The name makes more sense once you meet them. Chef Hugo Galván runs the kitchen. Hugo Osorio runs the bar. Together they run Hugo’s Seafood Bar at 334 W. Davis Street in Bishop Arts, inside a room with an original stamped tin ceiling, exposed brick, and an octopus painted on the wall. The place seats fewer than 30 people. On a Friday night it feels like twice that, which is not a complaint — it’s the sign of a room that has figured out exactly what it wants to be.
What it wants to be is a serious raw bar with an equally serious cocktail program, operating in the same space without one overshadowing the other. Galván is a veteran Dallas chef whose fish handling shows it — the crudo section alone runs ahi tuna, scallop, and hamachi, all with cucumber, radish, serrano, lemon olive oil, and Hawaiian salt, or all three together for $26, which is the way to start if you haven’t been before. The scallop aguachile with U-10 scallops, green aguachile, tomato, serrano, radish, orange supremes, and lemon olive oil earns the attention — the tart and buttery elements push against each other in a way that makes you slow down.
The Ultimate Hugo’s Tostada loads jumbo shrimp, scallops, and octopus onto a corn tortilla with tomato aguachile rojo and avocado, and at $22 it is one of the better deals on a menu that is already priced honestly for what it delivers.
The raw bar runs East Coast oysters at $22 for a half dozen, premium oysters at $24, and the House Royal Oysters — with lemon juice, uni, royal caviar, salsa macha oil, and chives — at $45 for a half dozen. The oyster shooter is a $7 raw oyster with trout roe in a ceramic shell, described by some as “delicious fun,” which is accurate. If you want to go further, the caviar program runs American Paddlefish at $65 for a half ounce and Royale Kaluga at $80, both served with potato chips, crème fraîche, boiled egg yolk, egg white, and red onions.
The Cold Seafood Platter — six shrimp, eight East Coast oysters, tuna tartare, scallop aguachile, and a whole lobster for $120 — is the table order when the night calls for it…