Restaurant Review – Brown Bag Seafood Co.

I love seafood, but it can be so expensive to order when eating out! This week took me to an awesome, affordable, counter-serve seafood restaurant: Brown Bag Seafood Co. The atmosphere is just delightful, with bright blue accents, industrial light fixtures, and light maple tables. The concept is simple: you grab a laminated menu card and check off your choices with a dry erase pen. First, you pick your protein. They have a large list of choices including grilled salmon, crispy cod, grilled or crispy shrimp, seared tuna, curry fish cakes, grilled chicken, and more. The second step is to choose your “style”. The first is the Powerbox: a blend of brown rice, quinoa, wheatberry, spinach, and herbs. There’s also the Veggiebox: a blend of sautéed brussels, broccoli, green beans, kale, fresh spinach, and herbs. You can also choose a Greens & Grains, which is half a powerbox and half a veggiebox. You can also choose a Salad: leafy greens, kale, carrots, red cabbage, crispy onion, shaved parmesan, and herbs. There’s also a Sandwich: fresh bread, slaw, herb sauce, pickled red onion, and herbs. I chose to try the Tacos: flour tortillas, slaw, herb sauce, pickled red onions, jalapeño, and cilantro. I subbed out corn tortillas and chose grilled salmon for my protein. These were absolutely wonderful! The salmon was perfectly cooked- crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside. I loved the slaw- it had a great, tangy flavor. My dad ordered the Grilled Salmon Firebox: sriracha-sesame soy glazed salmon over grains, with spicy kimchee, jalapeño, and cilantro. This was fantastic as well! The grain mix was really tasty- sometimes they can be so bland and lackluster, but this was really awesome. I loved the addition of the kimchee- it gave the dish a lot of depth and spice! My mom ordered the Grilled Salmon Veggiebox, which I was also impressed by. The veggies were fresh, cooked well, and packed full of flavor. I thought the quality of the food was awesome for the price and left feeling full and satisfied. I will definitely be back to try more items here! 

Brown Bag Seafood Co. has six brick and mortar locations in the city, as well as six Dockside locations. You can find location information here. Brown Bag also does online ordering and catering. Check out this awesome spot on their website.

RACHEL HOOVLER & DEAN’S TEAM CHICAGO