After a day with a lot of exercise, I felt I deserved fried things.
At 5:20,the line ran from the back of the store, through the entire vestibule that runs the length of the place, and just out the door. Over half an hour to get to the register. They've also paved the outdoor dining area, and the indoor seats have doubled into long rows of communal tables.
But the food and service are still outstanding. Love love love the perch.
Careful with the menu: the front page has 1lb dinners, which are on enormous platters. The back has half pound dinners, which are still substantial, and 3 to 5 or so dollars cheaper.

Just call in the order on your way there (usually ready in 20-30 minutes), then walk past the line to the register when you arrive..

10 of us had dinner last night.

large Greek salad fed 10 of us & there were still some left
Grilled Octopus
Fried clams
Fried Walleye
Blackened Grouper
Halibut

Some new items as well, all terrific:
Skordia (garlic spread)
Shrimp w/feta & tomatoes
Cioppino (clams, AK crab legs, New Zealand mussels)

Amazing the business that they were doing on a Wed night after the holidays, even at 7:15pm there was a line of folks waiting to get in for dinner.

I was with Willie last night. Ridiculous amounts of food. I was only able to finish 1/3 of my halibut dinner, had to take the rest home. I seriously could have fed a family of 4 with the $23 order I received.

Retail bulk prices for the market seemed reasonable as well - I saw nice looking scallops for $20/lb, vs $30 at Whole Foods a couple of weeks ago.

The Skordalia was rather pedestrian (too much potato, I think), but even a pedestrian version is good. My halibut was very good. Next time I may try the halibut vesuvio if it's on special again.

Had some time to kill Saturday evening in the Des Plaines area so I thought I would go and get something to bring home. The line was easily 35ppl deep. The vestibule which spans the entire width of the shop was completely jammed, and I do mean jammed with customers waiting to get in. One person said they estimated 1.5 hour wait. Ah well. I'm glad they are successful.

Just picked up some seafood to cook at home from Boston Fish Market, noticed two items:

- a sign by front door stating at $10 corkage fee for any bottle of wine brought in. Sign also stated that no hard alcohol or beer from outside was allowed

- Boston Fish Market has added a permanent tent structure adjacent to the building, I didn't go in but looks to nearly double the existing restaurant seating capacity

Sweet Willie wrote:Just picked up some seafood to cook at home from Boston Fish Market, noticed two items:

- a sign by front door stating at $10 corkage fee for any bottle of wine brought in. Sign also stated that no hard alcohol or beer from outside was allowed

- Boston Fish Market has added a permanent tent structure adjacent to the building, I didn't go in but looks to nearly double the existing restaurant seating capacity

Any new updates in the Wheeling location? The initial word back in Oct. was that it was due to open in March. I haven't seen or heard anything since.

I spoke with Louie and he said they would be open in September

fredjason wrote:I spoke with Louie and he said they would be open in September

Is that last September, or next September?

Ok, never been.
I've been dying to get here for years.
What would you recommend for lunch group of 8-9 co-workers. We are planning a group lunch, and we'll be within striking distance, so I'm gonna push for this place. Sure, we could all just order sandwiches, or the fried lunch specials and be happy, but the whole office knows that when I take the reigns, we're eatin' good. I'm just not familiar with portion sizes, so looking for guidance to not over-order which is my usual m.o.

I'm thinking:
Large greek or caesar for sharing (my guess is we'd need two?)
Clam chowders or those who want.

Then, for sharing:
Fried Lake Erie Smelts dinner
Fried Lake Superior Whitefish
Grilled Octopus dinner
Broiled Gulf Grouper dinner

Way too much? Am I missing something else that they excel with?

seebee wrote:Ok, never been.
I've been dying to get here for years.
What would you recommend for lunch group of 8-9 co-workers. We are planning a group lunch, and we'll be within striking distance, so I'm gonna push for this place. Sure, we could all just order sandwiches, or the fried lunch specials and be happy, but the whole office knows that when I take the reigns, we're eatin' good. I'm just not familiar with portion sizes, so looking for guidance to not over-order which is my usual m.o.

