A mid-evening stroll led my wife and I to Coastal Connections, a local seafood market specializing in Gulf Coast shrimp, fish, crawfish and oysters.
We were greeted by Brian, one of the operating partners, who let us sample the cajun fare; samples only since we were walking without cash or credit. The two small cups of seafood gumbo and crawfish etouffee left us hungry for more. All of their selections were fresh and ready to take home. Coastal Connections visit the Alabama and Florida coastline every week to bring home never-frozen fresh seafood.
But don’t take my word for it. Brian and the boys also wholesale to local favorites like Chesapeake’s and Calhoun’s.
They are located at 9674 Countryside Center Lane, at the corner of Bob Kirby and Middlebrook Pike.
This is NOT a paid advertisement. The food is just that damn good.
100% agree. The stuff they have there is amazing. It makes me want to never eat frozen seafood ever again.
Am going tomorrow to buy Royal Reds… thankz to you CP for letting this out of the bag. Another reason for me to make the trek! LOL
@Missybw
Happy to see you venturing into West Knoxville. Hehe. I kid, I kid.
Occasionally I do find my way out there… every once in a while… whenever I refinance the house to afford the gas for the family truckster.
Let me know if you make it out there tomorrow.
Made it out there, and boy am I glad I did. We got 3 lbs. of Royal Reds, a container of Crab Fingers, and some of their Crab Dip… yummy doesn’t even begin to tell the tale. As an added bonus, they told us that they were at the Flora-bama every Monday night and if we come in and see them they’ll buy the first beer! Wanted to stay, hang at their bar, drink something, and eat some of those oysters they were smokin’ while we were shopping, but that wasn’t in the cards for a busy Friday afternoon. What they need is a frackin’ restaurant!!! Somebody, anybody, hook these guys and their beyond-excellent product up to a restaurant, something like Skipper’s Smokehouse in Tampa. Nothing fancy, just damned good seafood and a laidback attitude. Skipper’s isn’t at the beach either, so there’s proof that it can be done. In the meantime we’ll be having some shrimp boils in the backyard… got the washtubs out and ready for the beer!
Next time you go ask them about their Red Cup club.
Their fish is of superb quality. Definitely like their fish sandwich specials, freshly cooked in front of you. It is always perfectly prepared. Personally, I do not care much for Orange Roughy and avoid the days when they feature it as a special. I have had it there before and I find it that the fish is too flaky to be put in a sandwich and the seasoning is not adequate. Still, the highest of marks go to this place.