fishmonger

Good morning Chefs and Buyers, You may have noticed some instability in shrimp prices lately. There are any number of reasons that shrimp prices are beginning to climb after a very long period of stability. Last year unexpectedly high domestic wild shrimp production kept prices low for white shrimp even as we saw black tiger prices increasing. White shrimp from the Americas were being made available at prices to compete with the lower priced US shrimp. Now those large reserves of domestic product are quickly dwindling down and forcing prices up on white shrimp. In the meantime we have a new ban on wild Mexican shrimp set to start on April 20th. On the Asian front you have many farms actually switching from black tigers to the more profitable vanamei white. Vanaemei whites grow quicker and farms are able to get two harvests vs. one with tigers. Unfortunately these shrimp do not grow to the larger sizes, and most are harvested at a 26/30 market size. Bigger size tigers are in…

Thursday, December 6, 2007 Friday night my wife and I had the greatest time as we watched Garrison Keillor bring his Prairie Home Companion to The Town Hall, right here in NYC. And the best part was his story piece Guy Noir, and his foray into the New York Seafood Biz. The skit featured Guy Noir as the newly established President of the "Freshwater Grouper Association". This association and Guy are charged with the task of bringing walleye to the tables of New Yorkers. We busted at the seams last night, but today I have a real taste for the fish fry of my childhood...bring me some walleye. Anyway the show was great and it inspired me to start a blog of the same name. Garrison please don't sue me, imitation is the most sincerest form of flattery.

Washington Post (blog)Trader Joe's adopts sustainable seafood standards
Washington Post (blog)
The phase-out applies to all fresh, frozen and canned seafood. The move comes after months of pressure from environmental groups. In July 2009, the company ...
See all stories on this topicInvestigation: Ice price illegally added to some seafood prices
Puget Sound Business Journal
Some frozen seafood products may illegally contain the weight of ice in the price, according to a national investigation. Washington state was one of 17 ...
See all stories on this topicBlueacre Seafood opens with plenty of ocean -- and more air
Seattle Times
Blueacre Seafood, the second restaurant for the owners of the Steelhead Diner, made its debut -- as promised -- with chef Kevin Davis in the kitchen and his ...
See all stories on this topicEmerald City Fish & Chips serves up satisfying S…

Good day Chefs and Buyers, This morning we have fresh trap porgies, small 1lb Spanish Mackerel, and fluke all from Long Island boats just in late last night. We have hand produced uni trays from Maine, uni is the edible portion of the sea urchin. Uni can be eaten raw, it makes a great addition to raw oysters, and adds an umami rich ocean flavor to risotto and sauces. Dover sole is available in the most popular size of 18 to 20 ounces each. Flown in direct from the Holland auction these are great fish. Wild striped bass prices are going up as landings are reduced, but the fish are certainly still worth it with bright red gills and very firm flesh. Fresh Chilean turbot has arrived a fabulous flatfish that should be on more menus. The flesh is best described as a cross between halibut and dory with the best of both worlds. Awesome table commanding presence as a whole fish for two turbot never disappoints. Also available fresh today: Lake Erie whitefish, clean tasting aquacultured …

Cuttlefish is a member of the same family as octopus and squid. Believed to be one of the smartest invertebrates around it is never the less a staple of the Portuguese cuisine where it is often found as a component of rice dishes. Here in the United States it is less well known, found in ethnic cuisine and in high end restaurants where chefs clamor for this unique cephalapod.

Good morning Chefs and Buyers, Well it looks like once again the old adage of March coming in like lamb and out like a lion may hold true. Here comes another N'or Easter. Rain is in the forecast until the end of the month and April first gets warmer and dries out on Thursday. But rain did not stop good fish from getting in to us and we have a nice varied line up of product. From a direct flight last night arrived Portuguese sardines, and fresh sepia (cuttlefish). The sepia are about 2 to 3 per lb, a good size to stuff or grill. Sardines are making it onto more and more menus these days. It is great to see the public finally embracing this delicious "bottom of the food chain" species, a great sustainable and green choice. Wild stripe bass landings are moving to different areas with the majority of the fish from the Potomac River management area. Super nice fish from this small allotment tag area. Florida boats brought us a mix of species; including pompano (1-2lbs…

Yesterday marked the 8th year I ate shad roe. I make it a point to have at least one meal of this springtime special. This year looks to be a much better harvest if we can make that assumption by the early and bountiful supply. Nothing seems to go better with these full sacs of eggs than bacon, so this year was no different. Since my mother in law is here from Poland I thought to add some of that flavor. The fresh smoked bacon was from my favorite Greenpoint Butcher Driggs Meat Market and I served it with a simple salad of fresh sauerkraut, apples, carrot, and shallot. Of course no Polish dinner would be complete without potatoes so some well buttered mash made it to the plate as well. Mama Babcia pronounced the meal smakuje dobra

Good day Chefs and Buyers, Something really exciting is in our warehouse today. Jumbo Spot Prawns from British Columbia are in today. These are the choicest specimens packed out for the Japanese Market. They come 15/19 per 1 kilo box, that works out to about 7 pieces in a pound. Check out the photos on http://twitter.com/WildEdiblesFish and Facebook http://tinyurl.com/y9elztvSpot prawns are a very sustainable fishery from the icy cold North Pacific waters of Canada http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/SeafoodWatch/web/sfw_factsheet.aspx?fid=23 Also from the same supplier we were able to buy the very best frozen at sea black cod. These fish are far superior to the land frozen fish some other companies sell. Try these sable out and you will see the difference. Since we have been talking about west coast seafood we should mention that the halibut fishery has finally hit its stride with prices coming down and leveling off. We have brand new landings in today and our fish are awes…

