When easily accessing the freshest seafood the ocean has to offer, the Midwest faces an undeniable logistical disadvantage. Coastal cities reap the benefits of proximity, allowing for a more on-demand element that is harder to achieve for chefs and restaurants elsewhere.
Still, many St. Louis restaurants don’t let the limits excuse them from offering high-quality seafood, like Sado’s sushi on the Hill – which they confirmed they do in fact fly in from Japan – and they also don’t let it compromise how seafood shows up on the menu.
Whether it’s elevating a more accessible offering, or putting a creative twist on a premium one, there’s a common theme: Seafood is showing up in local fare in unexpected formats like pizza, pastries, spreads and small plates, moving it beyond the usual standalone entrée.
As proof to any skeptics, we gathered a list of innovative dishes around town that prove seafood can still feel exciting in a landlocked state.
Idol Wolf’s Tuna on Toast approaches the classic tuna salad concept in an artful fashion. The restaurant’s small plate, served inside the contemporary hotel art museum known as 21c, follows suit with its modern twist. The flavors paired with the ahi tuna resemble a decadent buttery lobster roll bite, but instead use their homemade focaccia bread and tallow aioli to achieve a similar satisfaction.
And while Idol Wolf proves tuna served on house-made focaccia is delicious, it’s not the only restaurant to use focaccia as a canvas. Nick Williams’ Nicky Slices, the popular brick-and-mortar serving Detroit-style pizza on the Hill, features a lobster pie every New Year’s Eve. Williams said they bring in whole lobsters, cook them whole and break them down. No stranger to ocean fare, Williams ran a seafood restaurant and sister cafes in Brooklyn for nine years. “Seafood is all over in my cooking DNA,” he said. “I do it with the pizza club just to bring back all those memories.”
Joining in on seasonal, uniquely topped pizzas is Pizzeria da Gloria, also on the Hill. The White Clam Pizza returned to the menu on Feb. 20, and will be available every Friday during Lent. Described as garlicky, briny and cheesy with a fresh lemon finish, Pizzeria da Gloria sources from Peacemaker Lobster & Crab for the Ipswich clams to bring this temporary, yet highly anticipated Friday feature to life.
Speaking of Peacemaker’s Lobster & Crab, the rustic eatery says it flies seafood fresh every day to prepare creative interpretations of coastal favorites like lobster rolls, poorboy sandwiches, seafood boils, chowders, gumbos and seasonal pies. But chef Kevin Nashan also offers a specific unusual “pie”: the Lobster Frito Pie. The snack features a tomato-based bean chili mixed with chunks of lobster, all served directly in a nostalgic Fritos bag. This novel offering is an ode to Nashan’s Sante Fe childhood, according to the restaurant’s website, where the frito pie is said to have originated.
Other chefs are joining in on the playful presentation of lobster. The lobster donut has become a sought-after dish for the curious customers of Lafayette Square’s Extra Wavy. The lobster donut made its debut alongside the grand opening of the seafood-focused spot. As we shared in our First Look in October 2025: “The lobster donut transforms the classic lobster roll into something extraordinary: a crunchy sweet potato and panko doughnut filled with North African-spiced lobster salad, sun-dried tomatoes, herbs and celery.”
Though the “donut” in the lobster donut is more of a dinner offering, one local breakfast joint offers a morning-time seafood creation. Egg’s mahi mahi eggs Benedict are their take on the beloved brunch item. While experimentation with eggs Benedict variations is not uncommon, Egg offers a unique twist, swapping the classic Canadian bacon for mahi mahi and the expected English muffin for cornbread. The bite is subtly sweet from the cornbread, has a firm yet flakey texture from the mild mahi mahi protein, and is topped with poached eggs, hollandaise and capers.
Restaurants are even channeling creativity with more accessible, smaller-scale snacks. No Ordinary Rabbit has a whole section on their menu reserved for tinned fish. The options include squid tossed with capers, red onion, and pickled cauliflower or mackerel/sardines with fig mascarpone. The tinned fish is elevated with the help of their neighbor, Union Loafers, served with a sesame hoagie. The sliced and grilled loafers bread also accompanies their smoked trout dip.
Another seafood spread plus bread pairing comes from Parker’s Table. Their house-made smoked whitefish is sold in a to-go market fashion and is also offered as a small plate at their neighborhood wine bar, Yale Bar. The spread comes with a whole-grain mustard, house-made barbecue pickles, and a house-made sourdough/seeded rye bread that kicks up the Norwegian flavors. The bread, known as the Rugbröd, is also sold in mini loaves next to Parker’s extensive tin fish selection.
A true novelty is a pasta-turned-small plate featured on O+O’s menu. Seafood pasta is not unusual, but even that has taken special shape. “The octopus corzetti is my bigtime food nerd dish, but also very unique,” chef Mike Risk said. “Corzetti is a stamped pasta and ours has the outline of an octopus on the stamp. The pasta is served with marinated octopus, leeks, bone marrow butter, tomato and dusted with fennel pollen.” The dish comes with eight stamped coins, an intentional chef choice to represent the eight legs of an octopus.
Although not technically a dessert, the alligator sausage and shrimp “cheesecake” from Broadway Oyster Bar is still challenging the norm. This savory appetizer features Louisiana alligator tail meat, smoked pork sausage, and shrimp with a blend of cream cheese and warm gouda cheese served with pita bread. With a lengthy list of oyster offerings and other seafood specialities, like their crawfish enchiladas, this restaurant proves it earned its title as the premier New Orleans’ style restaurant, bar and music venue in the Midwest.
Through different ingredients and presentations, St. Louis restaurants are proving that great seafood has less to do with geography and more to do with imagination, technique, and how chefs choose to showcase it.