Freshy’s Seafood Market

** THIS RESTAURANT IS PERMANENTLY CLOSED **

For local seafood prepared to order in the most casual surroundings and at reasonable prices, Freshy’s is hard to beat. A Roadfood gem located in what used to be a filling station (props for that alone!), it is a tiny place with a walk-up counter, a little indoor dining area, and a scattering of picnic tables just outside.

There is nothing stylish on Freshy’s menu: fish tacos, fish & chips, a few sandwiches and chowders. It is a joyful challenge to select exactly what kind of fish you want in a fish & chips platter, the choices including Alaskan cod, wild salmon, prawns, clams, calamari, scallops, and oysters. I am wowed by halibut with its cream-rich moistness, so perfectly haloed by a shattering-crisp crust … and even more delicious when simply grilled and mounted atop a Caesar salad. French fries are good, but beer-batter onion rings are sensational. The large hoops are frighteningly dark, and they appear to be heavy, but in fact are featherweight, crunching into pure, sweet onion flavor. These O-rings are as addictive as any chip I’ve come across.

Fish tacos are festooned with shredded cabbage and pico de gallo and/or pineapple salsa and can be made using cod, grilled blackened salmon, ahi tuna, prawns, or rockfish.

Dungeness crab comes bedded on a layer of lettuce in a small cardboard boat. It is ravishing crab, most of it in the form of large, pearly nuggets so refined that they want to melt in your mouth. Even cocktail sauce seems superfluous.

Note that the seafood market that used to occupy half of the restaurant has now moved up the street to 2601 76th Ave S.E. and is known as Freshy’s Local Market.