Great fish northside?

I'm looking for suggestions of restaurants that do a great job with fish in the area between Lincoln Park and Rogers Park. Does not need to be completely seafood focused, just have a few really good options. Looking for places where entrees average up to mid-thirties or so. My sister and I like to celebrate our birthdays together, and while we want a nice dinner, we don't want a lengthy extravaganza. We'll save that for the next milestone year. Someplace offering softshells would be especially good. I've been to Glen's and was underwhelmed. Maybe it was just what I had, but looking to try somewhere new.

Fahlstrom's and Fish Bar are both worth considering. Fahlstrom's has a market room where you can buy fresh fish to cook at home, and a dining room where they serve you. Fish Bar is more bar-like (as you can guess from the name) and also has limited sidewalk seating. I've enjoyed the food at both, and dinners at both have been virtually identical in price, very affordable. I haven't been to the Angry Crab but it too is in the geographic area you describe.

All three have topics in LTH that may be helpful:

Fahlstrom's Fish Market
Fish bar
Angry Crab - Chicago

If you're looking specifically for soft-shell crabs, you might check out the suggestions in this discussion:

Soft shell crabs - who's making them?

Of course, almost any restaurant will have a few seafood dishes on the menu, and a good restaurant is likely to be good at those. For example, Anteprima, the awesome Italian restaurant in Andersonville, does one of the best octopus dishes you'll find anywhere.

And if you're willing to go downtown, that opens up a lot more seafood-focused restaurants. I've had very good meals at Shaw's and Hugo's, but was disappointed by Catch 35 and Nico Osteria. I haven't yet been to the new Ocean Cut, about which nostromo53 posted a review recently.

One of the very best seafood deals in Chicagoland is Sunday brunch at Shaw's. They serve an all-you-can-eat buffet including Alaskan king crab legs (hot and cold), Chicago's best crab cakes, amazing thick-cut caramelized bacon, shrimp cocktail, beef tenderloin, Chicago's best creme brulee, and lots more. Not inexpensive ($55 for brunch) but it can fill you up for the day, and a great value considering the foods available.

Not sure you're going to find soft shells at this point in the summer but you might. Two restaurants come to mind in your geographic area for seafood-focused spots- MFK on Diversey (Lake View/Lincoln Park) and Sink Swim in Logan Square. Boka (Halsted) is more upscale than those two and always has at least a couple of seafood dishes on the menu. And then outside of your geographic limitation is Nico Osteria . . . I don't think anyone does seafood at the level of Nico anywhere else in Chicago . . . love the place.

I often gravitate to the inventive fish specials at the always lovely Lula Cafe.

Consider - http://www.neseafoodcompany.com/

Consider - http://www.neseafoodcompany.com/

I second this recommendation! And you can carry your food across the street to the Green Lady pub, which has an excellent beer list and a nicer ambiance than NESC.

BR wrote:Not sure you're going to find soft shells at this point in the summer but you might.

In recent years they've become a staple year-round at some places due to the magic of freezing.

spinynorman99 wrote:

BR wrote:Not sure you're going to find soft shells at this point in the summer but you might.

In recent years they've become a staple year-round at some places due to the magic of freezing.

Indeed, but I've found very few restaurants that serve the frozen ones.

Falstrom's is great.

Fish bar is pretty terrible and also very expensive. Not a good combo.