While Lake Edge Seafood Co. opened first as a seafood market, don’t overlook it as a restaurant. Yes, it’s in a strip mall, but Lake Edge is worth a visit, especially if you’re in the Monona area.
Let’s start by talking about the smoked salmon bisque ($4.55 cup, $5.95 bowl), which is absolutely delicious. It’s creamy and definitely has the salmon flavor, and it has enough morsels of salmon here and there. Lake Edge also has a clam chowder and a Manhattan seafood chowder.
I enjoyed the poached salmon pâté ($9.95) for the most part. On the one hand, the wild-caught salmon is wonderfully smoky and tender, but on the other, it’s mixed with so much diced onion and celery that you can never have a bite of just the salmon.
From the sandwich section, I was tempted to get the po’boy ($13.95), but I opted instead for the lobster roll ($19.95), and I’m glad I did. When you bite through the lightly toasted roll, you’ll be greeted with the full flavor of the large chunks of claw meat, which fortunately were not drowning in mayonnaise.
Fish fry is not limited to Fridays. You can get battered cod (two for $13.80 or three for $15.90), jumbo shrimp ($16.95), walleye ($18.80), lake perch ($15.95) or all four ($19.95). The perch is not overly battered yet was still crispy enough on the outside to contrast with the flaky fish inside. You get six pieces with your order.
On weekends you can get the Door County fishboil ($18.99), which comes with cod, shrimp, onion, red potatoes and celery. Similar to other fishboils I’ve had, Lake Edge’s version is mild in flavor and has an abundance of potatoes. I had to add a lot of salt, and I considered adding hot sauce.
Lake Edge Seafood Co. is open Monday-Saturday for lunch and dinner.
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See more photos in our Lake Edge Seafood Co. Flickr album.
