Restaurant Review – Fahlstrom’s Fresh Fish Market

This week took me to a Chicago staple: Fahlstrom’s Fresh Fish Market. Fahlstrom’s is a unique experience from start to finish. On the right hand side of the restaurant is a fresh fish market, offering 16-18 varieties of fresh fish each day. Here you can also order party trays of smoked lox, sturgeon, rainbow trout, whitefish, and tiger shrimp. Fahlstrom’s “World’s Best Tuna Salad” and Smoked Trout Dip are also available for retail purchase here. You’ll also find Alaskan King Crab Legs, mussels, Delaware oysters, scallops, and lump crab meat for sale. Love crab cakes?? You can buy those individually as well! The retail section is well stocked with oils, sauces, and spices for cooking your newly purchased fresh seafood at home. As you look towards the back wall, you can’t help but notice rows and rows of brightly colored cereal boxes! This is The Cereal Wall; a section dedicated to childhood favorites that can be ordered straight from box to bowl. Your cereal is served in a chilled bowl with your favorite cereal (you can even mix and match!), cold milk, and fresh fruit. Fahlstrom’s menu is large and diverse, ranging from breakfast all day to traditional seafood entrees to po’ boys and much more. It made it so difficult to decide! We finally settled on a few entrees to share. I love crab cakes, so I knew we had to try the Mirabelle Crab Cake Sandwich: lumps of blue crab with a roasted red pepper sauce and lettuce on a toasted butter bun. This was delicious! The crab cake had a great crust, but the breading wasn’t too thick. I loved the red pepper sauce, it added depth to the simple sandwich. We also ordered the Pan Fried Shrimp Tacos: corn tortillas, cabbage, chopped radish and pineapple, goat cheese, cilantro, chipotle mayo, and avocado cream. These were very tasty! My main complaint is that they weren’t hot enough coming out of the kitchen. Fried shrimp just aren’t as good if they’re not piping hot! Finally, we tried the Pan-Fried Drake’s Shrimp Po’ Boy: Drake’s seasoned, pan-fried shrimp, lettuce, red onion, and tartar sauce, all on a toasted French loaf. The flavors of this were great, but again, it just wasn’t hot enough. It was a little disappointing to have our entrees be tasty, but know they had probably been sitting in the back before they came out. I will give Fahlstrom’s another chance though!

Fahlstrom’s is located at 1258 W Belmont Avenue. Hours are Mondays from 11 am to 9 pm, Tuesdays through Fridays from 11 am to 10 pm, Saturdays from 9 am to 10 pm, and Sundays from 9 am to 9 pm. For more information, check out their website.

RACHEL HOOVLER & DEAN’S TEAM CHICAGO