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GRAND RIVER, Ohio -- Brennan’s Fish House, a lakeside landmark where Lake Erie perch and walleye are the big fish on the line, just snagged second place in the Cleveland.com / The Plain Dealer “Best Seafood in Northeast Ohio” competition. Brennan’s is at 102 River St. in Grand River, just 50 feet or so from the Grand River. That is another trophy in the tackle box for a family-owned restaurant, which has been casting lines into Fairport Harbor’s dining scene since the end of the Civil War. The building’s story goes back to 1865, when it first opened as the Richmond Inn in the little fishing village just off Lake Erie. It had a hotel upstairs and a sailor’s saloon below. When the tides turned and the hotel venture sank, owners switched bait — adding pool tables, beer and fish to keep the fishermen coming. Over the years, the property changed hands and names, morphing from Evans Lunch — a family diner feeding the community from 1927 to 1966 — to Harry’s Bar through the early 1970s. Then, in 1973, Tim and Betty Brennan reeled it in and transformed it into Brennan’s Fish House. They expanded the dining space, refreshed the menu with family recipes and hooked generations of locals and visitors. Today, that legacy swims strong with owner Tim Freeman. After working his way up from dishwasher, he bought the restaurant from his mother, Sharon Hill, in 2021. Hill and her late husband, Steve, had purchased Brennan’s in 2006. After Steve’s passing in 2016, Sharon and her children kept the business afloat. “I worked for Mom for years before I bought it,” Freeman said. “I thought I knew what she was doing. I had no idea how much she had to do until I was in her shoes.” Inside the restaurant, the décor remains seaworthy — ship wheels, life rings, maritime memorabilia and photos that anchor the restaurant’s history. A gas fireplace warms one dining room, while a roofed outdoor patio, added during the COVID-19 pandemic, nets summer crowds from the nearby beaches and marina. At Brennan’s, quality fish is the catch of the day. Perch and walleye still come fresh from Lake Erie, just as they did generations ago. Each year, the restaurant serves more than 30,000 pounds of perch and 18,000 pounds of walleye to about 80,000 customers. “For first timers, I always recommend the perch,” Tim’s brother Tom Freeman said. Tom manages the kitchen and the cooking. “Walleye has a stronger profile — it’s firmer and has thicker bones.” The perch is lightly breaded and doesn’t have a fishy taste. The thicker walleye has a sturdy coating but still lets the meaty fish shine through. Both are good alone or with a dollop of tartar sauce or fork of cole slaw. Other popular choices are crab legs, red or white clam chowder, deep-fried crabcakes, scallops and Chesapeake Bay oysters. One of the more unusual dishes are the lightly breaded frog legs, small bites of meat that may taste a bit like “chicken.” Servings here are plentiful and most dishes are light on salt. A nod to folks who limit salt intake for health reasons. Salt can always be added. The menu stays true to Tim and Betty Brennans’ original recipes, with just a few new hooks like hot bruschetta and calamari. House-made tartar sauce, coleslaw and cocktail sauce remain staples, along with two salad dressings — a celery seed original and a ranch created by Tom. Specials sometimes swim outside the seafood lane, featuring comfort dishes like chicken paprikash. Despite the small kitchen, everything is made from scratch — mashed potatoes twice daily, fries cut fresh, pies composed each morning. The key lime pie, made from Sharon Hill’s recipe, remains the dessert that keeps regulars hooked. The best deal on the menu, Freeman added, is the Friday Lake Erie perch or walleye sandwich — served with lettuce, tomato and onion for $9.99. “Anyone can afford a piece of Brennan’s,” he said. Freeman said keeping the business in the family was non-negotiable. “It had to stay in the family,” he said. “It would have failed Mom’s legacy to let it go to someone else.” After 51 years of weathering the tides, Brennan’s Fish House proves that in Grand River, the best catch doesn’t come from the lake — it comes from the kitchen. Brennan’s Fish House, 102 River St., Grand River, 440-354-9785 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday – Thursday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday Closed Sunday