Wednesday is always a good day to start planning for the weekend. Our shelves are bare in anticipation of Thursday, the day when we get in fresh shipments from Portugal, Holland, Greece and Florida just to name a few. These shipments usually sell out fast since we bring in only the best and let someone else have the rest. So if you would like sardines, fresh octo, large branzini and dorade or Dover sole let us know. From our favorite Florida fish house we will be getting fresh white shrimp tails sized 16/20, these will be sweet and incomparable to anything frozen. The American red snappers are always bright and red with crimson gills, we spec them out in the 2-4lb range as they are by far the most requested size. We often get a handful of the captains by catch (non targeted species of fish), and they told us to expect some fancy pompano, and a mahi or two. Shad are still being caught in good quantities in the Carolinas. We are getting new shipments daily, and cutting out ro…

Good day Chefs and Buyers, Local fluke landings are stronger than ever and prices are coming down. Fluke are available in all sizes from 2-8lbs. Boats fill up quick, so these fish are just hours out of the water. After a tough winter with lobster prices staying high there is a bit of relief in the market with many big lobster houses interested in moving inventory from their pounds. Warmer weather will start to increase catches before the demand catches up, so we hope to see additional relief in the future. Spanish mackerel are sushi grade in rigor fish. Bluefish availability has been sporadic at best, but we have some nice "snapper" blues 2-4lbs in today. Tuesday's turbot shipments from Chile are back on line and the fish are as nice as ever. Hiramasa is new from Australia, and boy are these fish nice and fatty. We have whitefish from the great lakes today, and carp is available for those planning to make gefilte fish. Large farmed stripe bass will be very limit…

Good morning Chefs and Buyers, Saturday was the first day of Spring, and the beautiful weather in and around NYC backed that up. We will be adding additional delivery routes to handle the increased volume. Starting in May we will have 6 day deliveries to the Hamptons, currently we deliver M,W,F.  We look forward to a successful Spring and Summer for everyone, let us know what we can do to make it easy too. Small tasty treats abound today. Plump little spearing (whitebait, eperlain) just beg to be fried. Portuguese sardines arrived a day early and they are firm, clean and so shiny you can almost see the omega threes. Nice tinker sized Boston Mackerel running 3-5 per lb are superb today, our English chef really like these, and they are sustainable. Crayfish got delayed and are coming in later today so you can have them for tomorrows menu, straight from the delta. Oh, and we still have the soft shelled crayfish if you haven't tried them yet we strongly encourage it. With th…

ABC NewsJapanese Fish Dealers Welcome Tuna Ban Rejection
ABC News
By MALCOLM FOSTER AP Writer AP A fish dealer walks among tuna at his stall inside Tsukiji Wholesale Market in Tokyo, Japan, Friday,. ...
See all stories on this topicStudy backs efforts to save delta fish
San Francisco Chronicle
A study by the National Academy of Sciences declared Friday that the efforts to save endangered fish in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta by ...
See all stories on this topicAnglers head out looking for the tournament-changing big fish
ESPN
Velvick's kicker fish, a 10-11, is exactly what the 93 Elite pros are hunting for today. "I didn't get a big bite yesterday, and I have to figure out how to ...
See all stories on this topicNo Rabies Found in Wolves Blamed in Teacher Death
New York Times
The animals were shot Monday from the air by the state Department of Fish & Game. Department officia…

I thought for sure that the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora or CITES for short would have voted for listing Bluefin Tuna off the table commercially. Bluefin is the largest and most sought after tuna primarily in Japan. Very few of these fish even make it to the states and I have not sold one in years. I have to admit that at first it was purely financial as the high price of these fish made them difficult to sell and make money on. However after following the stories and looking at good scientific data I decided that I would not buy or sell any until I could do so in good conscious, especially with so many other tuna species available.

So yesterday when the announcement was made that the proposal by Monaco and the United States to list Atlantic bluefin on Appendix I failed, with 20 in favor, 68 against and 30 abstaining. I was it bit surprised. With strong lobbying by Japan I guess I should not have been. After reading…

Good Day Chefs and Buyers, Are you ready for the weekend? With the weather predicted to be in the 70's people are sure to be out and about, and hopefully dining at your establishment. We have some great options for you to menu; many local, many sustainable, some unusual, and all of the highest quality. Local:  Porgies, trap fish NYFluke, short trip NYMonk, day boat NJBlack Sea Bass, trap and line caught RIWild Striped Bass, tagged VA Sustainable: Mahi Mahi, line caught PanamaSturgeon, aquaculture CAHalibut, pacific day boat BCStone crab claws, trap caught FLHiramasa, farmed AustraliaUnusual: Soft shell crayfish, hand selected LABlowfish tails, expertly cut CTOreo Roughy, turbot bycatch GreenlandShad Roe, artisanal fishery NCIn addition to the listed items above we have a full line of fresh and frozen seafood to meet all your needs. We are on Facebook:Wild Edibles Seafood and Twitter: WildEdiblesFish "It's spring fever.  That is what the name of it is.  And when you'…