Tonight, Southpark Seafood reopens its upper dining room with a new 13-seat oyster and raw bar, and the move follows on the heels of a bar remodel that saw the bar expand to take over the restaurant's lower dining room (see gallery above). This is the downtown seafood restaurant's latest move to revamp its image. After nearly two decades, it's moving away from a traditional seafood restaurant toward a more contemporary, locally focused seafood restaurant, with menus updated daily by executive chef Ryan Gaul.
The oyster raw bar currently serves 12 types of oysters, most from Washington and British Columbia, with two selections from East Coast Canada, too. It's an opportunity to dive into oyster terroir—or merroir, if you're incredibly pretentious—by tasting different oysters from different environments.
The raw bar also comes with Little Neck and Cherry Stone clams from Massachusetts, and Southpark offers both its clams and oysters in raw and baked versions. And shooters? You bet: You'll find four, including a tequila, lime, jalapeno, and radish shooter and one with uni, quail egg, soy, and scallion (see full menu below).
The bar remodel debuted a month or so ago, and it brings notable updates, both design-wise and on the booze front. Southpark Seafood's lower dining room has been absorbed by the bar, and the expanded seating includes comfy booths.
Behind the bar, Southpark has doubled its taps—now offering 10 local craft beers—and expanded its liquor offerings, with a focus on creations from local distilleries. Its wine program has also gotten more local.
Chef Ryan updates the menus with the seasons daily. Here are the opening night raw bar menu and a recent dinner menu, to show you what's new with the restaurant. Southpark is open for lunch and dinner daily, at 901 SW Salmon St.
