While in Houston, my parents took me to Waterfront Seafood, which is a fresh fish market in Kemah, Texas. This place was so cool. We pulled into the parking lot, and we could see the Gulf to our left along with a marina. We went in, and there was fish on ice surrounding the whole market. They had everything from shrimp, code, gator, red snapper, blacktip shark, and many others.
The first thing I wanted was shark. I have only eaten it once or twice at select restaurants, and I always enjoyed it. The market was serving up blacktip shark, and they had a whole one — minus the head — just sitting on ice. I said, “I want some shark.” They asked, “How much?” I didn’t know how it would work, but I knew they sold it by the pound. “I’ll take two slices off the tail.” The worker cut took the whole shark over to a machine reminiscent of cutting wood, and cut two strips off the tail, perpendicular to the head. These chunks were about 1″ to 1 1/2″ in thickness. They were crazy. He even cut the skin off. Later my dad and I were able to cut that into eight very healthy fillets. I am excited to cook them.
Next, I eyeballed some shrimp. They had a few varieties. First, I went for the Colossal shrimp. These things are huge. They are probably every bit of 4-6 inches in length. I bought about a pound. The gentleman threw a few extra in because he was super cool. Next, I bought some already tailed brown shrimp. I got two pounds of that.
After that, I looked at some of the fresh fish. I couldn’t pass up some red snapper fillets. They looked too delicious! I bought about 2 pounds of that.
Finally, I knew I wanted gator. They had them prepacked in one pound bags in a freezer. It’s not as cool as having it freshly cut right in front of me, but I was excited, nonetheless. My dad told me that a friend of his serves up gator by frying it in Aunt Jermima pancake mix. I will have to try that.
All in all, buying fresh Gulf fish from Waterfront seafood was a pleasant experience. As soon as I got home today, I set out some shrimp to thaw. I was running out of room in the freezer anyway. I will be saving the shark for a special occasion. Who knows, maybe I can get my fish-hating wife to eat some.
If you haven’t had a fresh fish market experience like this, I highly recommend it.
I've been to Kemah and Seabrook many times and the seafood restaurants were always fantastic! I'm 78 years old and I've certainly seen Kemah and Seabrook change over these years. Brings back many memories for sure. Thanks for sharing!