Category Archives: Seafood

When Did Eating Get So Complex?

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It’s complicated.

Boy, is it.

When it comes to eating these days, it seems like it’s never been harder to try to do the right thing.

This past weekend at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, a bevy of journalists, scientists, environmentalists, farmers, chefs, and yours truly gathered together for the annual “Cooking For Solutions” event that’s dedicated to promoting sustainability on land, sea and air.

Chef Suzanne Goin of Lucques in Los Angeles was honored as “Chef of the Year” by the aquarium. And Chef Rick Bayless of Chicago’s Topolobampo and Frontera Grill was named “Educator of the Year.”

They were joined at the event by a roster of big-name chefs, including Rick Moonen of RM Seafood in Las Vegas; Kevin Gillespie of Woodfire Grill in Atlanta and “Top Chef” fame; Gerald Hirigoyen of Piperade and Bocadillos, both in San Francisco; Charles Phan of the Slanted Door in San Francisco; and Joanne Chang of Flour Bakery + Cafe in Boston.

The event was a festive affair with gourmet eats and drinks — all sustainable, organic or biodynamic, of course.  But it was also a sobering affair as experts weighed in on how our eating choices have affected the planet.

Food for thought:

Over the past 50 years, we’ve gone from consuming 10 kilos of fish per person annually to 17 kilos.

Half of our seafood consumption now comes from aquaculture, not wild species. Eighty percent of the fresh and frozen salmon consumed in the United States is farmed. Seventy-five percent of the shrimp consumed in the United States is farmed. A great majority of our farmed seafood is produced in Asia, where standards may be less stringent than in other parts of the world.

Most farmed fish are fed pellets made of fish meal. Although carp and tilapia can subsist on plant-based diets, about 50 percent of carp that’s farmed and more than 80 percent of tilapia that’s farmed end up being fed fish meal.

Fish farms in the ocean can lead to pollution, disease and escapement of these fish into the wild. But experts say that even on-land, enclosed fish farms have escapement issues with tiny fish making their way into drains.

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Take Five with Chef Rick Moonen, On “Top Chef Masters” and Saving the World’s Seafood Populations

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In person, talking a mile a minute, and jumping up from his chair to make a point with arms gesturing wildly, Chef Rick Moonen is a blur of frenetic energy just as he is as a competitor on this season’s “Top Chef Masters.”

The 53-year-old chef jokes that he gets mistaken for fellow bespectacled, facial-scruffed Chef Rick Bayless ever since the two of them appeared together on the first season of that wildly popular Bravo TV show. This despite the fact that Moonen is a Las Vegas chef, whose restaurant RM Seafood is known for its menu of eco-friendly fish, and Bayless is a Chicago chef, whose restaurants Frontera Grill and Topolobampo, are famous for authentic Mexican cuisine.

Indeed, at RM Seafood, Moonen has banned Chilean Sea Bass, Japanese hamachi, monkfish, and grouper from his menu because they are so over-fished. He also refuses to serve Atlantic farm-raised salmon because of its destructive impact on the environment. Instead, he takes pride in featuring sustainable, but lesser known species such as Hawaiian walu and Australian ocean trout.

If he hadn’t been a chef, Moonen, who grew up playing with chemistry sets and Tinkertoys, says he would have been a teacher or doctor of alternative medicine. Good thing for us, he chose the culinary road instead.

Moonen was in Monterey this past weekend, where he was one of the guest chefs at the ninth annual “Cooking for Solutions” event at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. I caught up with him during a break to chat about his redemption on this season’s “Top Chef Masters” and about his dedication to the world’s oceans.

Q: When I interviewed Chef Michael Chiarello of Bottega in Yountville about his defeat in last year’s ‘Top Chef Masters,’ he said you were the one who really would have given him a run for his money in the competition. Was it a huge disappointment to you last season when you were knocked out practically at the start because you weren’t able to plate anything before time ran out in the first ‘Quick Fire’ challenge?

A: I would have beat him. He knows it. I know it. (laughs) If I had just put a piece of parsley on the plate, I would have had it.

That’s why this year, they created the ‘Moonen Rule.’ The ‘Quick Fire’ scores don’t count now in the final tally.

Q: That’s right! Seriously, that change came about because of what happened to you last year?

A: No one told me that officially. But I think it is the ‘Moonen Rule.’

It was a very big disappointment for me last year. I realized I blew it. It’s me, I’m anal-retentive, compulsive, ADD-Rick. Imagine you’re a clown. I grab you and put a gun to your head and tell you that you have to be funny. That’s what it felt like. Now, if you had given me a minute to really think and organize, I would have kicked his butt.

Q: Why did you want to do the show in the first place?

