This feast between two pieces of bread starts with a heaping pile of freshly breaded, deep fried-to-order Atlantic snow cod. | Photo by Brooke A. Brown

By Brooke A. Brown

Maybe it’s because the Discovery Channel was celebrating the 20th anniversary of their annual “Shark Week” series last week. Or perhaps it’s because I’d just witnessed the opah battle on my favorite television show: Food Network’s “Iron Chef America.” Whatever the reason, I suddenly found myself with a large appetite for a BIG fish (cursed power of suggestion!). Luckily I knew exactly where to turn. I didn’t even need to bait a hook or involve a chum bucket.

The Fresh Seafood Company, a mainstay at Charleston’s wonderfully charming and now 10-year old Capitol Market, is home to “the world’s largest fish sandwich.” Now, hold on just one second there, Loretta. Can such an over-sized statement actually be true? Well, it’s highly unlikely, but anyone who’s ordered the Big Fish sandwich knows that it certainly lives up to its name.

This feast between two pieces of bread starts with a heaping pile of freshly breaded, deep fried-to-order Atlantic snow cod. The Fresh Seafood Company calls the snow cod their “house fish” although they do not sell it by the pound like their salmon, monkfish or other fresh fish varieties. The bread in question is not your ordinary loaf, but rather an enormous, oversized, buttery croissant that provides ample surface area for applying their homemade tartar sauce (highly recommended). To make things a touch healthier — but really to add color — I always ask for lettuce on my Big Fish.

Now, the sandwich itself is most definitely a complete meal. But you can also order the ‘Big Fish Combo,’ which comes with sides of thick-cut fries and homemade coleslaw. Of course, this is the option I chose, you know, for the sake of journalistic integrity and accuracy in reporting. I mean, have you tried their fries? They’re also made to order, which translates to hot, crispy and delicious. I rounded out my order with an unsweetened iced tea.

A quick note on iced tea: As I mentioned in my last post, I grew up in the great State of Tennessee. From the time I was weaned from the bottle until I moved to West Virginia in the ’90s, iced tea was the beverage of choice come meal time. Southerners have a way with iced tea that can only be expressed by the sincerest of “….. ahhhhhhhs.” Doesn’t matter where you order a glass of tea in the South, it’s consistently delicious. In West Virginia, it’s hit and miss. My point? The fresh brewed iced tea at the Fresh Seafood Company gets this southerner’s stamp of approval.

Returning to the gigantic sandwich there on the Styrofoam clamshell, it is imperative, as far as I’m concerned, that you take advantage of the yellow squeeze bottle filled lovingly with hot sauce (not mustard, thankfully) and coat the fish liberally before digging in. There’s just something about hot sauce and fried fish, y’know what I mean?

The Fresh Seafood Company has a fairly extensive menu, offering among others items catfish, grouper and swordfish, fantastic chowders, popcorn shrimp, chicken strips, tuna salad and even hot dogs (bonus!). They also have a sit-down place of the same name along MacCorkle Avenue in St. Albans. But the main attraction is their Big Fish sandwich, yet another culinary delight in the small pond of Charleston, West Virginia.

IF YOU GO: The Fresh Seafood Company, Capitol Market, 800 Smith St Charleston, WV. Call 343-3134.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 7th, 2007 at 2:49 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.