TOM SCANLAN, market manager at Pacific Northwest Best Fish Company, said customers can request custom orders for pretty much any seafood they can think of.
PACIFIC NORTHWEST BEST Fish Company in Ridgefield offers fresh Pacific Northwest seafood, including oysters, clams, mussels, fresh salmon, halibut, crab and more.
LOCAL DUNGENESS CRAB is available at Pacific Northwest Best Fish Company in Ridgefield, and is very popular during the winter months.
THE CAFE at Pacific Northwest Best Fish Company in Ridgefield opened up a few years after the fish market opened in 2000. The cafe offers home down homemade seafood such as Halibut n’ Chips, Clam Chowder and more.
For anyone looking to purchase some fresh Pacific Northwest seafood and then partake in a homemade seafood meal, look no further than the Pacific Northwest Best Fish Company in Ridgefield.
First opened as just the fish market in September of 2000, the cafe portion of Pacific Northwest Fish followed a few years later, first starting out as a “small, espresso drive-thru type stand in the parking lot,” according to Market Manager Tom Scanlan.
On the market side of things, Scanlan said anything fresh and local is pretty much always available. Oysters, clams, mussels, fresh salmon and halibut are among some of the most popular items available at the market.
There is also a variety of ground fish available, including sole, smelt, lingcod, rockfish, trout, catfish and others. The market also carries cooked shellfish, such as prawns and Dungeness crab.
“We just started the local salmon season, May 1 was the start for King salmon,” Scanlan said. “It’s a good time of the year to get that kick started. We’ll start Copper River (salmon) in about two weeks and we’ll start hitting all the different fresh salmon.”
During the summer months, Scanlan said the fresh salmon is definitely the most popular among market customers. Through the winter months, the variety of crab available at the market is popular. While Scanlan said they normally stick with local fresh Dungeness crab, they do also offer other varieties like snow crab.
As far as prices go at the market, Scanlan said they try not to vary them too much and try to remain consistent. However, the seafood market is always going up and down and is affected by many changing factors such as weather, fishing regulations, oil prices, etc.
“Usually when the different seasons of seafood start, the prices are fairly high and then they slowly go down,” Scanlan said.
People searching for exotic or hard-to-find seafood will also find that Pacific Northwest Fish is a great place for custom orders. Customers can special order any item – swordfish, shark, octopus, ono, mahi mahi, geoduck and more – the possibilities are pretty much endless.
Scanlan said he’s had people ask him to order whole eel, carp, octopus, alligator, frog legs and numerous other exoctic items.
“If you see it on the Food Network or wherever, we can pretty much get it,” he said. “We have all of the sources available to us.”
The market also offers custom processing of fresh seafood. Customers can have items smoked, filleted, vacuum packed and shipped if needed.
Customers who are looking for a place to sit down and enjoy a fresh seafood meal can hop right over to the Pacific Northwest Best Fish Cafe. The cafe specializes in down home homemade seafood, and offers fresh-made items such as hand-breaded Halibut ‘n Chips, Grilled Mahi Tacos, homemade Clam Chowder, “Panko” Breaded Salmon and Chips, Crab Cake Sandwich, a variety of salads and much more.
Scanlan said the Halibut ‘n Chips is probably the cafe’s most popular item, along with their Clam Chowder. The cafe offers a small variety of bottled beer and wine by the glass for customers to enjoy with their meal.
For those looking for a little more beer variety with their food, 3Peaks Public House and Taproom celebrated its grand opening last summer, owned and operated by the same owners of the cafe and fish market. Scanlan said the taproom specializes in local small-batch craft beers and also serves the food from the cafe and some food from Herb n’ Roots.
Scanlan said the taproom offers some local craft beers customers won’t find very many other places, and they also do growlers and hope to be offering some live music and entertainment soon.
Pacific Northwest Best Fish Company – the market, cafe and the 3Peaks taproom – are all located at 24415 NE 10th Ave., in Ridgefield. The taproom is open Tuesday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-9 p.m.; Friday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m.; and Sunday, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. The market and cafe are open Tuesday-Sunday, 10 a.m.-7 p.m. The market and cafe, and the taproom are closed on Mondays.
For more information or to order some fresh seafood, call (360) 887-4094.
