More Details on the New TJ’s Seafood Market in the Shops at Highland Park

Posted on July 17th, 2012 1:17pm by Carol Shih
Filed under seafood, Second coming

Jon Alexis of TJ's

Man, you folks in the Highland Park/Oak Lawn area are in for a big treat once October 1 arrives. I know Nancy already reported earlier that Jon Alexis, the owner of TJ’s Fresh Seafood Market announced he’s opening a second location at 4212 Oak Lawn (which is right smack dab next to Julian Barsotti’s Italian market and restaurant, Carbone’s), but new details have called attention to the 1,636 square feet of space Alexis plans to creatively use.

Alexis excitedly tells me that he and Barsotti are conspiring to jointly work on cooking demos, classes, tasting menus, and special menus. “If you go to big cities, Italian markets and fish markets are natural neighbors. We haven’t committed to anything yet, but every time we talk we have ten ideas we want to do together.”

Luckily, the two peas in a pod have plenty of time to figure all that out. Alexis just signed a ten-year lease for the new TJ’s, which will be strikingly different from the old TJ’s. This one will have culinary-trained staff and chefs who’ll help cook your fish on the spot and write down instructions on how you can replicate the recipe at home, should you desire that. Alex also adds, “It’s a seafood market but with 24 seats. What we’re really excited about is the opportunity for people to eat at TJ’s prepared dine-in section.”

Jump if you like seafood as much as Jon Alexis.

The fishmonger plans on having a rotating menu of ceviches and installing an oyster bar that’ll feature both raw and cooked oysters. Even though the new TJ’s seems more chef-driven, Alexis quickly kills that idea. He calls it “fish-driven.”

“We don’t want it to just be a restaurant or a fish market, we want it to be a think tank of fish.” (Pun intended?)


All of you Highland Parkers are probably thinking about the parking situation. According to the press release, parking is easy most of the day since there’s plenty of spots behind the market. There’s also free valet parking during lunch and dinner hours.

8 comments

  1. I’m for sure excited about this!

    @ 1:29 pm on July 17, 2012

  2. [...] According to my gurl Carol at SideDish, TJ’s Fresh Seafood Market is slated to open a second location Oct. 1, at the Shops at Highland Park. The shop will be right next to Carbone’s, which, according to TJ’s owner Jon Alexis, will lead to some interesting crossover. Take it, Carol: Alexis excitedly tells me that he and Barsotti are conspiring to jointly work on cooking demos, classes, tasting menus, and special menus. “If you go to big cities, Italian markets and fish markets are natural neighbors. We haven’t committed to anything yet, but every time we talk we have ten ideas we want to do together.” .nrelate .nr_sponsored{ left:0px !important; } // By Bradford Pearson Jul. 17, 2012 | 1:34 pm | No Comments | Comments RSS .the-comments{margin:0; padding:0; list-style:none} #comments{font:12px "Lucida Grande",Lucida,Verdana,sans-serif} #comments .heading{font-weight:normal; padding-top:15px; font-size:16px} #comments li {border-bottom:1px solid #B9B9B9; background-color:#EAEAEA; padding:5px} #comments li.odd{background-color:transparent} .comment-meta{padding-bottom:6px} .comment-meta a{color:#000} #comments p{line-height:15px; margin:5px 10px;} #comments .author, #comments .author a{color:#000; font-weight:bold} #comments form p {margin:0 0 22px;padding:0;} [...]

    @ 1:37 pm on July 17, 2012

  3. That sounds great…ill come all the time during my lunch break!

    @ 2:42 pm on July 17, 2012

  4. Can’t wait!! Much closer than the original!!

    @ 4:26 pm on July 17, 2012

  5. Both of these guys are a boon to the Dallas food scene. Very eager to see what they conjure up in October when Jon Alexis opens.

    @ 10:29 pm on July 17, 2012

  6. oh, so he wants to do what Rex has been doing for a few years.

    @ 1:10 pm on July 18, 2012

  7. Dutch you are correct. Last time I was at Rex’s he had 31 varieties of fresh fish and this did not include shrimp, scallops, lobster etc. Just fish, pristine and fresh.

    @ 12:11 am on July 19, 2012

  8. So excited for this new location!!

    @ 10:38 am on July 19, 2012