FISH STORIES
As veteran fishmonger Don Takash was telling me about monkfish being a by-product of scallop-fishing, we segued into restaurant chatter. That subject, inevitably, is a by-product of any food-related conversation I have.
Takash, who owns Sally's Seafood, a wholesale operation, and Ahearn's Fish Market, a retail shop, both on Route 532 in Waretown, is one of the best-informed fish guys at the Shore. So when he mentioned Bonefish Grill, a seafood-oriented restaurant chain with a new branch on Van Zile Road in Brick, my ears perked up. I'd just been to Bonefish and got the company line from the servers on how the folks behind the scenes (Bonefish is part of the Outback empire) source seafood from all waters of the world. Interestingly enough, according to the servers I queried at the Brick Bonefish, there's not any seafood from Jersey Shore fishermen on the local menu.
Takash told me that Bonefish buys corporately. They're looking, he noted, for a "uniform product.''
He also offered another observation: "You'll notice there aren't chain restaurants in the beach towns.'' Chains succeed where there's volume, and there's just not the year-round population in most of our beach communities to support the economic needs of the major chains, he explained. Locally owned restaurants are the chow centers of our coast.
Hmm, I thought. How true that is; how hard it is for local restaurants in beach towns to keep going through the winter, to make that year-round run. Outback, Chili's, Longhorn, Panera, Applebee's, TGIFriday's and the rest of the chains do seem to settle in the Bricks, Toms Rivers, Middletowns and Freeholds of the suburban world, not your Sea Brights, Sea Girts and Seaside Parks.
But there is a small, steadily growing local chain that did get its start in our beach towns: Surf Taco, which was born in Point Beach, then expanded in Manasquan, Seaside and Belmar. Of course, it now is finding its sea legs in suburban Silverton and Jackson.
Chain vs. local: Where do you eat? And why? Restaurant chefs: Do you buy your fish from local wholesalers who source from local fishermen?
Cheers,
Andy
2.20.07
P.S. There's more fish talk from Don Takash and other fish-minded folks coming in tomorrow's Food section in the Press.
Takash, who owns Sally's Seafood, a wholesale operation, and Ahearn's Fish Market, a retail shop, both on Route 532 in Waretown, is one of the best-informed fish guys at the Shore. So when he mentioned Bonefish Grill, a seafood-oriented restaurant chain with a new branch on Van Zile Road in Brick, my ears perked up. I'd just been to Bonefish and got the company line from the servers on how the folks behind the scenes (Bonefish is part of the Outback empire) source seafood from all waters of the world. Interestingly enough, according to the servers I queried at the Brick Bonefish, there's not any seafood from Jersey Shore fishermen on the local menu.
Takash told me that Bonefish buys corporately. They're looking, he noted, for a "uniform product.''
He also offered another observation: "You'll notice there aren't chain restaurants in the beach towns.'' Chains succeed where there's volume, and there's just not the year-round population in most of our beach communities to support the economic needs of the major chains, he explained. Locally owned restaurants are the chow centers of our coast.
Hmm, I thought. How true that is; how hard it is for local restaurants in beach towns to keep going through the winter, to make that year-round run. Outback, Chili's, Longhorn, Panera, Applebee's, TGIFriday's and the rest of the chains do seem to settle in the Bricks, Toms Rivers, Middletowns and Freeholds of the suburban world, not your Sea Brights, Sea Girts and Seaside Parks.
But there is a small, steadily growing local chain that did get its start in our beach towns: Surf Taco, which was born in Point Beach, then expanded in Manasquan, Seaside and Belmar. Of course, it now is finding its sea legs in suburban Silverton and Jackson.
Chain vs. local: Where do you eat? And why? Restaurant chefs: Do you buy your fish from local wholesalers who source from local fishermen?
Cheers,
Andy
2.20.07
P.S. There's more fish talk from Don Takash and other fish-minded folks coming in tomorrow's Food section in the Press.
posted by Andrea Clurfeld at 10:31 AM
3 Comments:
Hi Andrea,
I love your column! I've been to Westlake Seafood Restaurant in Matawan only once, and noticed that I was given a different "americanized' menu than the "real" one given to its asian customers. How or what should I ask for when dining there and what dishes can you recommend? Thanks.
chains are the death of the tastebuds of those whom crave unifority over creativity.
What does it say when certain chain Italian and steak restaurants consistently beat our mom and pop restaurants for "Best of" awards in certain publications?
I will only eat local, not chains.
Ah! The most frequent question I get asked in my restaurant, "Where do you get your fish?" How can I answer that? As a restaurant we are privy to alot of info that a retail consumer isn't. We call our suppliers and ask what's best this week, or they call us. Often the best available seafood happens to be the most inexpensive. For example, I try to use locally caught fish, scallops are a great example, when they are at thier best and most abundant, they are cheaper. If a particularly nice catch of Mahi-Mahi is coming in and the fish monger is talking about it, it's usually cheaper. Swordfish, Monkfish, and Blackfish are all excellent locally caught fish, and all are cheaper when they are running strong.(sure is a shame that we can't sell Striper though)Freshness and cost are two big reasons to use local fish (just the same as with produce) My biggest question is why do people order so much Salmon? I just don't get it. It's not local, much of it is farm raised, it's often sold slacked (thawed out), and all the good stuff (wild) is too expensive.
Last year a friend of mine brought me 25 pounds of wild Copper River Salmon, it was unbelivable. I ran it in my place, people commented on the lack of orange color, and I could tell they doubted it was actually salmon. After they tried it they were raving about it. Talk about fresh, the fish had been out of the water less than 48 hours. The funny part of it is that my friend gave it all tome because he said that it had a 'metallic' taste. I asked him how they cooked it and he told me they grilled it. When I asked in detail how they grilled it, I had to keep from laughing when he got to the part about wrapping the grill grate in aluminum foil..........
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