New Friends at Cooper's Seafood

Last month, during Scranton's First Friday event, I met the Takehara family. Scranton is not known for its Japanese population, so I was excited to meet some great people with whom I could practice my Japanese. I had a wonderful dinner at their house consisting of steamed edamame, cucumbers with miso paste (both of which are Japanese festival food staples and were my contributions) along with rice, a pork and napa cabbage hot pot, and pickled daikon radish. Dinner was followed by various cookies and cakes imported from Japan, matcha green tea, and great conversation.

Our second outing was at Cooper's Seafood in downtown Scranton. Cooper's is generally recognized as the most fun and best seafood restaurant around. The decor is an assaulting assortment of sea-themed knick-knacks and memorabilia from the 80's.

Overall, its very casual, yet higher quality. I have been there a few times and can verify that their fame for their lobster bisque and crab chowder is legitimate. Any cream-based soup there is rich and decadent, but its heavy to the point that I wouldn’t make a meal out of it. If you are hungry enough, or are willing to share, I would go for the broiled seafood platter. It truly is a smattering of all their best offerings(lobster tails extra). The crab cakes have full pieces of crustacean and are not full of filler. The stuffed flounder full of both shrimp and crab, indulgent without being gluttonous. The scallops, shrimp, salmon, and haddock all taste fresh and do not need to be inundated with butter. And there are plenty of lemons to go around.

For lunch, they offer an all-you-can-east soup and salad for $7.99. The salad is fresh, with plenty of beets, blue cheese, tomato, and cucumber, but nothing to really differentiate it. Luckily, you can sample all of their soups this way. They are also running specials: 50 steamed clams for $7.99, or 1/2lb lobster tail with 2 sides for $19.99. I got the former, which came still in the steamer bag on a pizza-sized tray. Cleaned and rinsed, no grit at all, 50 clams went in my belly, while only 10 clams left my wallet for the privilege.