The Fish Market

Hoover, AL

$8-$13 Lunch Entrees

$11-$15 Dinner Entrees

The interior of The Fish Market in Hoover is a gumbo of wooden birdcages, fake houseplants, wall-mounted swordfish, and paintings of wildly differing styles. This salmagundi’s parent restaurant is the original, downtown location, purchased in 1982 by George Sarris, who emigrated from Greece in 1969. The Fish Market specializes in serving the freshest, most reasonably priced seafood in Birmingham … with a Greek twist.

The Fish Market has an entirely casual, family atmosphere with a large, open floor plan. However, the lack of a clear seating system can disorient customers. Signs posted to designate “full service” sections only add to the confusion. I found myself asking, “Full service? As opposed to what? Am I at a ’50’s gas station?” Seeing we were lost, a waitress seated my mother and me at a table with a gaudy, yet practical plastic tablecloth. It took my mother, who lives in Illinois where she can’t find such seafood, a full 20 minutes, as well as two excellent martinis from the full bar, to finally decide to order nearly everything on the extensive menu.

Hemingway wrote about his stay in 1920’s Paris in A Moveable Feast (1964): "As I ate the oysters with their strong taste of the sea … and the succulent texture, and as I drank their cold liquid from each shell …, I lost the empty feeling and began to be happy and to make plans.” Our oysters on the half shell made us equally happy. Like a bottle of white wine, they were perfectly chilled. Like Lewis Carroll’s Walrus and Carpenter, we ate them, “every one”.

Contrary to its name, West Indies Salad was invented near Mobile in 1947 by Bill Bayley, a restaurateur. Tender lump crabmeat must be allowed to marinate for 12 hours in a mixture of apple cider vinegar and sweet white onion while being constantly chilled by extremely cold ice water. The Fish Market’s West Indies Salad was properly prepared and bitingly delicious.

The Krabby Cakes were incredibly crispy outside with a generous amount of lump crabmeat inside. They were accompanied by fresh dill dip, which was so good I requested extra. Of the three types of cole slaw offered, I opted for Greek. Upon tasting it, I realized I had been deprived of real cole slaw my entire life. With self-pitying ecstasy, I munched on the angel hair cabbage, generously salted and mixed with feta, Greek herbs, oil, and vinegar.

Extremely strong fighters able to swim 50 mph, swordfish are prized for their tasty meat. As swordfish are no longer endangered, I tasted my mother’s with no compunction. She declared it “outstanding”. We ate bite after bite of the perfectly cooked delicacy with its rich flavor brought out by a squeeze of fresh lemon. Some historians believe the word “hushpuppies” was coined by Southern cooks who would feed a fried cornmeal mixture to begging dogs during fish fries. Others think “hushpuppies” were fed to Confederate dogs by Union soldiers to quell their barks. Regardless, my mother and I ate every one of our golden balls of cornmeal.

For those of you who now think I only eat my mother’s food, you’re wrong. I also ate the butterflied shrimp, springy scallops, and delicately flaky snapper in my seafood platter. Other than the surprisingly bland fried oysters, everything was well-seasoned and crispy. The platter came with fantastic French fries, made in-house with the skins left on.

As I ushered my mother, by then insisting on being addressed as “Captain”, out the door, I reflected on how unusual it is to find seafood this good so far from the coast. Augmenting the experience was our friendly waitress and the fact the restaurant serves several kinds of homemade pie. I had eaten so heartily, my pie, a delectable coconut cream, had to depart in a to-go box.

4 Kudzu