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Whether you're observing the first Friday night of Lent or are simply looking for a seafood alternative to your usual carne-heavy meal, New York has a fresh wave of fish-focused eateries ready for the tasting. Dive right in.
Los Mariscos
Influenced by Mexican fish restaurants found in Tijuana, Ensenada and the rest of the Baja region—where seafood and meat tacos are routinely sold from separate street carts—this modern-day marisquería from the Los Tacos No. 1 crew offers a variety of tacos, ceviches and aguachiles (red or green shrimp, scallop), as well as a raw bar stocked with clams, oysters and oyster shooters.
Sugarfish
Kazunori Nozawa brings his high-quality sushi chain to New York with this Flatiron location. In the bi-level restaurant, you’ll find signatures like a set menu comprised of sashimi, nigiri (snapper, yellowtail) and hand rolls (toro, blue crab) but with the addition of local catch to the usual West Coast lineup.
Fish Cheeks
Named after the Asian delicacy, this seafood-forward Thai newcomer is as family-style as it is family-run. Brothers Chat and Ohm Suansilphong act as co-chefs, issuing out dishes like coconut king crab in a hand-crushed red-curry paste, and clam strips with chili jam and basil.
Sunken Hundred
There's more to Welsh food than cheese-clogged rarebit, a fact owner Illtyd Barrett holds dear to at this Cobble Hill spot. In the kitchen, executive chef Tom Coughlan borrows and tweaks seafood recipes from Barrett's mother, such as steamed mussels with brandy-soaked pork belly and roasted hake in a tomato-butter sauce.
Gramercy Farmer & the Fish
Co-owners Edward Taylor and chef-farmer Michael Kaphan are bringing a bit of North Salem to Gramercy with this city sibling to Purdy’s Farmer & the Fish. Seafood is sourced from Taylor’s sustainable wholesale company, Down East Seafood, and is employed in plates including a monkfish milanese and a sushilike composition of the daily catch over riced root vegetables.
Sweetcatch Poke Bar
Even your bodega might be serving poke these days, but for an authentic taste of the Hawaiian favorite, head to this midtown East joint from the Kang Ho Dang Baekjong team and chef Lee Anne Wong. Unlike many other poke spots, the tuna comes in twelve different marinades, including a classic shoe made with onions, seaweed and sesame seeds.
Ziggy's
Noah Arenstein and Josh Kaplan, of Brooklyn’s El Atoradero, branched out with this seafood-focused Mexican offshoot on the Upper East Side. Dishes from Vinegar Hill House alum Juan Juarez include bass tacos (fried with epazote cream, grilled with mango pico de gallo) and beer-steamed shrimp buckets.
Metropolis
Joining the year’s legion of cocktail hideaways comes a gold-hued, sea-kingdom–inspired oyster room and bar tucked away beneath Blue Water Grill. Per Se alum Adam Raksin complements the quaffs with a menu of raw-bar items and modern seafood: Think shellfish towers, shrimp bouillabaisse and a variety of oyster preparations (smoked on the half shell, Rockefeller with lardo).