Adam's Seafood & Fish Market

Rest assured, the fish at this Keene market is fresh

Fish – four letters that together demand freshness.

At Adam's Fish Market in Keene you are assured of freshness because Adam Smith himself visits the docks in Boston twice a week to hand pick the fish for his market and he has another two deliveries made to his store each week.

"Most fish guys order their fish over the phone. We are one of a handful that show up to look over the fish and handle it before buying it. That way we know we are getting the very best."

Adam started life as a chef. At the back of the store he showed me how he makes the clam chowder and fish chowder he sells from hot cauldrons at the front of the store. He pointed out the calamari salad he makes and guided me to the freezer where he stocks one-bite clams casino that he wraps in bacon and freezes along with his homemade crab cakes and white clam sauce for spaghetti.

"We just opened our store in Keene five months ago and my wife Darlene works there while I take care of our Brattleboro store and our wholesale business," Adam says. He supplies fish to wholesale customers all over New England in addition to his two retail stores.

It smells like the sea when you walk into his stores. Although salmon and haddock are his best sellers, he offers a large selection of seafood.

I spied the biggest scallops I have ever seen, bluefish, squid, shad roe, svelte smelts, cod, sushi grade Ahi tuna, swordfish, skate, scallops wrapped in bacon, brook trout, wild king salmon, arctic char, flounder, oysters, shucked oysters, clams, mussels, lobsters, grey sole, freshly made lobster salad and pickled herring.

I discovered Adam's Fish Market on Facebook. In fact, if you visit his Facebook page there is a lively discussion around the topic of fish. This is where Adam announces his weekly fish specials and where his customers report back to him what they did with their fish and put in orders. I brought home some of his clams casino, stuffed quahogs, and swordfish and have joined his growing community of fish lovers.