Start the Year Off Right: Sustainable Fish

Here is an update to an older post I made at least 2 years ago regarding the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s most recent sustainable seafood guide.

On their website, you can find the most recent sustainable information on all kinds of fish and seafood. It’ll tell you about how the fish and seafood is farmed, if it’s overfished, if it’s a good fish choice, etc. They also have a section on sushi.

Or you can download their pocket guide to take with you to the grocery store and have it on reference at all times – works great for deciphering restaurant menus when you go out to eat.

Get the Monterey Bay Aquarium Fish and Seafood Pocket Guides based on region at their site

Get the Monterey Bay Aquarium Sushi Pocket Guide at their site

Great Fish Buying Tip

In the most recent issue of Bon Appetit magazine (Feb 2009), they have a really great article on 50 Easy Ways to Eat Green.

What I discovered is Text Fishphone – it’s utterly brilliant! It’s the easiest way to find out what fish at your local grocery store is good for you (mercury levels, farming methods) and good for the environment (sustainable, farming methods). And it’s so simple: text 30644 and enter FISH, followed by the name of the fish you want to buy. It’ll return a text telling you if it’s a good one or not.

Restaurant Review: Sea Salt, Minneapolis MN

I have heard soooo many things about Sea Salt at Minnehaha Falls in Minneapolis, MN. This is a perfect place for many things: enjoying nature in a city, listening to live music, book club, playing bocce ball….all while eating a fantastic meal!

Sea Salt gets their fish from local seafood store Coastal Seafood (the best place in Minneapolis to purchase seafood and fish). Sea Salt’s menu features an array of tacos, ‘po boys, appetizers, fresh oysters, etc. And everything is fantastic.

I had the calamari tacos with cole slaw. These tacos were on corn tortillas with fresh, homemade salsa. The calamari was fried perfectly, too. I wish the sauce had been really garlicky, but otherwise I would order these again in a heartbeat. The coleslaw was also quite good.

The last time I was there, I tried the tilapia tacos – also YUMMY. But this time I had it with a side of grilled corn on the cob…my favorite. I threw some lime juice, salt and tabasco sauce on it and it was quite good.

The oysters are extremely fresh and delicious, and you can also order beer and wine there.

Grilled Salmon with Lemon Dill Butter

This is another recipe from the weekend menu for the Creative Retreat.

Grilled Salmon with Lemon Dill Butter
serves 8

1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
1 T fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 T fresh chopped dill
salt & pepper
8 six-ounce salmon steaks (you can also do fillets of salmon if you don’t want to buy steaks, just figure about 6-8 oz per person)

Heat grill to medium high.

Prepare butter: if you desire, you can melt the butter in the microwave for 5-10 seconds. Add lemon juice, dill, salt, and pepper to butter and combine. Spread over salmon.

Lay out a large piece of aluminum foil and place the salmon on the foil. Fold the edge over to enclose the salmon. Grill in foil until desired doneness – this will depend entirely on the thickness of the salmon. I prefer my salmon medium, which takes about 5 minutes for a 1 1/2 inch piece of salmon.

All you can catch Maine lobster

This is genius. Two brothers in Maine have established a business called “Catch a Piece of Maine” which allows people to become a partner and receive all the lobsters caught in a lobster trap in one year – all for the mere cost of $2,995.

These partners can also check out how their lobster trap is performing throughout the year by checking in online.

They even tout how it supports local fishermen:

Catch a Piece of Maine’s community supported fishery model directly supports lobsterman and the working waterfront of Maine. Your support allows lobstermen to receive a premium for their product at a time when external economic factors make it hard to make a living from the sea.

Hamachi, oh hamachi!

I f&*#ing love hamachi. I had dinner at Sushi Tango last night (in Calhoun Square). I swear, everytime I go there I’m more than pleased with the quality of their fish.

But last night? I’m pretty sure that was the best hamachi I’ve had. When I picked up the first piece of sashimi, it was a nice pink and it practically fell apart – revealing the tasty fat that I was about to consume.

