Ignoring the common wisdom that says you should never buy fish where you can't see the ocean, I have been on a fish buying kick here in Denver, I'm especially fond of whole fish which I then either steam or grill.

Here's a quick run down on what I've found, first of all immediately skip the usual supermarkets (King Super, Safeway, Albertsons) they mostly have just enemic looking catfish and salmon filets.

Whole Foods has a good supply of very good looking fish but usually only have whole red snapper (which I've gotten and has been very good). Everything else is already fileted. Like everything at Whole Foods, the prices are pretty high, but the people working there are extremely helpful.

Ko-mart, on Havana in Aurora is part of a chain of korean supermarkets and usually has some whole fish at decent prices, almost always have spanish mackeral, striped bass, and one or two others (including the always scary looking monkfish). You've got to be pretty persistant about getting the fishmonger's attention, but once you do they're good helping you out and will clean the fish however you like. Last time I was in I paid $3.99 a pound for a striped bass.

Lately I've been buying from Little Saigon in the asian shopping center at Federal and Alameda. They have the largest selection I've found so far and really good prices. I bought a Sheepshead today for $1.99 a pound. They have 10-15 different fish laid out on ice allowing you to pick through and choose the ones you want. All the fish are labeled in English (as well as vietnamese) which is a plus for me especially since some of the fish are new to me.

There's also a large chinese fish market on Alameda in the shopping mall that houses Kings Land dim sum house (It's called Ocean something, but I can't remember exactly what). They have a fairly big selection but almost nothing is labeled and I've yet to have anyone acknowledge my presence while standing by the fish so I've not bought any fish there.

Nothing matches going down to chinatown in San Francisco and buying fish that is still flopping around, but I think this is as close as we're getting in Denver.

I never went over to dining at Flyertalk, but did a Yahoo search for fish in Denver and your post is what I saw. Great tips. We just discovered the markets on Federal for Thai cooking supplies. I'll take my wife over today to see what they have.

Might have to become a regular over here as well.

Regards,
Chris

good name, a little close to K-Mart no?

I've found this to be the case as well at some Asian stores, might be a language barrier thing. Just start pointing and asking questions, I've found that usually they know enough English to explain what it is and how much.