The seafood list

Three bays and a ship channel, and the town eats accordingly. Here's where the shrimp is, ranked by how close you are to the water when you eat it.

The list. Thompson's Fish Camp, 213 Simms Road. On the water, literally — picnic tables, boats at the dock, a bait counter, shrimp by the pound boiled or fried, oysters when they're in, cold beer. The most Baytown meal there is. Cash helps; a hat in summer; a jacket in January; it closes when it closes and the page has what we know.

Black Bayou, 1930 Garth. Crawfish in season, and the rest of the year the Viet-Cajun kitchen keeps going — shrimp in the same garlic butter, snow crab when they have it, fried catfish, a po'boy that's better than the crawfish crowd gives it credit for. The parking lot is the patio in March. Online ordering through their site matches the door hours, which is rarer than it should be.

El Sinaloense, 3002 Market Street. Sinaloa-style mariscos: aguachile, ceviche, a shrimp cocktail that comes in a glass the size of your head, the michelada with the shrimp on the rim, and a fish plate the menu doesn't describe well and doesn't need to. The best seafood in town that most of town hasn't tried. Cash is safer; no website, and that's on purpose.

CK's Seafood. The counter — fresh and frozen by the pound, live crawfish in season, and a fried plate if you'd rather they cook it. Where you buy the sack for the boil and the shrimp for Sunday. Address and hours on its page; we're confirming the live-sack days.

Anchor & Hearth, the Hyatt marina. The tablecloth option: Gulf fish done properly, oysters when they're right, and the water outside the window. Book on Friday, ask for the terrace side, watch the plants come on across the channel.

Bayland Marina and the ramps. Not a restaurant. On the list because the freshest seafood in Baytown is on the boats coming in at Bayland on a Saturday, and if you know someone, you know.

The trucks. A shrimp-and-fish truck works the Garth corridor most weeks; the calendar carries the positions when they post them.

What to know. - Gulf shrimp season means the shrimp is actually from here in summer and fall; ask, and the good places will tell you which boat. - Oysters are a winter food; the "R" months still hold on this coast, and Galveston Bay's beds are the source. - Flounder in November, redfish year-round, crawfish February to May — the fishing guide has the seasons and the restaurants follow them. - Everything on this list is better on a weekday. Saturday is a wait, and Sunday Thompson's is a line.

En español. Mariscos en Baytown: Thompson's en Simms Road, sobre el agua (camarón por libra, ostiones en temporada); Black Bayou en Garth (cangrejo de río de febrero a mayo, camarón con mantequilla de ajo el resto del año); El Sinaloense en Market Street, estilo Sinaloa (aguachile, cóctel de camarón, michelada); CK's para comprar por libra; Anchor & Hearth en el Hyatt para una mesa con mantel y vista al canal.