I Think This May Be the Foulest-Smelling Business in Waterbury

There are lots of offensive smells in Waterbury, the first places that come to mind is the area of the waste transfer station on Mark Lane off of Lakewood, or the men's room of McFairlawn's on a Saturday night, but I walked into a place the other day that truly took my breath away.

I've shopped there many times before, but something furious was rotting away inside Js Ocean Fish Market at 744 West Main Street on Wednesday. I was used to the overpowering smell of this place, but oh man, this was a whole other level. I wasn't sure if I could even stick around to pick up the littlenecks that I was going to use for my linguini and clams, it really was that bad.

The other thing that made me chuckle is that Ocean Fish Market has been in this location for maybe the past 10 years, and only now are the old 'Lee's Famous Recipe' fried chicken signs coming through the layers of paint that were slapped over it. Here's another flashback for you, do you remember when this building was Church's Fried Chicken? I used to love hitting that place before going to Applause, Crazy 8, and the Colonial Plaza movie theaters.

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Anyway, the stench that was coming out of this place was was a strong chemical smell, similar to bleach and ammonia, and that made me do an about face before I bought the clams. Fresh seafood should have no smell, if there is any odor coming off of your seafood, it's a red flag. In their defense, all of the product that I could see in their cases looked fresh, and Ocean Fish stocks way more variety than your local supermarket. My role model for how a seafood place should smell? Tony & Sons Seafood in Oakville. I've learned my lesson.