It goes without saying that as seafood lovers we demand the freshest of fish to be served to us. As Anthony Bourdain says in Kitchen Confidential, "I never order fish on Monday, unless I'm eating at a four-star restaurant where I know they are buying their fish directly from the source." Why? Well most fish markets are closed on the weekend, meaning a lot of restaurants are serving their delivery from thursday or friday on monday. Not to worry if you're eating at Le Bernardin but possibly worrying if you're eating at a place that's offering a fish special on Monday from the fish they couldn't get rid of over the weekend.
Not too long ago I used to eat the freshest of fish caught by....well, me. I used to fly fish a river just over an hour drive north of New York City. Now don't get me wrong, I do practise catch and release fishing...95% of the time. But once and a while I kept a few for eating. There's nothing like eating a rainbow or brown trout only a couple of hours out of the water. Throw in a nice white wine and it's as good as anything you will eat in a restaurant. But most people can't go wading into the local stream or motor out into the ocean everytime we want super fresh fish. The "Farm to Fork" movement has become big but I prefer "Sea to Mouth." Recently in Mexico I had just that.
If you're ever in Tulum, Mexico, you must go eat at a place called Casa Violeta. I was sitting on the beach reading a book when this happened right in front of me.
I saw a small fishing boat go by when somebody from Casa Violeta, the restaurant just down the beach from me, came out and flagged them down. They pulled up to the beach and one of the workers from Casa Violeta went down to meet them.
He then made a couple of trips up to the restaurant with this:
Of course I went running over to the boat to check it out. Full Of Lobsters!
It goes without saying that we dined there that evening and another time before we left. I talked to the manager, Tom, who is from New York. Through some connections he had in NY he met the owners of this restaurant. They were struggling a bit and asked him to come down and turn it around. He has done a great job. For some odd reason the owners had wanted it to be a pseudo Italian joint and the Mexican cooks were having a tough time. He returned the style to seaside Mexican cooking and seeing that boat pass by everyday decided it would be great to buy the local catch from them. They serve a Parrillada, basically a seafood mixed grill and it was as good as any I have ever had.
When you dig into that, life is good and meaningful. Add a cold white wine and it is heaven.