And the fat…it’s the kind of fat that spreads out over your tongue and fills your mouth with flavor. Good fat. Really good fat. It was overwhelmingly satisfyingly fresh and delicious…and at the same time I was sad that it was over so soon.

Oh, hamachi. I will never get enough of you.

Review: Sushi Groove, San Francisco

This place was a last minute switch-up and I am soooo glad we changed plans. Sushi Groove, located on Union St at Hyde in Russian Hill, was excellent – some of the best sushi I’ve had.

We also had an excellent server- Robin. Ask for him if you go. I think he was a little surprised how much food we ordered, but he did want to sit down with us and eat…we must have good taste.

We ordered a hella sushi. It might’ve had something to do with our lack of eating for a cool 6 or 7 hours. Jamba Juice doesn’t cut it, but it does get you through.

We started with Yaegaki Junmai “Black Bottle” sake – it was dry, smooth, light, delicate and a little floral. It was excellent. I will definitely be looking for this again. Also tried an unfiltered sake which was also good. As Robin put it, “it’s like sake from a cow.” Ew…

As for sushi, we had quite the array, as you can see:

The hamachi was outstanding. I feel better about the quality of hamachi on this trip versus the one last year. Sushi Groove also had an excellent selection of specials, including Hawaiian butterfish – Walu. It was soooo good. This is why I feel like sushi is like a drug – whenever I have it, I have to have more. It is addicting to eat something as good as that walu. It was melt in your mouth delicious.

Also, the ivory salmon was outstanding. We had it nigiri style and I sure felt the burn on that one- the surprise of extra wasabi was quite unexpected but welcome. We also had the aji sashimi (that would be the fish in the picture). It was pretty good with the mashed ginger they served with it.

We tried a few rolls and they were pretty good too- dynamite (which they put dollops of Sri Racha on – LOVED it), eric’s maki (scallops with tobiko and avocado I think), gari saba (ginger and mackerel), and kamikaze (yellowtail, avocado and tobiko). Yummo.

Overall, it was a lot of fun and we enjoyed all of the sushi.

Sushi Groove
1916 Hyde Street
San Francisco, CA
415-440-1905

They are also on open table for reservations.

Roasted Halibut with Pineapple Ginger Sauce

I made this the other night for a friend (on an electric stove no less- yikes!) and it was a huge success and quite tasty. I think this could be a contender for the menu for my someday restaurant. There is enough sauce for 4 servings. I served this with Spicy Green Beans and coconut rice w/cilantro (just cook the rice with coconut milk instead of water and add chopped cilantro at the end = yummy).

A friend recently turned me on to a new Spanish white wine- Albarino. We had that with this dinner and I thought it went quite well together. Although, I think a Gewurtzeminer would work too.

Roasted Halibut with Pineapple Ginger Sauce

1/3 c dry white wine
1/3 c orange juice
2 T tamari
1# halibut fillet

*mix the first 3 ingredients and marinate the halibut for 30min – 2hours. reserve the marinade

1/3c dry white wine
1T sesame oil
1T rice wine vinegar
2T tamari
1/3c orange juice
1 jalapeno, minced
2T minced fresh ginger
zest from 1 orange
zest from 2 limes
1 small red onion, sliced
2 cups diced pineapple
1 red bell pepper, julienned
2T chopped cilantro
2T sesame seeds

*preheat the oven to 400. heat a large skillet over high heat with a little bit of oil. when the pan is very hot, add the halibut. sear each side of the halibut for about 1-2 minutes. (this will help keep the fish moist and tender.) put the halibut in a roasting pan with a little bit of marinade (about 1/3) and place in the oven. the halibut will take about 20 minutes to cook – make sure you cook halibut all the way through.

