My Plea to Waterbury: What Will it Take to Get a Dedicated Seafood/Steak Restaurant?

If you want fast food, pizza, Italian cuisine, or a bar-type menu with burgers and wings, come to Waterbury, my hometown is filled to the brim with good eats.

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If you would prefer a more upscale seafood, or steak restaurant in the Brass City? Hmmm. Waterbury is even home to Ideal Fish, an incredible recirculating aquaculture system facility on Avenue of Industry, and they export their Branzino, Salmon, and Trout across the US. Can you find it on a menu in Waterbury? I haven't been able to find it, but maybe I'm missing something.

Remember this place?

Here's what it looks like now -

Carmen Anthony Steakhouse closed in April 2015, the building on Chase Ave now houses one of the Alderson-Ford Funeral Homes.

How about the Seafood Peddler on Wolcott Street? That's a Pep Boys now -

Going way back, how about Phil's Steak & Lobster on Watertown Ave? Or 1249 West Main? Highline Car Connection is where Phil's used to be, and 1249 West Main had a new incarnation in the 2010's, but, that crapped out too.

Waterbury absolutely has the population, with over 105,000 residents, but, what is it? Does everyone in Bunker Hill balk at paying for a $40 Prime Rib? Is Connecticut's 2nd highest Real Estate & Personal Property mill rate (Waterbury - 60.21, second only to Torrington's Lakeridge Tax District's 84.51) chasing them away?

Don't get me wrong, there are very good restaurants that have steak and seafood selections in the area. The Clam Digger, Frankie's, D'Amelio's, Tiramisu, Spartan, Diorio's? (We'll see how long the renovation takes), La Tavola, Texas Roadhouse, those two seafood boilery joints that opened up in the past year, San Marino, Verdi, and Maggie McFly's (Middlebury). But, If you want a pair of steamed lobsters? 1 1/2 pounds of Ipswich steamers, a 40oz Prime Tomahawk Ribeye for two, or a raw bar? Make it yourself, or drive to Southbury, Cheshire, New Haven, Danbury, Hartford, Fairfield County, or the casinos.

Can someone who graduated from the Culinary Institute of America, who majored in Cow, Lobster, and Branzino bring that entrepreneur spirit to 06708? Please?