Seafood Gourmet

menton1 · May 16, 2003

This place came up on another thread but I thought it deserved its own.

This is a retail seafood store that prepares and cooks all the seafood it sells. They have an extensive menu including Broiled Entrees, Fried Entrees, Sandwiches, Soups, and a Raw Bar. I have had the Fried scallops and they are AWESOME; The Clam Chowder is terrific. Prices are incredible, for example, a dozen Cherrystones, opened, for $9. Pint of soup, $3.50 The Scallop sandwich is $4.95. Entrees are from $6-$12 and come with fries, rice, or a fresh vegetable. Everything homemade, on the premises. Definitely worth a trip. A unique place in New Jersey.

Call ahead, most items take 10-15 mins to prepare. Everything cooked to order.

Seafood Gourmet

103 West Pleasant Avenue

Maywood, NJ

201-843-8558

Edited May 16, 2003 by menton1 (log)

toddevan · May 16, 2003

menton I have found fresh fish there a little pricey but well worth the money

way better than the Legal scene unless one is going for the purpose of overpriced wine

Double 0 · May 16, 2003

This sounds the same as Lucy's Gourmet Fish Mkt in Wayne. They have a real good fish store with a small restaurant attached to the the store. I've been a few times for lunch and always found the fish fresh and well prepared. I've never had takeout. Its right next to the Mountainveiw train station in Wayne.

toddevan · May 16, 2003

[This sounds the same as Lucy's Gourmet Fish Mkt in Wayne]

nope Lucy's in Wayne has a restaurant on site

Seafood Gourmet does not

just a small place with top quality fish. Small but good. Nice staff too.

Jason Perlow · May 16, 2003

On the insistence of user menton1 on the Legal Seafood/Paramus thread today, we went and checked out Seafood Gourmet in Maywood. Its a cute, family owned fishmonger type of place, been in biz for 17 years according to its owner, John. The place is very clean and very busy, and no fishy smells at all (there is literally no odor in there whatsoever) which is a good sign of a good fish store.

We ordered the baby crab cakes, the fried clams, grilled scallops and fried shrimp.

They have two little tables which you can sit at in the store, apparently the seats are all taken during normal lunch hours.

The fried clams are whole belly CHERRYSTONES, not Ipswitch like Legal Seafoods and many New England clamshacks use. So we are really not comparing apples to apples here. They were very good, but they have a chewier texture and not as soft as Ipswitches. They were dredged in the McCormick seafood GoldenDipt bread crumb mix, recommended by Brooke Dojny in her New England Clamshack Cookbook. French fries were perfectly done, not too greasy.

Rachel's scallops were slightly overdone but they were very tasty. I think next time we will order them fried according to menton1's recommendation, as it seems they do a good job with the fried stuff at this place. The fried shrimp (not shown) were very good, quickly fried, also with the McCormick breading, not greasy. The baby crab cakes were good, had a good ratio of breading to crab, but didnt particularly excite me.

The owner, John, plans to extend the size of his store to accomodate a 35 seat restaurant sometime in the near future. We really look forward to this because the dearth of good local seafood places in the area.

Edited October 25, 2003 by Jason Perlow (log)

Nick · May 17, 2003

The place is very clean and very busy, and no fishy smells at all (there is literally no odor in there whatsoever) which is a good sign of a good fish store.

A little bleach goes a long way.

Jason Perlow · May 17, 2003

The place is very clean and very busy, and no fishy smells at all (there is literally no odor in there whatsoever) which is a good sign of a good fish store.
A little bleach goes a long way.

I'm not sure I understand that... are you saying that bleach can be used to cover up the smells of not-so-fresh fish or that lack of fish odor is no indication of a good fishmonger?

menton1 · May 17, 2003

Jason-- Glad you enjoyed the place-- my fave is the Fried Scallop sandwich-- Interesting about the guy expanding-- sometimes, though, expansion is NOT a good thing...

Edited May 17, 2003 by Jason Perlow (log)

Jason Perlow · May 17, 2003

Jason-- Glad you enjoyed the place-- my fave is the Fried Scallop sandwich-- Interesting about the guy expanding-- sometimes, though, expansion is NOT a good thing...

Next time we go, I'll be sure to have the scallop sandwich.

Rachel Perlow · May 17, 2003

The place is very clean and very busy, and no fishy smells at all (there is literally no odor in there whatsoever) which is a good sign of a good fish store.
A little bleach goes a long way.

Didn't smell of cleaners. No smell but nice fresh air. The seafood counter was very busy they whole time we were there (mid-afternoon on a Friday), so they obviously have high turnover - another good point.

Nick · October 24, 2003

The place is very clean and very busy, and no fishy smells at all (there is literally no odor in there whatsoever) which is a good sign of a good fish store.
A little bleach goes a long way.
Didn't smell of cleaners. No smell but nice fresh air. The seafood counter was very busy they whole time we were there (mid-afternoon on a Friday), so they obviously have high turnover - another good point.

I just got a PM from Rachel asking me to respond to this. When I made my comment, now nearly six months ago, it was made fairly late at night and so it would be safe to say that I had consumed a fair amount of beer. However, after reviewing the thread, I'll stand by my comment.