*NOTE: if you’re making rice, this is a good time to get it started if you’re making Thai jasmine which takes about 15-20 minutes. brown rice takes about 40 minutes so make sure you allow plenty of time. (Joy of Cooking is always an excellent resource for cooking time for all the varieties of rice)

*in the same skillet, add the remaining marinade, the additional wine, sesame oil, rice wine vinegar, tamari, orange juice, jalapeno, ginger and zest. let this gently boil for about 5 minutes then add the red onion. the sauce should start to reduce. once it gets thicker, add the pineapple and bell pepper.

*NOTE: the Spicy Green Beans take about 8-10 minutes so start these just before the fish is done.
*when the halibut is done, remove from the oven. place rice and beans on a plate, place the halibut on top, then put some of the pineapple ginger sauce over the fish. garnish with fresh cilantro and sesame seeds.

Review: Spoon River, Minneapolis MN

I finally made it to Brenda Langston’s new restaurant Spoon River. (I’m a big fan of Cafe Brenda- in my opinion they have some of the best fish preparations in Minneapolis.) Has it been open a year already? WHAT is my problem? Seriously.

Well, now that I’ve been, I will be going back regularly. It was most excellent!

My friend and I had the charcuterie plate with an extremely delicious duck and chicken liver pate….mmmmm. It definitely rivals Barbette’s pate. The salami was a little fatty for my taste, but the cheeses were quite good. I’m not very familiar with cheeses on a charcuterie plate, but hey- I won’t say no.

We ordered one of the nightly specials and one entree off the menu, and they were both great. I don’t eat meat very often- I typically do when I know where the meat comes from or eat at a restaurant where I know the owner takes particular care in selecting high quality, local, organic meat. And for some reason I must’ve been feeling really low on iron because the sound of the Steak special made my mouth start watering.

For good reason, too. The steak was incredible. It was cooked perfectly medium rare with a delicious sauce and incredible pureed potatoes.

The fish entree was also quite good- walleye with a cucumber jalapeno tartar sauce. I’m all about the sauces and both of these dishes were up to par for my taste.

Aside from the great food, we had a really nice bottle of wine with dinner- Hess Syrah. I’m familiar with some other Hess wines and for the price I think they’re quite good. I’d never had the syrah before, but it will be a regular purchase from the liquor store from now on.

One more thing about the cocktails- the basil vodka lemonade drink was incredible. It is the perfect summer beverage…I just wish we had been able to enjoy it on the patio.

The space of the restaurant is a little awkward, but I love the red walls and the tables and chairs. I also appreciate the service there. The staff is quite a crew!

Check it out if you haven’t. It’s an excellent Minneapolis restaurant.

Spoon River
750 S. 2nd St.
@ Chicago Ave. S.
Minneapolis, MN 55401
tel. 612 436 2236

Minneapolis Favorite: Barbette

Barbette is definitely in my Top 5 for favorite restaurants in Minneapolis, MN. Everything about it is enjoyable: the service, the atmosphere, the food, the drinks (specifically the martinis), the wine selection, the price.

I finally made it in for brunch on Sunday. The coffee was exceptionally strong and tasty- very chocolately (similar to the Birchwood Blend made by Peace Coffee…another favorite). I tried the Eggs Florentine…WHOA. I didn’t think I liked tomatoes. I have to retract that statement if I’ve ever made it. The oven dried, marinated tomatoes made the dish. They had a rustic, earthy, full flavor that went really well with the light lemony hollandaise and perfectly poached eggs.

Other favorites:
• they make the best vodka dirty martini
• delicious carrot cake
• their menu changes frequently
• their wines are affordable and typically very good
• their fish selections are always incredible
• fries are always crispy and served with an incredible saffron aioli
• they purchase as much as they can from local companies (yay!) and typically the foods are organic when possible

I could go on and on…

Owner Kim Bartman is rumored to be opening a new restaurant in NorthEast pretty soon, called the Red Stag. Should be excellent based on the success of both Barbette and Bryant Lake Bowl.

Barbette
1600 W Lake St
Minneapolis, MN 55408
612-827-5710