My companions had ordered red snapper with coleslaw and fried zucchini and swordfish with the same slaw and grilled vegetables. Whatever the reason, it was a solid start to the meal. All San Pedro Fish Market outlets use locally caught squid, and perhaps that’s why this was superior to most other fast food calamari. As for the calamari, the breading was light, crisp and nicely seasoned, the chunks of cephalopod within tender and not over-fried. The “cup” of chowder was actually more like a good sized bowl, a bargain at five bucks. As one of my companions poked his spoon into the soup he observed, “A lot of clams were sacrificed to make this.” They were indeed, and all that clam meat was gently seasoned with pepper and herbs presented in a creamy broth. Two of us opted for that, and two for grilled fish platters, with an order of calamari and cups of clam chowder to start things off.Ĭhowder and fried calamari are crowd-pleaser items that are generally valued for their execution rather than innovation, and both of these were first rate. They do serve the “famous shrimp tray” for two or four people. Oddly, they don’t seem to offer the smoked fish that is a mainstay at the original market, and something that would set them apart from other quick-serve seafood places. The menu is mostly what the San Pedro Fish Market has always served: many varieties of seafood, grilled, fried, or in a taco or burrito, along with various sides. It doesn’t look at all like the original, but if the original was remodeled to look like this it might be an improvement. It’s still a casual seafood joint, but one with a bit of style. They very sensibly decided to go a bit upscale to fit the neighborhood, so the PV location has artistically weathered wood, decorative lighting, and a few pulleys and nautical geegaws hanging from the ceiling. As pros who had the operation down pat, they were ready to go. They might have calculated that their time had come, since the style of service that they had been offering for decades – select your fish, cooking method, and sides – was becoming increasingly popular. No doubt the owners of the San Pedro Fish Market considered all of these things before plunking down the deposit on the space at the west end of the Peninsula Center. You might transplant the menu but you couldn’t move the view, and that left you without much to work on if you wanted to keep the look of the original. Another reason to bet against them was that the décor of the original location is Spartan, with the vista of the water the major visual attraction. They began serving in 1956 and opened their only spinoff location in Wilmington in 1972, so they weren’t exactly leaping to conquer new worlds. The San Pedro Fish Market would be an unlikely pick because it had been in business for most of a century and shown no inclination to expand. Three of the seven families who own the San Pedro Fish Markets (left to right) John and Val Ungaro and kids, Henry and Vita Ungaro and kids and Nick and Nicole Pasquarella with daughter Lucy.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |