Fishnet Restaurant is one of many of Berwyn Heights’ small businesses. The town, just a few minutes away from College Park, has a more small-town atmosphere than its surrounding areas.
Walking into Fishnet, one almost catches a whiff of the Mediterranean.
Those shores were the inspiration for owner Ferhat Yalcin’s award-winning seafood restaurant on Berwyn Road, a hole-in-the-wall tucked away on a leafy street lined with small, colorful houses, an old bell tower and an herb shop.
At Fishnet, Yalcin hopes the fresh fish sandwiches, unique flavors and relaxing, airy atmosphere convey to customers a sense of Turkey’s “fish and bread,” a street food he enjoyed growing up in Istanbul. As a child, he’d go down to the waterline in the mornings to eat fish straight off fishermen’s boats.
“You could just go up on small boats, and the fishermen catch the fish in the mornings and they pull them to shore, clean it … and either cook it or fry it on the boat,” Yalcin said. “You get a piece of bread; in the bread you get grains, onions and cooked fish — and it was delicious.”
Like the Turkish fishermen who sold just one type of fish each day — whatever they could catch — Yalcin specializes in just a few items. The fish vary from season to season, but Yalcin’s emphasis on quality, locally sourced food doesn’t change. And his fresh fish sandwiches are one reason why the restaurant has received a string of honors and awards since its opening in November 2011, including a recent nod on Eater DC’s list of 38 essential Washington restaurants.
But students still don’t seem to know the place exists.
“I’ve never been here before,” said sophomore government and politics major Walt Bonne, who called the fried hake sandwich “phenomenal.” “It’s the best place ever. I just think it’s interesting I never heard about this place from one student, and I heard about it from [my friend], and he doesn’t even go here.”
It’s not surprising, though, that the restaurant flies under the radar. Until last month, Yalcin said, he hadn’t done any advertising. In Fishnet’s first six to eight months, only about 10 percent of his customers were students, and 90 percent were local residents, he said. Now, students make up about 30 percent of his customer base.
It’s still a far cry from most Route 1 eateries, which cater to a high majority of students. But Fishnet is a different sort of place, one focused on neighborhood appeal, community integration and the support of local suppliers.
He buys Maryland rockfish and Virginia catfish, gets his produce from Miller Farms in Clinton and makes mint lemonade with herbs from Smile Herb Shop down the street. And this spring, he began conducting cooking demos at the weekly College Park Farmers Market.
“You go there and show that you support the local farms,” he said. “I think that’s a great thing — it brings the community together.”
Entering Fishnet, the small door conceals the expansive, high-ceilinged restaurant inside. With sparse, sea-themed decorations, light blue walls lined with fish netting and relaxing, evocative music, the restaurant is an escape from the high energy and bustle of Route 1.
“I think the fact we’re here in Berwyn, not many people know we’re here, so it might affect our business, but as far as the atmosphere, I think Berwyn is really nice,” said 16-year-old Jissella Urquilla, who lives down the street and works at the restaurant. “I know lots of students come and study; professors grade their work, so it’s very relaxed in here.”
The colorful, handwritten menu advertised three types of fish May 7: salmon, hake and Spanish mackerel, which customers could choose either fried or grilled and with sauces including Turkish tartar, cucumber tarragon, spicy aioli or horseradish remoulade. The restaurant also offers signature items including fried salmon fish tacos, burgers, crab cake sandwiches, vegan falafel and fish sticks. Customers can sip on passion fruit-flavored iced tea or mango juice and finish with Belgian chocolate mousse for dessert.
The restaurant offers a Sunday brunch with French toast, salmon benedict and shrimp and grits, as well as a lunch special of either a sandwich or fish with a side and drink for $15. The restaurant is open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 11:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
In the center of the restaurant, Kiersten Johnson of College Park ate leisurely with her six-year-old daughter, Grace.
“We can walk here. She can ride her bike, or we both can walk,” she said. “We get grilled fish. It’s made here on site, fresh. … They just do a few things, but they do those really well.”
Johnson said there aren’t many other places in the city that aren’t “chain restaurants or garbage food.” Her six-year-old daughter agreed.
“It sells healthy food,” Grace said. “Most restaurants don’t sell healthy food.”
At a table nearby, Avi Bardack, a College Park resident and 2009 university alumnus, ate with Aziz Rahman, a graduate student in epidemiology. Bardack’s fiancee had discovered the place about a year ago, but it was Rahman’s first time eating there.
“I think it’s the best restaurant that exists in this area, in terms of food quality,” Bardack said. “It’s a very small menu, but everything’s done very, very well.”
Rahman said he liked it because it gave him “that hole-in-the-wall feel.”
“Besides the fact I don’t live around here and there are like no signs that point it out, I could go past and not even know it exists, not even know it’s a restaurant,” Rahman said.
It’s hard to find “good fish” in College Park, he added, especially that with the “simple good taste” of Fishnet’s selection.
That hidden feel is the draw for many of Fishnet’s customers, who often come looking for a calming respite from their lives — and perhaps a hint of the coast of Istanbul, the call of Turkish fishermen and the scent of fish, freshly caught and sizzling with flavor.
“It’s nice that it’s not on a main road — it’s tucked away, which gives it more of a destination feel,” said Sam Zeitlin, a recent graduate of the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y. “I feel that this place should be talked about more around the student body, because if you eat good food, healthy food, then you’re going to feel better, and you’re going to want to study more, and you’ll be smarter.
“Everything was great,” he added. “And who would’ve known, in College Park?”
