I work in a visitors information center in Bay Area Houston, and believed for many years that we had in Seabrook, Texas the finest array of retailers of fish and other seafood on the entire Gulf Coast, from Brownsville, Texas to Key West, Florida.

Then in 2008, Hurricane Ike destroyed the entire Seabrook Waterfront. Not a single one of the great Seabrook seafood markets was left standing, only a soggy, desolate, break-your-heart scene. When our visitors center was put back in action 3 months after the storm, I began getting calls asking, "Is Rose's Seafood back in operation?" I said several were back in operation in temporary buildings and operating. But not Roses's yet.. "What is special about Roses/?" I began to ask.

The answer, always, was, "We're a sushi place, and we must have FRESH, top quality fish. We can rely on Rose's."

At Rose's Seafood, what you're looking at in their sparkling beds of ice is what they tell you it is, whether it is fresh or "fresh-thawed," farm raised or wild caught, whether the shrimp is Gulf shrimp or imported. I have never had a "favorite" among the seafood markets on our waterfront, they are all back with huge new buildings built to the new hurricane code, and all are good. There's a lot of competition down there, prices are low and quality is always very good, and I'm very proud of our Waterfront Seafood District.

But somehow I zeroed in on Rose's, and truly love the place. My daughter is a fine chef in East Texas. I send her fresh frozen seafood from time to time in a special insulated shipping container. I wish you could have heard her when she called me today after she thawed and pan sauteed a cut of Rose's Scottish wild-caught salmon for dinner last night. She was accustomed to a very expensive salmon shipped to her from Seattle, and thought she was getting the best. "Dad, this is the BEST! There could not be better anywhere!"

Load a styro box (or buy one from any market here) in the car and come visit our Seabrook seafood market area on the skinny little peninsula that juts out into Galveston bay on 11th Street, the Waterfront District. You will get a surprise at the colossal selection in these sparkling new stores

If you want a real treat, buy a cut of fresh caught Scottish salmon at Rose's. Cook it the same day or no later than the day after and you'll have a new seafood experience. All it needs is a basting of butter before cooking and maybe a sprinkle of Old Bay or some basil. Yum! You can freeze fresh fish without any discernible loss of quality for three or four months.

Doug Briggs