I'm thinking:
Large greek or caesar for sharing (my guess is we'd need two?)
Clam chowders or those who want.

Then, for sharing:
Fried Lake Erie Smelts dinner
Fried Lake Superior Whitefish
Grilled Octopus dinner
Broiled Gulf Grouper dinner

Way too much? Am I missing something else that they excel with?

I personally prefer the zuppe di pesce to the grouper and it's a massive platter of shellfish and one non-shellfish. So that would be my substitute. I also think you could get by with just one salad - it's huge. I think the chowder may be overkill with everything else you have, but I suppose it can always be taken to go. The rest seems fine, and it's almost impossible for me to go there and not get the octopus.

I agree with BR. Go with the Zuppa de pesce. It's an amazing plate of food! Also, the fried fish comes in either 1/2 or 1 lb portions. It almost goes without saying that you'll want the 1 lb versions; and don't forget to order the fries well done/crispy. They are excellent hand cut fries, but they can be a little on the limp side if you don't specify well done or crispy. Personally, I'd order the Lake Erie perch instead of the smelts, or just add an order of perch to your list. Enjoy!

P.S. A single large salad should be more than enough. The salads are Donald Trump HUGE.

Awesome info - thanks. So something like:


One greek Salad

FRied perch
I don't wanna duplicate a fried whitefish, now that I think about it, so maybe:
Fried Clams - if avail (which I don't see on the menu, but I was hoping for)
Grilled octopus
Zuppa De Pesche ( I was trying to avoid getting greezy, but it's all good)
Hopefully copious amounts of grilled bread.

Sounds like a decent plan for 8-9?

Seebee--I'd advise skipping the chowder--unless they've drastically changed the recipe, it's a really weak version. But two items I would recommend, are the chargrilled Fisherman's platter--comes with beautifully charred veggies and excellent Greek rice soaked with the fish juices and lemon. And I always get the Greek salad with the chargrilled octopus--kills two birds with one stone

And +1 for perch over smelt.

Enjoy!

One other point regarding the zuppa di pesce. Our Evanston Lunch Group™ has learned from experience that soups are the most difficult type of dish for a group to share. And as you can see from the photo on page 3 of this thread, their zuppa di pesce is most definitely a soup - i.e. a dish of seafood served in the broth that it was cooked in. You can pick out and share the seafood, but the broth won't be easily shared, and the plate full of broth can't be easily passed without spilling.

Despite it's name, the zuppe di pesce is really not a soup. There are a couple of pictures of it on the 3rd page of this thread. And every time I've had it, I've shared it. That and the octopus (or octopus salad) make a filling lunch for 4 people.

Mrs Willie & I dined outside last Thursday, late enough that we were in the shade of the building. (word of warning, we wore shorts & got bit quite a bit by black flies on the ankles. I didn't see anyone else bothered, we were on the very outside area of the seating so maybe we were the meal due to our seating, thankfully this was going on the last 1/4 of the meal or else it would have been a terrible experience)

We shared the Louisiana Oysters (grilled oysters) and crab stuffed grilled shrimp with lemon.

Louisiana Oysters were good, not overcooked but the feta cheese added was overwhelming. Less topping and these would have been great.

Crab stuffed shrimp were excellent, loads of crab, sweet succulent shrimp grilled perfectly

Service was terrific. Went about 5:45pm and only had a handful of people in front of us in line to order.
-

Was at Boston Fish Market a few weeks ago and it was excellent as always. Went earlier in the evening, so the wait was not too bad. Service is always excellent and the quantity and quality of the food there remains high.

I spoke with the owner and asked him when the new location is going to open, and he says that he hopes by the end of October.

thetrob wrote:I spoke with the owner and asked him when the new location is going to open, and he says that he hopes by the end of October.

I guess the last estimate of August that he gave me around a month ago has gone by the wayside.

stevez wrote:

thetrob wrote:I spoke with the owner and asked him when the new location is going to open, and he says that he hopes by the end of October.

I guess the last estimate of August that he gave me around a month ago has gone by the wayside.

