Well-known downtown Cape Coral restaurant is back in the national spotlight
Just a few months after appearing on an episode of HGTV’s “My Lottery Dream Home,” Fish Tale Grill by Merrick Seafood was back in the national spotlight.
On Monday, Dec. 11, America’s Best Restaurants (ABR) swung by the beloved downtown Cape Coral restaurant to film an upcoming episode.
“We found out a couple of months back,” said Kerry Krieg, who owns Fish Tale with her husband Patrick. “They found us.”
Five of the restaurant’s dishes will be featured on the episode, Krieg said, including the seafood tower, captain’s feast, a miso marinated Chilean seabass, lobster & crab spring roll and a signature Crabby Mary. The latter — a 28-ounce bloody Mary loaded with lobster tail, Ahi tuna, calamari, snow crab legs, bacon-wrapped scallops, coconut shrimp, cocktail shrimp and more — is a weekend brunch customer favorite. It’s available anytime and comes in a 16-ounce loaded Fishtale Mary too.
The public was invited to drop by Monday morning for a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the filming.
ABR is a Florence, Kentucky-based national restaurant media and marketing company that, according to its website, tours the country “to find restaurants that you would eat at every week.”
“We are on a mission to feature the best independent restaurants in the USA,” it read.
"The (Fish Tale Grill) episode will air in about nine weeks,” said ABR videographer Nick Mammone. It will appear on the restaurant’s website and ABR’s website and social media channels, including YouTube.
Mammone said the 2-year-old company has produced more than 1,000 episodes so far, often shooting two episodes per day for 10 restaurants a week.
While in this area, they also filmed The RUDE Shrimp Co. on Dec. 8 on Fort Myers Beach and were headed to Key West for a shoot on Dec. 12.
“Restaurants can be selected three ways,” Mammone said. “The team reaches out to the restaurant, a customer can nominate a restaurant or a restaurant can reach out on its behalf.”
Krieg came to Cape Coral in 2008 to help with Merrick Seafood, a small (at the time) wholesale fish company her parents started in the 1990s. She eventually bought Merrick from her parents and, with her husband Patrick, opened Fish Tale in 2013.
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It stands out in a competitive restaurant market for several reasons.
“We’ve been in the restaurant business for 37 years,” Krieg said. “The fact that we are also a local wholesale seafood market makes us unique. We also have an amazing staff and value our customers. We’ve been doing this for almost 11 years. We are very fortunate.”
Fish Tale Grill by Merrick Seafood, 1229 SE 47th Terrace, Cape Coral; (239) 257-3167; bestseafoodcapecoral.com or follow on Facebook.
Find America’s Best Restaurants at americasbestrestaurants.com or on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok
Robyn George is a food and dining writer for The Fort Myers News-Press. Send news to [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Fish Tale Grill to appear on an episode by America's Best Restaurants
