Louisville, KYSeafood

John Varanese's riverfront room, which LEO Weekly puts on its list of Louisville restaurants worth the splurge. The raw bar runs fifteen feet and holds oysters, king crab and jumbo shrimp on ice, and the kitchen behind it cooks fish with a lighter hand than the size of the room suggests. Sit outside when the weather allows and watch the Ohio go by.

Robin Garr scored the kitchen 91 out of 100 for LEO Weekly. The oyster po'boy and the fried oysters come out of a restored 1870s whiskey warehouse on Main Street, and the raw bar keeps shellfish on ice for anyone who wants it cold instead of hot. Southern smokehouse on one side of the menu, oysters on the other.

A riverside fish house running since the 1920s, covered by LEO Weekly's Robin Garr on one of his road trip rambles. The fish plate comes out to picnic tables under the trees, the pan fried oysters are the order for anyone who knows, and the portions are sized for people who worked all day. Seasonal, Tuesday through Sunday.

One of the year round fried fish counters LEO Weekly points to in a city whose fish sandwich tradition runs back to the 1800s. Winter Avenue, Butchertown, fried to order, and no ceremony about any part of it. Louisville eats fish on Fridays whether or not it is Lent, and this is one of the rooms that made that true.

A Lexington Road fish house LEO Weekly names among the places to eat fried fish in Louisville in any month of the year, Lent or not. Cod, whiting and catfish come out of the fryer in paper baskets and the counter moves quickly. It is a fish fry that never stops, which in this city counts as a public service.