Here are 13 Triangle restaurants specializing in Calabash-style seafood (plus some riffs)

Even in the landlocked Triangle, the delights of Calabash are never far away.

As Calabash seafood grew from a destination into a world famous style known up and down the East Coast, fried seafood restaurants sprang up throughout the inland cities and towns.

If a trip to Calabash isn’t in the cards, we’ve picked a baker’s dozen Triangle restaurants that honor the style just as well (and sometimes better) than the famous dockside.

Here are 13 Triangle restaurants where you’ll find great Calabash-style seafood.

Captain Stanley’s Seafood

3333 S. Wilmington St., Raleigh. 919-779-7878 or facebook.com/captainstanleys

As old school as it gets, Captain Stanley’s has been a Triangle seafood institution for decades. Dealing in the Calabash-style mythology, the walls of Captain Stanley’s hold large decorative fish, a ship’s helm and images of the sea, while the menu serves reliable and bountiful fried white fish, shrimp and hushpuppies alongside traditional Southern sides.

Locals Seafood Restaurant

530 Foster St., Durham. localsseafood.com/our-restaurants

When Locals Seafood started 14 years ago, the North Carolina coast suddenly felt much closer. Initially from the back of a pickup truck and then from its seafood markets in Raleigh and Durham, Locals made fresh seasonal fish and shellfish a reality in the Triangle.

Now with its restaurant in the Durham Food Hall, Locals offers a glimpse and a taste of what Calabash might have been like in the days when the shrimp and flounder were fried up just moments out of the water. One thing will be clear — fresh, local seafood is not cheap, but the platters from Locals are as big as anything you’ll find in Calabash, served with perfect waffle fries, which you’ll probably dip in the tangy tartar sauce along with the mound of shrimp and oysters.

The Durham Food Hall can’t replicate the breeze coming off the Calabash River, but Locals can surpass everything else.

Saltbox Seafood Joint

2637 Durham-Chapel Hill Blvd., Durham. 919-237-3499 or saltboxseafoodjoint.com

The magic trick that chef Ricky Moore performs with North Carolina seafood earned him a James Beard award for Best Chef: Southeast (and The News & Observer’s 2022 Tar Heel of the Year). With his Durham restaurant Saltbox Seafood Joint, Moore intertwines decades of fine dining restaurant experience and a life-long connection to the North Carolina coast.

Calabash-style seafood is a reference point on the menu at Saltbox, where just about every day you’ll find lightly fried and aggressively seasoned shrimp, oysters and flounder. But Saltbox takes a wider look at the North Carolina coast, and its menu ebbs and flows like the seasons.

N.C. Seafood Restaurant at the Farmers Market

1201 Agriculture St., Raleigh. ncseafood.com

One of the most tempting scents at the State Farmers Market is the waft of fried seafood in the air. With a straightforward name and menu, N.C. Seafood Restaurant offers an inland Calabash experience, right down to the deviled crab.

Cape Fear Seafood Company

832 Spring Forest Road, Raleigh. 984-242-4600 or capefearseafoodcompany.com

2018 Clark Ave., Raleigh. 984-200-5455

3612 Rogers Branch Road, Wake Forest. 919-295-2455

From the moment this Wilmington-based seafood name made its move to the Triangle, Cape Fear Seafood was popular. Now there are three Cape Fear locations in the Triangle, each with a menu dropping the Calabash name. Cape Fear offers the modern seafood menu, with shrimp and grits and snow crab legs, but there are also platters of fried seafood, with options like flounder, oysters, shrimp, scallops and clams.

Captain John’s Dockside

11550 U.S. 15-501 North, Chapel Hill. 919-968-7955 or docksidechapelhill.com

A mid-century masterpiece of a seafood restaurant, Captain John’s Dockside has towering ceilings, large windows and a marlin over the hearth. The Calabash offerings span the classics, fried or broiled, plus deviled crab and oysters on the half shell.

Capital Seafood Market

1304 University Drive, Durham. 919-402-0777 or capitalseafoodmarkettogo.com

Half-seafood market, half-fry shack, Capital Seafood Market has been a popular lunch spot for more than 30 years.

Skipper’s Seafood & Smokehouse

1001 E. Williams St., Apex. 919-303-2400 or skippersfish.com

Skipper’s may stand alone in North Carolina for successfully pairing barbecue and seafood traditions. The barbecue skews toward the modern side, with brisket on the menu, but the seafood is done in the familiar fry shack style, here with a bit of a thicker batter leading to a satisfying crunch.

Big T’s Fish Fry

2945 S. Miami Blvd., Durham. 919-908-9039 or bigtsfishfry.com

This fun fry shack packs a ton of flavor into its seafood platters of crispy shrimp, scallops, flounder and catfish. The sides are among the standouts, adding fried okra and sauteed veggies to the lineup of coleslaw and fries.

Sho Nuff Seafood

1104 Broad St., Durham. 919-972-9212 or shonuffseafood.com

Among the more generous plates of seafood anywhere, Sho Nuff is best known for its buttery platters of garlicky, spicy crab legs and shrimp. But this Broad Street spot also fries up filets of fish, fries and perfectly round hushpuppies.

42nd Street Oyster Bar

508 W. Jones St., Raleigh. 919-831-2811 or 42ndstoysterbar.com

There are many sides to 42nd Street Oyster Bar. Mainly it is a quintessential North Carolina oyster bar, where you’ll find raw oysters with all the fixings and a friendly bar for after-work cocktails. But there’s a corner of the menu reserved for fried seafood — small crispy shrimp, plump oysters and flounder.

St. Roch Fine Oysters + Bar

223 S. Wilmington St., Raleigh. 919-322-0359 or strochraleigh.com

This downtown Raleigh restaurant serves its seafood with a New Orleans accent, but its classically fried seafood still nods toward Calabash. You’ll find maybe the ultimate fried Calabash platter at St. Roch, a medley of fried options like oysters, shrimp and fish, plus fried pickles, perfect fries and crawfish-stuffed hushpuppies.

Squid’s Restaurant

1201 Fordham Blvd., Chapel Hill. 919-942-8757 or squidsrestaurant.com

Squid is not really part of the Calabash repertoire, which is too bad because Calabash Calamari has a wonderful ring to it. This longtime Chapel Hill seafood destination mostly serves an upscale view of the sea, but still doesn’t shy away from the golden brown fried platter, here offering combinations of scallops and shrimp and oysters and North Carolina catfish.

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