Brooklyn Finally Gets a Great “Pick-Your-Fish” Restaurant

By Scott Lynch

The concept of the Pick-Your-Own-Seafood restaurant, exemplified by Queens legends like Astoria Seafood and AbuQir, is so simple and fun and genuinely transportive (“it feels like we’re on vacation!!”) that it’s kind of wild that they haven’t popped up all over the city. In fact, until just recently, there were approximately zero of these things in this big, beautiful borough.  

Adam Kohlani—born in Yemen, married to an Egyptian, a Bay Ridger for almost 14 years now—thought the absence was borderline tragic. And so, at the start of the summer, he opened Port Sa’id Seafood, a casual and welcoming spot celebrating all manner of swimmers on Third Avenue just off Bay Ridge Avenue.

(Photo by Scott Lynch)

If you’ve never been to one of these sorts of places, here’s how Port Sa’id works. The core of the “menu” is a case of raw seafood located in the back room of the restaurant. On display, lolling on ice, are whole fish like branzino, sardines, and red snappers, as well as mollusks, crustaceans, and cephalopods like squid, scallops, and shrimps. You point at what you want, tell the counter person how you’d like it prepared, and about 15 minutes later, lovely plates of screamingly fresh seafood start hitting your table.

(Photo by Scott Lynch)

Most of the fish can be made in one of four different ways. There’s Greek style (charcoal grilled, smoky as hell, drizzled with sauce), which Kohlani told Brooklyn Magazine he learned from the Astoria Seafood pros.

Branzino prepared Egyptian style (Photo by Scott Lynch)

There’s Egyptian style (heavily seasoned inside, then encrusted with charred cumin, imported wheat flakes, and finely chopped vegetables), which comes from Kohlani’s wife’s family secret recipes.

Butterflied and baked fish (Photo by Scott Lynch)

If you want something with lots of crackle and crunch, get your fish deep-fried. For a (slightly) lighter touch, the butterflied-and-baked fish gets finished with olive oil, garlic, and lots of lemon. This latter preparation is also the easiest to eat without getting a mouthful of bones.

All this shrimp cost about $16 (Photo by Scott Lynch)

Definitely don’t skimp on the shellfish and such either. The mussels are wonderfully plump, the shrimps sweet and snappy, the scallops meltingly tender, and the fried squid comes with two banging dipping sauces. The supplemental dishes are all solid as well, from the eggplant in red sauce and creamy hummus to the chewy rice sayadia and puffy breads.

Seafood pizza, $17.99 (Photo by Scott Lynch)

Delicious wild card: the Port Sa’id “marta pizza,” a soft slab of dough absolutely loaded with shellfish and stretchy, gooey cheese. There are also several seafood pastas on the menu.

Coming with a crew is obviously the move at Port Sa’id. The reasonable per-pound prices on all the seafood means you can grab stuff from all over the case without stressing, and all the side dishes are under five bucks. We got a kick out of the aggressively nautical decor, too.

And while Port Sa’id doesn’t exactly encourage the sort of rowdy BYOB vibe of Astoria Seafood—discreet, boozy self-pours are ok, though, Kohlani said—when so much good food gets piled on your table all at once, it’s hard for the night not to tip toward a party.

Port Sa’id Seafood is located at 6909 Third Avenue, just south of Bay Ridge Avenue, and is currently open from 12:00 noon to 10:00 p.m. daily