Ciopinno is devastatingly seductive to me, but it seems it’d work out to $15/bowl in these parts. And then it’s always served with magnificent SF sourdough baguettes.. Seafood really is local, like politics. There just isn’t enough to export, so what one region pays reasonably for in easy supply is a delicacy everywhere else. The only shellfish in the Gulf are shrimp and oysters and blue crab, no clams, squid, lobster, anchovy, etc.
Agreed, seafood is local like politics! I am glad I tried real Marseille bouillabaisse before I went kosher and before Marseille went Muslim, lol.
The closest we can get to “seafood” is like monkfish — or salmon roe.