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Boise’s Seafood Restaurant

Chandlers serves the freshest seafood in Boise! How do we do that?

  • By working with purveyors that we have long-standing relationships with to obtain the highest-quality seafood possible.
  • This also means the seafood often arrives in Idaho just hours after it was pulled from the sea. This is our jet-fresh program.
  • We are conscientious about seasonality and make sure to source responsibly.
  • We receive multiple shipments each week assuring we are consistently serving the freshest product we can.

Below is a selection of some of our favorites but make sure to check our menu. We also have nightly specials highlighting the freshest of what is in season.

Black Orchid

Black Orchid

The ahi tuna used in the Black Orchid, as well as other dishes, comes fresh from the waters of Hawaii.

Halibut

Halibut

Halibut is one of the fish that where it is sourced is dictated by the seasons – from Alaska May to September, and from the East Coast in the winter months.

Tower of Tuna

Tower of Tuna

The Tower of Tuna has been a menu favorite since we opened in 2007 and combines both sashimi-grade ahi and hamachi tuna.

Fresh Oysters

Fresh Oysters

Love fresh oysters? Then Chandlers is your place! We offer multiple varieties each day, sourced from the waters off the Washington coast.

Prawn Cocktail

Prawn Cocktail

We choose wild-caught over farmed any day and every day so that’s why we go south of the border for our big, beautiful Mexican prawns.

Day Boat Scallops

Day Boat Scallops

Our day boat scallops come fresh from the Atlantic Ocean packed in nothing but their juice for a scallop that tastes like the sea and cooks up to perfection!

Oysters Rockefeller

Oysters Rockefeller

Prefer your oysters cooked? No problem. Those same fresh oysters we serve on the half shell are just as delicious as the classic Oysters Rockefeller!

The Surf to the Turf

Don’t take our word for it! See what the Idaho Press-Tribune said in their article “Surf in Boise and beyond”.

Have you ever tried Chandlers’ Tower of Tuna? Proper Moules Frites? Maybe a dozen Fat Bastards? Or dined on generous cuts of ahi or fresh Alaskan halibut cooked to perfection? So … it is no surprise that snagging top honors in the “surf” category once again at Chandlers, where owner Rex Chandler’s commitment to securing the best vendors and expediting delivery ensures Idaho diners reap the benefits of delectable oysters, mussels, ahi, halibut, black cod, abalone and many other delicacies from the sea.

He has a vested interest — his own palate. “Honestly,” said Chandler, “I eat more fish than anything else … . But when I do have to try and test and usually my go-to [order] is seafood. We often dine with friends, so everybody has a different dish, and my job now seems to be quality control. Of course, I have other responsibilities, but that’s the fun part.”

Boise has many new transplants from the East Coast and the West Coast, and the growing demand for the city to expand its seafood options is not lost on Chandler.

When asked if this impacted his ordering, he agreed that it had. “Well, we’ve always had a large seafood selection because of my background. So, the simple answer to your question is yes, quite definitely,” Chandler said. “I started in Hawaii, where I started my restaurant career. On March 15th, I celebrated 48 years as a restaurateur. I’ve owned a restaurant contiguously since 1974. So, seafood was always the specialty of our restaurants. I owned one that was nationally known — Nick’s Fish Market. [They had locations] in Honolulu, Beverly Hills, Houston and Chicago. I owned the one in Honolulu for many years, and it was very much like Chandlers.”

In Hawaii and at the other high-profile spots, Chandler honed his menu and shored up the best vendors, something he is still actively involved with for Chandlers in Boise.

“I started in Honolulu doing seafood, and I opened restaurants in Southern California where I was raised. I did fine-dining seafood,” he said. “The logistics weren’t there when we moved to Ketchum to raise my son, who was a ski racer. I couldn’t get the seafood, and I couldn’t get the product I wanted to serve. So we moved into meats and did Northwest cuisine like Elk tenderloin. Those dishes were paramount because you’re in a ski resort. So when we opened [Chandlers] in Boise in 2007, I surmised that it would be better to be a prime steakhouse that serves good fish than a seafood restaurant that serves a good steak. And, because that was what was going on at the time. Seafood was so rare here, and we were landlocked. There weren’t all of our new residents we have now who have those expectations. So I’ve seen it change and evolve. Often, I spend as much money on seafood as I do on meats; we serve so much of it.”

Oysters are always a bellwether for quality with seafood lovers and places in the Pacific Northwest — Whidbey Island’s Penn Cove Mussels — where Chandler has focused much of his sourcing. “We buy oysters directly from Taylor Shellfish Farms in Washington. They’re very clean and wonderfully fresh, and we get delivery three times a week at the airport. They put it on the plane, and we have a little van, and we pick that up. And our Hawaiian seafood and a lot of our Alaskan seafood, also.”

The Hawaiian vendors are given their orders directly from Chandlers for what they want, he said. “There’s a video on our website of me at a Honolulu fish auction. And so at 5 in the morning, the fish comes in, they unload it, it goes directly into the auction. We take samples, decide on the value. Buy the fish. It goes across the street to their facility where it’s cleaned, boxed; it’s on an airplane, and we get it by 10:30 that morning. You can’t get better quality or fresher fish.”

The dish Rex Chandler wants you to try? His favorite may surprise you. “Abalone. We’re the only ones in Idaho that have it. And as a kid growing up down in Newport Beach, California, abalone was what we did. And I’ve had that on my menu from Day One. So for 48 years now, I’ve been buying from the same family out of Mexico. It’s expensive, a real delicacy and the people that like it, well you can’t believe the following we have and the amount of loyalty to that product. And other people just have no idea what it is But, that’s the specialty. And then after that, our ahi is exceptional. Also, our swordfish, black cod.”

Chandler was speaking via phone from Hawaii … “and I’m here in Hawaii right now,” he said. “So we’re heading to the fish market to get an idea of what’s going on with the marketplace … and update our recipes. I always try to keep the recipes fresh.”

Jet-Fresh Seafood at Chandlers

Chandlers is the destination for Boise’s freshest seafood.

With our jet-fresh program, fish that were in the ocean just a day or two ago are on your plate tonight!

Map of all the locations Chandlers jet-fresh seafood comes from

Below are a few delicacies we source and fly in. Note, the availability of different kinds of seafood changes with the seasons so check our menus to see what we are currently serving.

Hawaii – Ahi “ Big Eye Tuna, swordfish, Ono, Mahi Mahi, Mong Chon, Opakapaka
Alaska – King Crab, Black Cod, Halibut, King Salmon
Washington State –  Dungeness Crab, Pacific Oysters, Penn Cove Clams
Mexico – Abalone, Mexican Brown Shrimp, Spiny Lobster
Maine – Lobster, Scallops, Halibut (winter)

From Hawaii to Boise, Jet-Fresh Seafood

“My love of the sea and passion for outstanding seafood goes back to my early days in Hawaii where I opened my first restaurant in 1974. Today, local friends still hand select the finest from the Honolulu Fish Auction and ship it jet-fresh to our kitchen within 24 hours, bringing you the finest Pacific seafood available. Cheers!”

– Rex Chandler
Watch the video
Chandlers Fresh Seafood

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