James Beard Foundation Gives Gaido’s in Galveston an American Classic Award | Eater Houston

"Named an America’s Classics winner by the James Beard Foundation — an award that goes to locally-owned restaurants that have "timeless appeal that serve quality food and are beloved by their communities," according to the organization's press release — this seafood landmark on Galveston’s Seawall opened in 1911 and is operated by fourth-generation Italian American Nick Gaido and his wife, Kateryna. The constantly changing menu highlights the best catches of the day, including various preparations of catfish, snapper, and redfish; crabs and scallops when in season; and Gulf shrimp served in myriad ways, and the restaurant notes that it still "peels, shucks, and fillets all its seafood by hand, precisely the way it did when it opened more than a century ago." The food "merges Southern, Creole, and Southwest cooking techniques and flavor profiles," served in a dining room filled with white tablecloth-covered tables, while moments from the storied past — old menus, artifacts, and photos — decorate the walls; notable guests include the director Alfred Hitchcock and "an array of state and national politicians too vast to keep track of," and "this is the kind of place that doesn’t feed and tell." Expansive views of the Gulf of Mexico rival the people-watching. The family has maintained a menu of classics over the century-plus the business has been open, including shrimp cocktail (at $14, it’s a steal —almost $20 less than the going rate in bigger coastal cities), an impressive seafood tower, its "famous" fried seafood platter, and a signature oyster menu that focuses on Gulf-harvested oysters; the menu assures diners that the Gaido family has known most of the oystermen working in the Gulf for the past century and that they go out of their way to pay top-dollar for the best oysters, which can be ordered on the halfshell, fried, baked, chargrilled, and more — and a very long list of martinis sits alongside. The restaurant also embodies an immigrant-family story: the Gaidos came from Cercenasco, Italy, in the 19th century and, "according to a 2013 profile in the Galveston News," were poverty-stricken after immigrating and stayed in Galveston because it was less challenging than relocating elsewhere. Restaurants on the Seawall must be resilient — facing hurricanes (much of the island is still bouncing back from the devastation following Hurricane Ike in 2008), summer influxes and winter lulls, and current industry pressures from COVID, rising food costs, and a tight labor market — and this place "carries on, in the face of it all." "Fresh locally caught Gulf seafood since 1911!" - Courtney E. Smith