If you go into a fish store and there is no smell of fish, something is wrong. At least to my mind. The place should not smell like a well-aged lobster bait barrel, but there should be that faint smell of good fresh fish. Good fresh fish smells good. If the fish has no smell, something is wrong. It may be your nose - or it may be the fish.

steakas · October 24, 2003

what about oyster stew?

Nick · October 25, 2003

what about oyster stew?

Never had it.

BTW Rachel and Jason, recently some threads have gone extra-wide, meaning you can't read them all the way from side to side, while others are just fine. This thread is an example of the extra wide.

Rachel Perlow · October 25, 2003

I've fixed the pictures, thanks.

menton1 · October 25, 2003

I just got a PM from Rachel asking me to respond to this. When I made my comment, now nearly six months ago, it was made fairly late at night and so it would be safe to say that I had consumed a fair amount of beer. However, after reviewing the thread, I'll stand by my comment.
Good fresh fish smells good. If the fish has no smell, something is wrong. It may be your nose - or it may be the fish.

What could possibly be wrong? I go often to this place, and the food is terrific....

Edited October 25, 2003 by menton1 (log)

Nick · October 25, 2003

My mistake. I just noticed they cook the seafood there, so one wouldn't smell the fish because of the cooking. I was thinking of regular shops that just sell fish, etc.

menton1 · February 7, 2004

Just dropped in to this place after a trip to Maywood Marketplace across the street... Got a Lobster Salad sandwich... This has to be the absolute best lobster salad this side of Maine!!! (No sea-legs, of any of that fake stuff here!)

Also got some Manhattan Clam Chowder, great stuff, great flavor and a ton of fresh clam pieces in it!!

ghostrider · February 8, 2004

Thanks for surfacing this thread! I need a good seafood store, Maywood isn't all THAT far....

Rosie · February 8, 2004

Ghostrider--We have 38 pages on the NJ board so feel free to scroll through them all and resurrect any topic you find interesting.

ghostrider · February 8, 2004

Workin' on it.... :smile:

So many pages (looking at ALL of eGullet), so little time!

It's a wonderland here!

Rachel Perlow · July 7, 2005

FYI - they are about 4-6 weeks away from opening their new dining room.

menton1 · October 6, 2005

A recent stop for some fresh fish showed that nothing has changed, just retail, 2 little tables, still a curtain with construction going on.

Any intrepid Eg-er have the scoop on when the restaurant will open next to the retail counter?

Spinner · October 7, 2005

I "like" this place..and I would love it except for one thing..they dont have 3/4ths of the things on their menu. The last 3 times I have been in, I have struck out on my first 2 choices. What I eventually got was good but what I was looking for was not there. These things weren't specials or anything like that but regular menu items. If I am going to travel from E. Ruth. to Maywood, I'd like to get what I came for.

That being said, when I have gotten what I wanted, it was just great. I want my fried shrimp!

D. B. Brown · October 7, 2005

The place is very clean and very busy, and no fishy smells at all (there is literally no odor in there whatsoever) which is a good sign of a good fish store.
A little bleach goes a long way.
Didn't smell of cleaners. No smell but nice fresh air. The seafood counter was very busy they whole time we were there (mid-afternoon on a Friday), so they obviously have high turnover - another good point.
I just got a PM from Rachel asking me to respond to this. When I made my comment, now nearly six months ago, it was made fairly late at night and so it would be safe to say that I had consumed a fair amount of beer. However, after reviewing the thread, I'll stand by my comment.
If you go into a fish store and there is no smell of fish, something is wrong. At least to my mind. The place should not smell like a well-aged lobster bait barrel, but there should be that faint smell of good fresh fish. Good fresh fish smells good. If the fish has no smell, something is wrong. It may be your nose - or it may be the fish.
←

My $.02 . . . there is a difference between the smell of "fish", and the smell of "fresh, iced, seafood". . . I have been in fishmarkets where there was the smell of fish. I walked out. My favorite fishmarket has the faintest smell of "fresh, iced, seafood".

If I were blindfolded - I think ( but I'm not sure ) that I would know if I were there.

To be fair, that ( my favorite ) market, is Santa Monica Seafood in Newport Beach.

I don't smell any bleach.

Edited October 7, 2005 by D. B. Brown (log)

menton1 · October 7, 2005

I "like" this place..and I would love it except for one thing..they dont have 3/4ths of the things on their menu. The last 3 times I have been in, I have struck out on my first 2 choices. What I eventually got was good but what I was looking for was not there. These things weren't specials or anything like that but regular menu items. If I am going to travel from E. Ruth. to Maywood, I'd like to get what I came for.
That being said, when I have gotten what I wanted, it was just great. I want my fried shrimp!
←

They have been operating for years as a small retail seafood store. They expanded to have a lot of prepared food in the past 5 years, and are now expanding to have about 10 tables of restaurant seating. But having only a few things on the menu is sometimes a good thing. You don't want your seafood outlet to get like a diner with 5000 menu items, none any good. With a smaller selection, it insures the freshness standards that Seafood Gourmet has always adhered to.

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