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Upscale Tuna Noodle Casserole

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I get a kick out of foams, froths, sous vide, and all the other modern wonders of molecular gastronomy.

But sometimes, I just want to kick it old-school.

And it doesn’t get any more back-in-the-day nostalgic than tuna noodle casserole.

Like so many of you, I grew up on the beloved casserole made with cream of mushroom soup and canned tuna baked in the trusty ol’ Pyrex dish.

That’s why when I spied the recipe for “Campanile Tuna Noodle Casserole” in the cookbook, “New Classic Family Dinners” (Wiley), I knew I had to make it. The book is by Chef Mark Peel of Campanile, that beloved landmark restaurant in Los Angeles, which you must try if you haven’t yet.

This dish can actually be found on the menu there, and it’s always a hit with children and adults alike, Peel writes.

I can see why, because it’s a taste of childhood but with way better ingredients and punched-up flavor.

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San Jose’s Bluefin Restaurant — Where Sharks Gather

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It’s a Japanese restaurant owned by a Korean-American chef that’s named after one of the world’s most expensive and endangered fish.

And it’s a place where sharks gather — as in Manny Malhotra, Joe Pavelski and Kent Huskins of the San Jose Sharks hockey team, who circle the ice at HP Pavillion, then come here for a bite to eat.

Executive Chef Jun Chon, opened Bluefin restaurant last October on The Alameda in San Jose, not realizing the name he had chosen was that of a species many environmentalists are urging be declared endangered because it has become so over-fished.

“I have gotten criticized a few times about the name,” Chon says. “I only picked the name because it was simple and easy to remember. It’s the king of fish. I didn’t think about the endangered part.”

It’s a Catch-22 for many sushi chefs these days. So many of the most popular fish used for sushi are over-fished. But so many customers still want to eat those varieties that chefs feel almost obliged to serve them.

Chon says he tries to follow the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s guidelines for sustainable fish, but he believes it would be nearly impossible to adhere to them strictly. As it is, he says he won’t buy unagi from China because of the use of antibiotics. He only purchases certified yellowtail. And while he does buy toro (the fatty, luscious belly flesh of the bluefin tuna), he tries to buy only farm-raised from Spain or Japan. As pricey as it is — $16 for two slices — the restaurant sells two to 10 orders a night.

Chon, 49,  is an unlikely restaurateur — the eldest son of a Korean mother born in Japan who never learned to cook growing up, and who majored in mechanical engineering at the University of California, Berkeley only because his limited English made it difficult to study other courses besides math and science.

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Exquisite Italian Small Plates at Barbacco at San Francisco

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Who doesn’t feel fiercely proud when a younger sibling shines?

Such is the case with Barbacco in San Francisco, the new sibling to the ever-popular Perbacco in San Francisco, both just a short hop from the Mandarin Oriental.

The chef is Sarah Burchard, who was a protege of Perbacco Executive Chef Staffan Terje for three years. In this day and age of macho men butchering their own animals with major bragging rights, Burchard was right in there with them. Formerly in charge of Perbacco’s salumi program, the petite chef regularly broke down whole pigs just like the guys. And no surprise — the salumi continues to be outstanding at Barbacco.

Opened in January, this sleek Cass Calder Smith-designed restaurant rocks a decidedly New York vibe. The narrow 66-seat restaurant has brushed stainless steel columns, exposed pipes, a brick wall, and seating at a long counter stacked with jars of olives. The bare wood tables are at just-below bar stool-height with chairs that have comfy rests for your feet. A couple of large flat screen TVs add buzz without being too distracting.

The lively restaurant is a perfect spot to stop in for a glass of wine and something to nosh on. At lunch, there are to-go items, with the menu displayed on the TV screen at the front counter. Or take your time at dinner, and wind your way leisurely through the extensive menu of mostly shared plates.

That’s just what we did on a recent evening when I was invited in to dine as a guest. Ever since I first tried fried olives many years ago in Spain, I haven’t been able to resist them. I mean, come on — something oily and rich made even more oily and more rich? What’s not to like?

At Barbacco, they come stuffed with pork. The $5 “ascolane” are large, meaty green olives with a serious crunch on the outside. You know they’re bad for you, but you can’t stop yourself. Not with these.

No way could we pass up the house-made salumi here. We went for the small chef’s selection ($11 or $18, depending upon the size of the platter). Among the standouts was the mortadella, which tastes like the most exquisite, grown-up, gourmet version of baloney you’ll ever eat; and the ‘nduja, a crock of spicy, spreadable smoked Calabrian salame. Dolloped with Calabrian chili peppers, it was creamy, fatty, and mind-blowing good.

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