Eating In at Caplinger's Seafood Kitchen in Indianapolis: What to Order and How the Counter Works
Where to find real seafood in Indianapolis, and what makes it worth the trip.
Where to find real seafood in Indianapolis, and what makes it worth the trip.
People who have shopped the case at Caplinger's Fresh Catch for years sometimes do not realize they can sit down and eat there. People who have eaten there sometimes do not realize the fish on their plate came out of the same case they walked past on the way in. Caplinger's is both things at once: a seafood market and a seafood kitchen, across four Indianapolis locations. This is a guide to the kitchen side, for anyone searching for a seafood restaurant in Indianapolis and wondering what eating at a fish market is actually like.
There is no host stand and no table service. You order at the counter, you get a number, and the food comes out when it is ready. It is fast, it is casual, and it is the same way a fish house on the coast works. Dine in and carry out come off the same line, so if you would rather eat at home the order is packed to travel. On a busy Friday the line moves quickly because the kitchen is set up for volume, and the case is right there while you wait, which is a dangerous place to stand hungry.
The fried fish is the reason a lot of people come. Catfish and whiting come out hot in a basket with sides, and the fried shrimp is the order for anyone who wants something to share. The lobster roll is the one that surprises people who did not expect to find a real one in central Indiana: lobster meat, a proper roll, nothing hiding the lobster. Seafood boils feed a table, with shrimp, crab, sausage, corn and potatoes done the Caplinger's way, and they are the order for a birthday or a group. Oysters come from the same case the market sells them from, and king crab legs are on the kitchen side as well as by the pound.
If you cannot decide, the counter staff will tell you what came in that morning. That is the honest advantage of eating at a market: the kitchen cooks what the case has, and the case turns over every day.
Most seafood restaurants buy from a distributor and serve what arrives on the truck. Caplinger's Fresh Catch is the buyer. The fish in the case and the fish in the fryer are the same product, brought in for the market and cooked in the kitchen, so the kitchen never serves something the market would not sell whole. When crawfish are in season, they are on the plate. When the oysters change, the kitchen's oysters change with them. It is a simple arrangement and it is the whole difference.
The kitchen works for a weeknight dinner, a lunch break, or a Friday fish fry with the family. For a crowd, the same food scales up: catering for events and large orders comes out of the same kitchen, whether that is a boil for a backyard party or fried fish for a workplace lunch. And for a home cook who wants to do it themselves, the market side is right there with fresh fish, shrimp by the pound and live lobster. Plenty of customers do both in one trip: eat lunch at the counter and take home dinner from the case.
Caplinger's Fresh Catch serves Indianapolis from four locations, so most of the city has one within a reasonable drive. Each carries the market case and the kitchen, and each cooks from the same product. If you are on the east side, the south side or downtown, check the location nearest you for hours before you head over, especially on holiday weekends when the line for boils and crab legs starts early.
Ordering at a fish market kitchen is a little different from ordering at a restaurant, and the difference is the fun part. The menu board tells you the baskets and the sandwiches, but the case tells you what is best today, and the two are connected. If the counter has a beautiful whole snapper or a run of fresh catfish, that is what the kitchen is proudest to fry. Ask what came in this morning before you order, and ask how they would cook it. The sides are the ones a fish house should have, and the portions are built for people who work for a living. Eat at the tables, take it to the car, or take it home; the box travels fine for a fifteen minute drive across Indianapolis.
Call ahead for a large boil or a big carry out order so the kitchen can have it ready when you arrive. Friday and Saturday evenings are the busiest; a weekday lunch is the calm time to try the kitchen for the first time. Ask what is fresh that day and order that. And if you have never had a lobster roll in Indianapolis, that is the one to start with.
Looking for the right seafood restaurant in Indianapolis? Come eat at the market. Find your nearest Caplinger's Fresh Catch, and read our guide to the fried catfish and shrimp before you order.