Photo by Jenn Ocken

In a restaurant known for red sauce classics and its signature, no-limits Village Bread, the Little Village’s Arctic Sea Bass counters with delicate simplicity. Chef Stuart Woodman, who mans the downtown location’s kitchen, preps an 8-ounce arctic sea bass fillet with a stroke of olive oil and his own undisclosed spice blend. The tender fish is broiled yet kept moist with the addition of an oven water pan. Finished with lemon butter sauce and jumbo lump crab meat, it’s a balance of tang and succulence. “Arctic sea bass is a mild fish that’s got good oil content, so it stays juicy,” says Woodman. “We’ve been told by many customers who have had this fish elsewhere that nobody can touch ours.”

The Little Village
447 Third Street, 218-6685
14241 Airline Highway, 751-4115
Mon.-Fri., 11 a.m. – 2 p.m.; ?5 p.m.–10 p.m.
Sat., 5 p.m.–10 p.m.
Sun., 11 a.m.–9 p.m. (Airline location only)