The Best Place to Buy Fresh Fish in Atlanta?
Decatur Metro | March 27, 2011 | 4:08 pm
This question comes from…me.
Where’s the best place one can go and find guaranteed fresh fish for purchase in this land-locked city?
Pic: A candid photo of me grabbing a quick, local lunch in a particularly frigid and salmon-infested part of the Hooch early last week.
Savannah lol
Try the Buford Highway Farmer’s Market. Huge selection and very fresh.
Florida. Never ever buy seafood when you cannot see the ocean.
Does the same go for buying pigs on a boat?
Not sure–have their wings been clipped?
The place out Lawrenceville Hwy. by the Country Cafe. Get some steamed crawfish while you’re there.
If you are speaking of Southern Seafood, this has been around forever with consistenly good reviews.
Yep! Always good.
It hasn’t been there forever…that space used to be a drugstore and before that, it was a pasture.
(Dang, I am getting old.)
Yes, and before that, it was a dinosaur den. Obviously I didn’t mean “forever” literally.
I don’t remember the dinosaurs. But my grandfather shot one right there….That area is called Rehoboth and my family was there since the dinosaurs, I think. Frazier Road was named for my grandmother’s family.
I also know where the moonshiners used to sell their product.
Well don’t keep that a secret!
In the ’80s it was a music instrument store called Ponce De Leon Music.
Crawfish Shack on Buford Highway. NY Times (and John T. Edge) approved!
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/28/dining/28united.html
Ditto! A fave with us.
DeKalb Farmers Market, I get amazing stuff there!
Just make sure you smell it before you buy it. No returns makes for very fishy policy!
I’ve never had to return anything to Dekalb Farmers Market. But their prices for the cuts I like (Mahi, Halibut, Sea Bass, Grouper) are not much less then Whole Foods.
Honestly, I have to go with Whole Foods. Nice variety, convenient, always fresh but, yes, expensive.
And what is it with the grocery chains? You can find three kinds of salmon and tilapia. After that, it’s a crap shoot.
Be careful — while YDFM can have some great stuff on hand, they will keep fish on the counter until it is well past its prime. Everything they sell (short of the live fish) bears close inspection before purchase. In particular, their tuna steaks often look like they are a day away from cat food quality. I’ve seen some very bad salmon on display, too. You have to know what fresh fish looks like before you buy anything there.
Publix. Tuna. No bones!
Rio Vista
Rio Vista – Oh how I wish that place was still around. Many memories of family dinners at that place!
Check out Southern Seafood on Lawrenceville Highway just inside 285. The selection isn’t huge, but the fresh and frozen items are both high quality and low priced. Can be packed at lunch hour with people buying cooked meals to go.
Thanks for all the suggestions all! Will definitely be checking out Buford Hwy and Southern Seafood! I’ve bought a good deal from YDFM in the past with very mixed results. I’m now a little gun-shy with the “no returns policy”.
At YDFM, you have to just stick your nose in the bag after they hand it to you (and hand it right back if it doesn’t smell fresh — i.e., like the ocean). I’ve learned that the hard way!
Sawicki’s right here in Decatur has great fish, and knowledgeable people with great suggestions for cooking it at home.
Excellent point. In general, not just for fish, Sawicki’s has saved me many times when I’ve had last minute needs for quality food for a dinner I’m hosting or a potluck event. And it’s my go-to place for fresh baguettes, great yogurt, real cream sodas for the kids, and catering for those family holiday events where cooking while listening to my mother’s need for infinite attention might put me right over the edge.
Agree on Southern Seafood but the drive to Crawfish Shack is worth it for fresh, and steamed for you, or if you want to see them shuck your oysters before fixing up a po’boy for you, that’s the place, too.
Thanks for the other suggestions, too! Have to remember Sawicki’s, especially!
Hard to beat Super H Mart. If there is anything positive about the centuries of deprivation that the Korean people suffered, it’s that they learned everything there was to learn about gleaning the treasures of the sea, and now they’re here to share that knowledge with the rest of us. I’ve even seen live abalone for sale there, though having been brought up in the waterless wilds of the Midwest, I wouldn’t have a clue was to do with it.
Inland Seafood has a big processing facility in Tucker. Not sure if it’s open to the public though…