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AT A GLANCE
THE FISH MARKET
Address: 85 Fortune Drive, Irvine Spectrum
Phone: (949) 727-3474
Cost Appetizers $5.75-$10.25, Entrees $8.95-$29.95 (lobster)
Hours: 11 a.m. through dinner daily
The Fish Market opened six weeks ago in the Irvine Spectrum.
It's part of a small chain that began in 1976 in Palo Alto and now consists of eight restaurants, three of which include separate restaurants called Top of the Market with upscale tablecloth decor and a more sophisticated demeanor.
We have only The Fish Market concept, which presents a pleasantly casual place with lots of wood, an on-view kitchen behind a plate glass wall, and tables that feel no need for fancy cloths.
The emphasis is on the fresh seafood and it does make quite an impression.
When you enter, the retail counter is the first attention-getter. It displays fresh fish of all kinds atop crushed ice and any of the half-dozen smoked fish specialties that also are on the menu.
When we've been in the restaurant, there were always several people buying the "fresh daily" raw fish to take home and cook. Judging from that and the numbers in the dining room, the locals are quickly tuning in.
There's a very comfortable cocktail area where an oyster-bar-style selection of food is printed on a small menu; but the restaurant will serve anything from the full menu if you prefer, as we sometimes do, to just...