West Village @ Fish

I've been going to Fish for years now.  What I love about Fish is that for a restaurant with a respectable raw bar offering there is zero pretense.  It's a small hole in the wall on Bleecker next to John's Pizza that would be easy to miss if you didn't notice the colorful window next to the bar.  Fish is super casual and it tends to fill up quickly by 7pm on a weekday so I'd recommend getting their early since there is pretty limited seating.

The waitstaff is very nice but not very knowledgeable about the goods.  But they make up for it with a great casual eating atmosphere.  Fish is the kind of place where you can go in for a drink and a few clams at the bar and end up staying waaaaaay longer than you intended. 

What drew me last week to Fish was an aching for crabs - I'd been to Maryland last weekend and didn't get the chance to have any so I needed a fix, badly.  Fish has an all-you-can-eat Maryland Blue Crabs special everyday from 12p-4p for only $22.  I'd never had crabs at Fish - I've had pretty much every shellfish related thing BUT that - so I was intrigued.  Being that both my BF and I are unemployed right now (thanks economy!) it also seemed like a great way to kill some time on a weekday.  

Our waitress covered our table in newspaper, handed us bibs, crackers (I was a little disappointed that we weren't getting mallets), and a bucket.  The crabs came out on trays and were dumped on our newspaper-covered table.  However, it was about 50 minutes from ordering to the crabs arriving on our table which seemed insanely long since the restaurant was less than half full.  

The crabs were prepared by steaming them in beer and completely covering them in Old Bay seasoning - delicious.  Right now the blue crabs are early in the season so they're pretty small - making it a real challenge to get meat from the crab.  I'd recommend waiting until mid-May before partaking in this deal if you want to get a little more meat for your cracking efforts.

Not to be forgotten are some of their other great specials.  One of my favorites is the cleverly named "Red, White & Blue" which includes your choice of either 6 Blue Point oysters or 6 Littleneck clams plus your choice of a glass of red or white wine or a pint of Pabst Blue Ribbon -  all for only $8.

They also have $1 oyster nights and a Lobster Feast (1 1/4 lb lobster, steamers, corn and yummy fries) that I highly recommend for only $18.


Fish
280 Bleecker Street 
between 7th Avenue South & Morton St.
(212) 727-2879

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