On Sunday, Nate's mother gave us a tour around the neighborhood she grew up in, this ended in a trip to Calumet Fisheries located at 3259 E. 95th Street, Chicago, IL 60617. It is located directly next to a bridge that raises and lowers to allow boats to pass by.
Despite the...you can't even really call it a "resturant"; it's more of a fish market that sells cooked fish, anyway, despite its outward appearance this market is famous in the culinary world. They prepare food in only two ways - fried and smoked. Their smoker is located next to the main building and fills the air with a fantastic nostalgic odor remniscent of a campsite cookout.
Decor: poor. This space is absolutely tiny. You walk into the market and have a case of smoked fish staring you in the face and about 5 feet of space between the counter and the door so, yeah, it's small. The walls are adorned with multiple awards, signed celebrity head shots, newspaper articles, etc. There is no seating inside (or outside when we went) but luckily there was a small grassy area located not too far away from the bridge.
Food appearance: poor. The fish is just fried, put into a paper boat, and served with a plastic fork in a paper bag, but hey, what can you expect from a place that has absolutely no seating?
Food taste: good. I will say this: I dislike fried fish. Most of the time it's flavorless (except for the grease flavor), it's greasy as all get out, has a horrifically tough texture, and is typically not worth the calories; BUT that is not the case at Calumet Fisheries. I ordered the fried scallops and I have to tell you, they may have been the most tender scallops I've ever eaten. They were buttery, silky and had the fantastic "fishy" taste I adore. All fried fish dinners are accompanied with French fries, which were beautifully crisp; hot sauce, it tasted similar to Texas Pete sauce (maybe it was, who knows); and coleslaw. I typically don't eat coleslaw because the mayonnaise overpowers any other flavors but this was not the case here. The cabbage was still crunchy and the flavor of the vegetable really shone through.
Service: good. The guys behind the counter were friendly enough. My only complaint would be they seemed a tad unorganized with orders. You ordered from one guy, told your order to another guy, and paid yet another guy.
Cleanliness: excellent. The store was spotless, however I suppose with the small size and the following the business has gained it has to maintain excellent cleanliness.
Total: 9/15
The neighborhood in which the Calumwnt Fishery is located leaves much to be desired, although according to Mama Hart has been steadily improving since she was a child.
Mama Hart purchased some smoked fish which we ate for dinner. The pepper and garlic salmon was phenominal and made me ache for a bagel with plain cream cheese (is there anything better than a lox and bagel?); the white fish was buttery in texture but didn't have any of the great smoky flavor the salmon had. The smoked shrimp was just a little disappointing all around. Not smoky, not tender and had a very odd spice flavor that none of us found palatable.
Despite its shortcomings, I'd eagerly return to Calument Fisheries, Inc. for more fried scallops and smoked salmon.
