Kansas City. Unfourtunately, they were bought by Landry's (former owner of Joe's Crab Shack) and they quickly went downhill.

John, we also find that many of our favorite restaurants have fish specials but as I mentioned in my earlier post I wish we had a restaurant that had a wide variety of fish selections all the time. A place where I know I could always go and get one of the fish dishes I regularly like instead of having to depend on it to be a special. I agree that the couple times I've been to McCormick & Schmick's they were quite good and very much what I'm looking for here in town. I haven't been to one since they were bought out however.

Well....Fish is a very perishable and costly(getting more so everyday) ingredient. You would really have to have a great source to even think about opening a place that specializes in seafood in our land locked town.
Also, the fact of the matter is, 85% of this town knows absolutley nothing about other fish preperations except "Fried Whitefish on Rye bread slathered in Tarter Sauce"... God forbid anyone trys to serve anything other than white flaky fish that doesn't taste like fish and make a successful go of it.

Personally, I think the fine dining places in town already do a fine job with their selections and menu specials. Check out Volare or Josh Moore's Facebook page sometime. Joe at Bluefin and John from Olivia's Catch also post pictures of what they have brought in for thier operators a couple times a week. In fact, if you called around to check on the specials, most people will be serving the same two or three seafood items with a differnt preperation on any given weekend.

Also, the fact of the matter is, 85% of this town knows absolutley nothing about other fish preperations except "Fried Whitefish on Rye bread slathered in Tarter Sauce"... God forbid anyone trys to serve anything other than white flaky fish that doesn't taste like fish and make a successful go of it.

Personally, I think the fine dining places in town already do a fine job with their selections and menu specials. Check out Volare or Josh Moore's Facebook page sometime. Joe at Bluefin and John from Olivia's Catch also post pictures of what they have brought in for thier operators a couple times a week. In fact, if you called around to check on the specials, most people will be serving the same two or three seafood items with a differnt preperation on any given weekend.

You certainly hit the nail on the head with a statement about fried fish on rye! Unfortunately, that's not really something I like that often accept if I'm going down to Mike L's. You are also correct about places having good specials, we hit them quite often over at Selena's and a few other places in town. As for checking the specials from the 2 providers you certainly hit the nail on the head but unfortunately as you also noted most times a lot of the places have the same fish on special instead of a variety. It really seems that Louisville should be able to support a nice fish restaurant that had a variety of fish fish available on a regular basis. Even though it's perishable as you noted if marketed and prepared correctly it seems like it should be a major problem.

I agree that our local gems such as proof on main, varanese, etc do fish so well we don't need fish only places. Actually, last time I was at Mitchell's, I found it disgusting. My friend ended up with food poisoning.

Anybody remember the fantastic seafood restaurant in St matthews that was in the strip where Highland Cleaners is? Yummmm. Z's does a fine job with seafood, better than Ruby's, IMO, but it's pricey.