Fish, the anchor of Mike Stollenwerk’s small flotilla of seafood-forward restaurants, is on the move. Come late fall, he plans to close up shop at 17th and Lombard, and ship everything over to 13th and Locust, in the ground floor of the Independent Hotel. But don’t worry, he expects the move will present minimal interruptions to service, and few changes to the overall concept of the popular restaurant. “We’re staying open here until we’re ready to open there,” Stollenwerk told Grub Street. “There might be some down time, but we’re going to try to make it as seamless as possible.”
He’s psyched about the move. By his estimate, the new space is about three times the size of Fish’s current digs. And since it’s part of the Independent Hotel, the move presents him with an opportunity to handle room service for hotel guests.
He’s equally excited about the prospects of working in a larger kitchen, too. “Everywhere we’ve been, we’ve had these tiny kitchens,” Stollenwerk says of the back-of-the-house space at Little Fish, Fathom and Fish. “The new space will give us a lot more room to work in.”
As far as menu changes go, Stollenwerk said he plans to keep things mostly as is. The raw bar will be bigger. Instead of just offering oysters, the new set-up will allow the Fish crew to expand and offer a more elaborate array of shellfish and cold selections. He also plans to add a “little eats” section to the menu for bar patrons.
He’s adding a section of “little eats” for bar patrons, and will definitely expand the raw bar offerings.
