“Change is hard,” says Michael Sullivan, chef at Market by the Bay in Daphne. But change also can be mighty tasty.

Sullivan speaks from experience. Market by the Bay is a Daphne institution going back at least 20 years. It started as a seafood market and over the years sort of eased into the restaurant business. Back in early summer 2022, members of the LeJeune family, its founders and longtime owners, announced they’d decided it was time to close down, which prompted communal mourning. But then some serendipitous connections led to new owners taking over and opening the venue back up a few months later.

The new owners weren’t strangers. In fact, for Sullivan, returning to the Market was one of those unexpected times when life brings you full circle. But before we get to that story, allow me to whet your appetite with a description just one of the treats I recently enjoyed at the Market.

I showed up on a recent Tuesday, so the special of the day was Slow Cooked Creole White Beans over Rice Topped with Fried Catfish ($15). This sounded promising even before my dining companion, who claims Louisiana origins and occasionally shows up in purple and gold, told him it was something he had to try.

Was it good? Look, y’all. If the fried catfish over Creole white beans over rice was the only thing Market by the Bay served, seven days a week, I’d tell you it was a restaurant worth visiting. It was that good. Of course there’s a lot more on the menu, but if you were looking for a couple of dishes to sum up what the new ownership has brought to the market, this and the Bama Chopped Cheese would be good places to start the discussion.

Now the backstory. Sullivan has some history with Market by the Bay. Ancient history. “I was the original cook here, 20 years ago, right out of culinary school,” he said. “Right when they opened the sandwich bar.”

He moved on long ago. In fact, he moved out of the area entirely. But in recent years he and an old buddy, Garrett DeLuca, started talking about launching a venture together. Maybe a food truck. The plan was vague but Sullivan was ready. He’d been in New York for four years. He had a good job in the hospitality industry, he said, but it involved a lot of travel and living in hotels was getting old. He gave it up and moved back.

That was about the time the LeJeune family announced it was ready to shut down the Market. Sullivan went by to pay his respects. He bumped into patriarch Victor LeJeune, he said, and the outline of a deal emerged. Ultimately Sullivan and DeLuca partnered with veteran Baldwin County restaurateur Harry Johnson, whose ventures include Manci’s Antique Club – another Daphne venue enjoying a second life after a long and storied run under its original family owners.

The six months or so since the reopening have been a learning experience, Sullivan said. But most of the lessons have been positive. As he’s sought to bring his personal tastes to the menu, he said, there have been “more additions than subtractions.”

The Market’s diehard fans have enjoyed having things just so, he said, to a point where “it almost scares you as a cook to put new things on the menu.”

He couldn’t touch the gumbo, of course, and readers will be happy to know that it still brims with shrimp and crab and does that magical gumbo thing where the flavor seems to shift from bite to bite. (Prices range from a modest $5 cup up to $94 for a gallon.)

You’ll also still find the straightforward, robust seafood platters that have long been a mainstay, starting at $15 for a shrimp platter with two sides and hush puppies, working up to $30 for the Jubilee platter with crab claws, fish, oysters and shrimp. Ditto the po-boys, including a variety of seafood options and roast beef.

My accomplice, who claims to have visited Market by the Bay more than once over the last couple of decades, went straight for the fried shrimp po-boy ($13 for a six-inch sandwich with one side.) What sealed the deal, he said, was when the waitress offered that the sandwich came clad in traditional New Orleans-style bread, which is to say, light, airy and with a slight tug when you bite into it.

When the plate hit the table he got everything he could have wanted: That bread was overflowing with with lots and lots of crispy shrimp that were, he said, well-seasoned and still piping hot. It also came fully dressed with lettuce and tomato, so all he had to do was add a little cocktail sauce.

It’s easy to see that Sullivan has an affinity for Louisiana cuisine. He’s not from there, he said, but he learned to appreciate it early. “Growing up, it’s always been one of my favorite cuisines in general,” he said. “I watched Emeril when he first came out, I had all his cookbooks growing up.”

On a later visit, Sullivan let me sample a couple other specialties, including the BBQ Shrimp and Grits he serves on Thursdays. It’s a dish that gives you more than you expect: The copious “New Orleans BBQ sauce” is not the simple gravy it appears to be. Instead it bursts with a tart richness. Sullivan said it’s made with beer, Worcestershire sauce, garlic and other piquant ingredients.

You dine with an Emeril fan, you’re gonna get the “Bam!”

The Bama Chopped Cheese ($12) is from another world. Reading the menu copy – “A New York Classic with chopped hamburger meat, American cheese, lettuce, tomato, grilled onion, mayo and ketchup – you might expect it to be basically a hamburger po-boy. That’s what it looks like on the plate, too, but when it hits your mouth all that hidden, molten cheese makes for comfort-food nirvana. It’s something Sullivan found served in the bodegas of New York City, and he wanted to share it.

I also can report that the “MBTB” nachos ($13), featuring a creamy shrimp and crawfish sauce over house-made chips, are something engagingly rich and different. But don’t get too attached: Sullivan said they’re about to drop off the menu in a seasonal rotation that will bring in his own take on totchos.

And yes, there’s more. Market by the Bay hasn’t entirely left behind its roots as a seafood market. Display cases still contain entrees and treats packed to go, such as West Indies Salad and pickled shrimp with vegetables. “That’s something you don’t see much,” Sullivan said of the pickled shrimp. “A lot of people will take it home and use for their bloody Marys.”

Oh, and Sullivan’s mom, Sonja Dowdle, comes in two days a week to make desserts in house. She knows what she’s up to: She used to own Delish Desserts in Mobile. “She’s feisty,” Sullivan said of her involvement. “She can’t stay sitting down.”

Yes, change is hard. And yes, Market by the Bay has changed. The new owners added table service, and got a liquor license, and the menu continues to evolve. But Sullivan said he’s learned to appreciate one core thing that longtime fans of the venue really appreciated: The no-frills nature of its food. They like flavor, but they don’t like things that are fancy for the sake of being fancy.

“We try to wow people without doing too much,” he said. “A po-boy is a po-boy.”

He and his partners have done a lot of learning in the last few months, he said. But “people are still learning about us too.”

“I don’t think any of us really had any idea what we were getting ourselves into,” Sullivan said. “But it’s been great. I think we have zero regrets.”

Market by the Bay is at 29145 U.S. 98 in Daphne, just south of I-10. For hours (including a Sunday brunch) and other information visit https://www.marketbythebay.com/. For tantalizing updates on daily specials, visit the Market’s Facebook page.