Ethical and practical concerns have altered the way Maine’s most prominent chefs choose to serve seafood. Only fish that can reproduce at the rate that they’re being caught make it onto their gourmet menus. At the height of this summer’s tourist season, chic restaurants are preparing politically correct seafood, educating as well as feeding some patrons in the process.
Sophisticated consumers have already grasped the value of appropriate conservation and boycotting consumption of endangered seafood. For example, between 1998 and 2000 the conservation groups SeaWeb and National Resources Defense Council ran an enormously successful campaign — “Give Swordfish a Break” — which allowed the popular entrée to recover from overfishing, particularly in international waters.
Nevertheless, even the most ecologically aware consumer is not willing to pay high-end restaurant prices for food that’s literally (as compared with politically) distasteful. Even if the fish is far from endangered, Sam Hayward — chef and owner of Fore Street Restaurant in Portland — will not cook it unless the resulting dish is delicious.
“For example, wolf fish is a hideous fish, but skate is fabulous, mild and delicate — often I use the wings and filet the meat off the bones,” says Hayward, who seasons each skinned skate individually with sea salt and black pepper, then dredges the fillet with a little flour, quick sears it in a skillet and dresses each serving with fried capers.
Historically, of course, Mainers traditionally used all of the fish so as not to be wasteful. Cheryl Lewis, the new chef at the renovated Black Point Inn on Prouts Neck, makes no bones about cooking un-traditional seafood. “Cod tongue and cheeks can be very flavorful and fluffy — I deep fry them and they have a really crunchy outer layer,” explains Lewis, who also thinks highly of the lobster’s tomalley (its liver, which turns green upon cooking).
“Many consider tomalley to be a delicacy, though most folks from away leave it behind on the plate — it is very flavorful yet under utilized,” continues Lewis, who prepares tomalley toasts by sautéing minced onion and garlic in a little butter, mixing in some softened unsalted butter and spreading it onto croutons before broiling.
An increasing number of ecologically aware customers click on www.seafoodwatch.org, the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch list, making the prospect of consuming an endangered fish unpalatable. So well trained wait staff at Maine’s high-end restaurants deftly field complicated questions with aplomb. “Our servers know exactly where each fish comes from,” asserts Hayward. “And it’s written on the menu.”
The challenge of brokering politically correct fish falls on fellows like George Parr, co-owner of Upstream Trucking on Maine Wharf in Portland. While big fish houses make their living by buying frozen fish, according to Parr, he’d rather be in the boutique fishmonger business.
On the road from 4:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Thursday, and Friday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., in addition to making local connections with fisherman, Parr frequently drives to Boston to make a purchase. Thanks to his interstate schlepping, fresh fish from Maine diverted to Massachusetts does make its way to restaurants and fish markets all up the coast of Maine. A veteran who began his career in New York City’s Fulton Fish Market, Parr knows that chefs and popular summer fish markets want black cod, not Alaskan sablefish. Rolling with today’s trends, Parr cheerfully describes his selective clientele as including chefs who are “high maintenance — want one thing, change their minds and then want another.”
“That’s it with yellowfin tuna,” says Hayward, with finality. “After 11 years in the business, don’t even call us about tuna. The longer I’m in the business, the more local I’ve become. We can deal with any global company we want — but we just choose not to.”
Food that travels too great a distance has lost its appeal to the gourmet with an environmental conscience. George Parr, in a rare quiet moment at his computer, composed this e-mail explanation of the way of the gourmet-food world these days: “The reasoning is that you make a smaller carbon foot print and if the infrastructure becomes harmed or the cost of moving product becomes prohibitive there will be the local producers to pick up the slack,” writes Parr. “Sam [Hayward] has increased the amount of locally produced seafood since I started working with him. We still bring in some exotic fish but not half as much as we used to. I stopped bringing in fish from New Zealand about three years ago.”
Meanwhile, Tom Gutow, The Castine Inn’s owner and chef, also tries to prepare meals that do not deplete the world’s oceans. So he’s skillfully turned everyday fish into something creative — monkfish as an appetizer sells well at his 50-seat restaurant. Like other distinguished chefs he’s not willing to spend all day on his cell phone calling an international broker; he argues that simply putting something on a plate that diners have never heard of or seen before isn’t great cooking; it’s just impressive ingredient research.
“Unless the new item is properly prepared and combined with the rest of the dish, it is simply a hook to attract attention,” says Gutow.
Melissa Kelly, co-owner and executive chef of Primo, in Rockland (and Orlando and Tucson) visits her local fishmonger at 9 a.m. every day; later the same day, her menu offers fresh fish prepared in a wood grill, sautéed, steamed or poached. After seven years in Maine, last spring Kelly renovated her restaurant building to be completely compliant with environmental standards; furthermore, she recycles everything, including oyster shells, which break down to sludge for use in her organic garden. Kelly strongly believes in the importance of gracefully educating some of her customers. Skate, for example: many diners long accustomed to cod, salmon or halibut are open to new things with a little information. “It’s all about earning their trust to try different things,” Kelly says with a smile.