Maybe your information is more accurate than mine.....who knows.....with construction, inspections, etc. it may fluctuate by the day. I guess we will know for sure when it actually opens the doors.

It's happening I finally get to go to BFM today!
Only a party of three, so not a lot of ordering power. I've been trying to figure the best ordering plan. We are contemplating:

Fried Sample platter (scrimps/scallops/ersters)
Dandelions
Grilled octopus platter
1/2# perch
1/2# scrimps OR oysters.

seebee wrote:It's happening I finally get to go to BFM today!
Only a party of three, so not a lot of ordering power. I've been trying to figure the best ordering plan. We are contemplating:

Fried Sample platter (scrimps/scallops/ersters)
Dandelions
Grilled octopus platter
1/2# perch
1/2# scrimps OR oysters.

That sounds good, but you've got enough food on your list for at least 7. I'd leave off the 1/2# shrimp or oysters and maybe even the perch, since you're already getting the platter, which is HUGE.

stevez wrote:

seebee wrote:It's happening I finally get to go to BFM today!
Only a party of three, so not a lot of ordering power. I've been trying to figure the best ordering plan. We are contemplating:

Fried Sample platter (scrimps/scallops/ersters)
Dandelions
Grilled octopus platter
1/2# perch
1/2# scrimps OR oysters.

That sounds good, but you've got enough food on your list for at least 7. I'd leave off the 1/2# shrimp or oysters and maybe even the perch, since you're already getting the platter, which is HUGE.

I agree about leaving off the 1/2# of either, although that's tough talk from someone who ordered the gumbo the last time my wife and I dined in there (in addition to my wife's meal). Nothing draws stares like a serving for 6 placed in front of one person.

We actually did ok. Didn't eat many fries (on purpose) even tho they were good.
Grilled octopus
Sample Platter
1/2# of perch
Dandelions

The oysters and scallops on the sample plate were HUGE hits. The perch was also fantastic. The Octopus was a day or so past its prime - it wasn't BAD at all, just not ultra fresh. Definitely cooked properly. Tender, though I think it may have been a decent amt more tender a day ago. Again, it was good, we at it ALL. The scrimps were kind of dismissed as "don't need to get them again."

We planned what to order on our next visit while we were eating. Place is great.
We all agreed - those fried oysters are almost a bargain. Definitely getting a lb of those next time.

seebee wrote:We planned what to order on our next visit while we were eating. Place is great.
We all agreed - those fried oysters are almost a bargain. Definitely getting a lb of those next time.

Don't miss the zuppa di pesce. It's the non-fried version of the fried platter. mussels, clams, octopus, etc. Enough for a group.

The Zuppa was definitely a candidate for this lunch. An esl tablemate was not sure about the whole broth/soup explanation, and thought fried was a safer choice. Hopefully next time we'll get it if we have more ppl. Later he told us that his interpretation of what we were trying to explain was that the Zuppa Di Pesce was just a bunch of boiled (plain) seafood. We straightened him out after that.

Love this place, but don't even think about going on a weekend night. Wow. Two hour wait, easily.

Wonder how much they have raised the prices since the last time I was there. More than doubled on my most liked items since they opened.

Ah well guess I'll just stick to my soylent green like the rest of the 95%

Octarine wrote:Wonder how much they have raised the prices since the last time I was there. More than doubled on my most liked items since they opened.

Ah well guess I'll just stick to my soylent green like the rest of the 95%

The last thing I would say about this place is that they're overpriced. When you look at the price of their fish in the coolers, they're in line or better than most other fish markets and their quality is very high. The cooked items are often just a few dollars a pound higher than uncooked. Fresh fish in general has gotten pricier over the past 6-8 years.

spinynorman99 wrote:The last thing I would say about this place is that they're overpriced. When you look at the price of their fish in the coolers, they're in line or better than most other fish markets and their quality is very high. The cooked items are often just a few dollars a pound higher than uncooked. Fresh fish in general has gotten pricier over the past 6-8 years.

I agree. It's more useful to compare current pricing to the overall market and not to what they used to charge . . . especially if the quality hasn't diminished.

=R=