Fancy’s Fish House

This newcomer offers fine seafood dining with a view of the Mississippi River.

by

There are plenty of fish in the sea, as the old adage goes. And Nate Henssler wants to serve them all for dinner. The new chef at Fancy’s Fish House — a riverside restaurant in The Landing Residences, part of the One Beale development — has arrived in Memphis with an elevated menu that emphasizes the quality of their fresh seafood and raw bar.

First opened in April 2022, Fancy’s Fish House went through a trial phase for the first half-year of its tenure, taking a recognizable “protein-starch-vegetable” approach to cooking. Henssler was hired to finesse the concept into a more refined approach to seafood. He landed in Memphis boasting plenty of experience in fine dining, including years working alongside Michelin-starred chef Michael Mina, and quickly set to work reimagining the food.

“We originally had more classic, old-fashioned dishes,” says Henssler, “but we wanted to be a bit more modern with our approach. And you can see that with the à la carte section of our menu, where guests can order anything from black cod to redfish. They’ll come with a specific condiment and a little bit of sauce, and they can share those around along with some sides. It’s about modernizing and creating an experience for what a seafood restaurant should be.”

Entering the restaurant, guests will immediately be drawn to the raw bar, serving anything from oysters on the half shell to a jumbo shrimp cocktail. An early cornerstone of the restaurant, the raw bar, with its spotted black and white tilework and stool seating, harkens back to the style of Acme Oyster House in New Orleans. I began my visit with Fancy’s take on traditional Japanese cuisine: ahi tuna tartare, a fish dish that this seafood enthusiast had yet to try. Like the rest of the dishes I would sample over the course of the evening, the little cuts of tuna filet were impossibly soft, with a smooth and almost buttery consistency. Henssler heats up the raw dish with a bit of spice, the tuna tossed in a habanero sesame oil, mixed with ancho chili, and finished with a hint of mint. Scatter the dish with crunchy almonds for a round and earthy note.

“We want to create those different kinds of vibes and feelings in the restaurant. To invite people in the spring and fall to sit outside, sip on a drink, have a half-dozen oysters, and feel that cool Mississippi breeze. It’s an experience unlike anywhere else in Memphis.” — Chase Carlisle

If diners can’t decide which item to try at the raw bar, Fancy’s offers an unusual solution, the seafood tower. Served in three size tiers (Lil Fancy, Somewhat Fancy, and Super Fancy), the tower packs in East and West Coast oysters, poached jumbo shrimp, marinated blue crab claws, and, at the largest tier, an extra helping of tuna tartare. It’s a veritable seafood feast, and not for the faint of heart. But it’s also the perfect way to try just a little bit of everything.

After feasting on a seafood tower, the leftover oyster shells are, in a way, their own tribute to the legacy of the One Beale project. The whole Carlisle family has a well-established connection to this development and the history of the project, but the specific location of Fancy’s — the restaurant getting its moniker from a nickname for developer Chance Carlisle’s wife, Jessica — has added meaning for Carlisle Restaurant Group’s Chase Carlisle. “In terms of seafood restaurants, this is kind of sacred ground for us,” he says. “This is the site of the old Captain Bilbo’s restaurant. When we were moving our offices here, if you’d walk around the perimeter, you’d find old oyster shells from Bilbo’s that had been crushed into the limestone.”

Captain Bilbo’s is long gone, but Carlisle’s aim with Fancy’s Fish House is to create a new and exciting riverfront dining experience for locals and tourists alike. “There surprisingly still aren’t a ton of direct riverfront dining experiences,” he continues. “It’s a chance for people to come down, and during nice weather sit outside, enjoy the sunsets, and look out over that Arkansas farmland. It harkens back to that romantic connection to what the Mississippi can be.”

But it’s not just patio dining and sunsets, as enticing as that sounds. The spacious interior, imagined by designer Jessica Elvert, invites diners in with warm colors and clean lines, creating a calm atmosphere that’s perfect for a pre-Orpheum dinner or date night, a hotspot that’s buzzing with activity without being intrusive. “On the more technical side, we’ve laid it out in such a way where there’s a good amount of ambient noise,” adds Carlisle. “But you and I could still have a private conversation and the rest of the sound doesn’t bleed into our discussion.”

The warm and light atmosphere is the perfect setting for Henssler’s variety of light and fluffy fish entrées. Each dish is specialized, internalizing a few select flavors that he wants to focus on, and letting the fish shine. “Again, we’re going to keep a lot of these simple, with a little bit of sauce that elevates it,” says Henssler. “For example, we’ve got a redfish option which we’ll make with this rich gumbo sauce and these sweet-heat peperonata bell peppers.”

For my main entree, I decided to try the miso marinated cod. Just like the tuna, my fork glided through like it butter. The miso marinade seeps into the fish, creating an umami flavor that is savory, toasty, and a little bit sweet all at once. It is the perfect example of Henssler’s desire to enrich dishes with just a few simple, yet bold flavors. As a side, the sweet-corn hushpuppies stand out with a little extra flavoring from pickled baby peppers and hot honey.

Seafood is clearly the restaurant’s selling point, but it’s not all pescatarian on the menu. Henssler brings in some variety with other types of meat, with the rosemary-roasted half chicken as one of his first recommendations.

“We air-dry it in the walk-in [cooler] for a couple days,” says Henssler, “and then it’s seasoned with garlic, paprika, and rosemary. After we roast it, it’s nice and crispy.” The steak frites are winners for red-meat lovers, a sliced porcini marinated 14-ounce New York strip served with fingerling potatoes and lime. Back to fish, the Landing seafood plate provides a more casual option, serving up Ghost River golden-ale-battered catfish alongside crispy shrimp, hushpuppies, and French fries.

Henssler has some surprises in store, too, like his take on fried jasmine rice, which combines ginger, garlic, tamari, and egg. Jumbo lump crab is available as an addition. “There are more things I’m working on, too,” he says, “and some others that didn’t make it to the full menu but I’m still workshopping. That gives us the opportunity to focus on monthly specials and other seasonal variants. I’m honestly quite excited for what else we’re going to come up with.”

And as Downtown, and Riverside Drive specifically, continue to develop and undergo changes, Carlisle is excited about the opportunity for Fancy’s to become part of the fabric of the city. And there’s still another restaurant in the works at the One Beale project: Carlisle Restaurant Group is still putting together its second new dining concept, Amanda Gene’s, which Henssler will also helm. In the meantime, Memphians can dine on prime seafood, and when the weather turns warmer, sit on the patio, and enjoy a chai tea old-fashioned, espresso martini, or smoked pineapple margarita.

“We want to create those different kinds of vibes and feelings in the restaurant,” says Carlisle. “To invite people in the spring and fall to sit outside, sip on a drink, have a half-dozen oysters, and feel that cool Mississippi breeze. It’s an experience unlike anywhere else in Memphis.”

Fancy’s Fish House is open for dinner 4-9 p.m. seven days a week. 1 Dr. MLK Jr. Ave. #101. 901-589-3474.