Flying Fish – Memphis Flyer

Michael Donahue

Lobster stew at Flying Fish

I craved lobster stew for decades without ever tasting it.

It’s all because of the 1957 song, “Old Cape Cod.” Patti Page sings, “If you like the taste of a lobster stew served by a window with an ocean view, you’re sure to fall in love with old Cape Cod.”

Every time I heard those words, I wanted lobster stew even though I’d never had it before. Those two words conjured up such a tasty dish in my mind.

So, imagine my surprise and delight when I saw “Lobster Stew” on the menu when I was at Flying Fish the other day. I didn’t know they sold it.

The song didn’t specify whether the lobster stew was served in a bowl or a cup, so I went with the bowl.

It’s wonderful. It’s the realization of the lobster stew taste I created in my mind.

Manager Owen Ray told me the stew, which contains lobster, celery, carrots, and cream, is “in the top tier” as far as popular dishes at Flying Fish. And, he says, “I love it.”

The weather outside was in the top tier — mid 90s — when I took my first bite of Flying Fish’s lobster stew. The stew definitely will be a quick lunch and dinner go-to when the weather is chilly.

Now that I’ve tasted lobster stew, I’d like to eat some served by a window with an ocean view. But I’ll settle for a Mississippi River view.

Flying Fish is at 105 South Second Street; (901)-522-8228

Since its invention seven years ago, the Big Mouth Billy Bass has annoyed thousands. Mounted like a real fishing trophy, the animatronic fish seems innocuous enough, but walk past it and you’ll wish you hadn’t. That is, unless you like cheesy recordings of “Take Me to the River.”

Shannon Wynne, owner of the Flying Saucer and its sister restaurant, the Flying Fish, says he was given about six of the singing fish when the product was at its peak.

“People would get them and think they were the first person who’d ever seen them,” he says. “Nearly everyone that bass fishes got one. Now that the craze is over, people have got all these fish sitting up in their attics.”

This is where the Flying Fish comes in. As a Billy Bass Adoption Center, the restaurant has roughly 20 singing fish hanging on the wall (don’t worry; they take the batteries out first). Patrons bring their Billy Bass with them, sign adoption papers giving them to the restaurant, and in return, get a free basket of catfish.

Wynne founded the restaurant with a country fishing shack in mind. The walls are adorned with mementos from fishing trips, and there’s even an entire wall dedicated to the amazing catches that customers have made over the years, aptly named “The Liars’ Wall.”

Memphis isn’t the first location for the Flying Fish. There are three Flying Fish in Texas and one in Arkansas, smack dab in the heart of fishing country. “The one in Little Rock is just a mecca,” says Wynne. “They love it, they really do.”

No word on whether anyone has started adopting Kung Fu Karate Hamster or Buck the Singing Deer yet.