You may have noticed something different about the menu at Ticonderoga Club on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday evenings. There are two: one for the main dining room and bar, and another for the Club’s indoor patio, known as “The Pineapple Room.”
For regulars to the Club, the return of Captain B’s Fish Camp as a sort of restaurant-within-a-restaurant means grabbing one of Chef David Bies’ fried catfish sandwiches and a side of hush puppies weekly in the Pineapple Room, rather than waiting for the annual pop-up to take place.
Bies loves seafood, a fact marked in ink all over the Ticonderoga Club menu. There’s always a fish entree, along with Club classics like the smoked mackerel dip, accompanied by Saltines, and specials like seafood paella, heavy with clams and mussels.
“I grew up here in Georgia, an hour south in Barnesville. I grew up fishing locally, but also my PopPop lived down in the Florida Keys my entire childhood through adulthood. I spent a lot of time down there fishing with him,” he told Rough Draft.
“I’ve fished in almost every country I’ve been to. For me, it’s just another way to connect to the locals and the food scene. The local fishermen always know the good spots to eat. That’s the same everywhere in the world,” Bies added.
His Ticonderoga Club partners, Greg Best, Paul Calvert, Regan Smith, and Bart Sasso, all grew up on or near the coast, albeit in the Northeast, particularly New England. Bies started Captain B’s as a way to merge the seafood cultures of the Gulf and New England coasts.
In the years leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic, the seafood pop-up took place annually at Ticonderoga Club, sporting a menu that Bies admits was too big and filled with “a little bit of everything,” likening the early days of Captain B’s to a “fish bonanza.”
Lines were often out the door, but the extensive menu put a strain on the staff. Since the pandemic, Bies said he’s reined in the Captain B’s menu, focusing more and more on the fish camp-style dishes he grew up eating, like deviled crab, fried seafood sandwiches, and sides of fried potatoes, tangy coleslaw, and hush puppies lightly fried in bacon fat.
Bies explained that many people like himself, who lived further inland in states like Georgia and North and South Carolina, grew up eating at fish camps along rivers, lakes, and local ponds. The menu at the fish camp Bies grew up eating at in Middle Georgia was similar to those of the fish camps he frequented when visiting his grandfather in Florida. Whether it’s freshwater fish like catfish or saltwater fish like flounder, those fish come fried at a fish camp.
“I really wanted to do the fish camp vibe this time for a few reasons. It’s the style of place that I, and probably a lot of other people who grew up in small towns surrounding Atlanta, visited when they were younger,” Bies said. “We can make it more approachable and economical for everyone who frequents Krog Street Market by offering a small [dine-in or takeout] menu. Good fish and good value.”
Captain B’s leans hard into fried fish, including fried shrimp and catfish, feathered and fried. Bies slices the catfish into thin pieces before brining, then coating the fish in a dusting of cornmeal.
For New Englanders, the Yankee fish sandwich features double-dipped, Narragansett beer-battered cod. The Captain B’s menu also includes Ticonderoga Club’s oft-ordered Ipswich Clamwich using belly-on clams from Massachusetts. It’s served on thick, griddled white bread.
People can order fried fish at Captain B’s as sandwiches or baskets. Throw in a few sides, and that fried fish basket becomes a “tackle box.” Generously portioned, fully dressed fish sandwiches and baskets cost between $16 and $20, with options for tartar sauce, cocktail sauce, and ketchup.
Eventually, Bies will add a Carolina fish camp specialty to the menu, a calabash shrimp po’boy, inspired by Ticonderoga Club kitchen staffer Jess Rogers and her upbringing in Murrells Inlet, SC.
It wouldn’t be Ticonderoga Club (or Captain B’s) without drinks. Look for cold cans of Natural Light, tallboys of Narragansett Del’s Lemon Shandy, glasses of crisp sparkling wine for $12, and breezy cocktails like the La Floridita at the Pineapple Room pop-up.
As for how long Captain B’s will stick around at Ticonderoga Club, that remains to be seen. But it should run through at least mid-September. After that, the Pineapple Room could transform quarterly. Maybe it’s an Indonesian street food stall (Bies’ dad lives in Bali) or even a sports bar, depending on the season.
For now, people can pop into Captain B’s, Sunday through Tuesday, for fried seafood; just follow the signs to the fish camp.
Captain B’s Fish Camp, located in the Pineapple Room at Ticonderoga Club at Krog Street Market, Sunday-Tuesday, starting at 5 p.m. Dine-in service and takeout available. Regular dinner menu served in the main dining room.
