After shuttering the windows on its 65-year-old flagship location March 3 at the now-being-overhauled waterfront in San Pedro, the famed San Pedro Fish Market has found its temporary home in local brewery Brouwerij West while it searches for something more permanent.
“Michael Ungaro and the San Pedro Fish Market families are local legends,” said Brouwerij West owner Brian Mercer. “They have also been true supporters and friends of Brouwerij West since day one. As a fourth-generation native to San Pedro, I’m proud and honored that we at the brewery get to collaborate with them and be their temporary San Pedro home while they get things going across the way. The response so far has been amazing and we hope this is a lot of fun for the community. We know it’s been fun for us so far and we’re just launching it.”
Using his modular kitchen concept dubbed “San Pedro Fish Market Landing”—where the market can jump from place to place with a full-kitchen in order to move beyond the borders of SoCal—owner Mike Ungaro and his team have set up shop at the brewery in what promises to be a solid collaboration.
“The Brouwerij West team has been great to work with,” Ungaro said. “For weeks, we had been trying to figure out a way to put our people back to work in the down time between leaving our original buildings [on March 3] and opening our new temporary space on the waterfront. When I reached out to Brian Mercer at the about the possibility of opening a kitchen on their property to fill that gap they were 100% for it.”
The pairing seems serendipitous: They’ll be serving the market’s classic micheladas but with a twist using the brewery’s lagers or their mango seltzer.
“It’s a really cool paring and we’re having a great matching our seafood tray to their amazing brews,” Ungaro said.
The San Pedro Fish Market, open since 1965, is the stuff of legend: the state’s largest seafood restaurant, it heaps piles of shrimp, mussels, clams, octopus, lobster, calamari, halibut, crab, and scallops for your gluttonous delight. Hell, it’s even spawned wannabe versions of its platter in Irvine (though there is no comparison to the OG version).
The original San Pedro Fish Market was one of the most profitable restaurants in the nation—when it was operating out of Ports O’ Call pre-pandemic, it earned some $30 million per year.
Brouwerij West 110 E. 22nd St. in San Pedro. San Pedro Fish Market in Long Beach is located at 6550 E. Marina Dr.
