CULTURE | SAVOIR FARE
FISH STORY Cooking fish at home is easy with the freshest product. by Fernanda Mueller
THERE IS NO BETTER WAY TO BUY FRESH SEAFOOD than straight from the source. New York’s iconic Fulton Fish Market has been supplying the catch of the day for over 200 years, and some purveyors are making their fresh seafood more accessible for people all over the country—from chefs and restaurants to home cooks. “I was just a kid when I met my first love, seafood,” says Citarella owner, Joe Gurrera. Passionate about seafood for more than 40 years, Joe worked at his father’s neighborhood seafood shop in Greenwich Village until he started making his own way at the original Fulton Fish Market, under the Brooklyn Bridge. His passion led him to buy Citarella in 1983, then a small seafood shop on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. He eventually expanded the business to include seven gourmet markets around New York. Joe also owns a seafood wholesale company called Lockwood & Winant, which is led by his son Anthony and occupies the most square footage at the New Fulton Fish Market, in Hunts Point.
“I realized that establishing relationships with the best fishermen around the globe was the key to gaining access to the best product. From trusted crabbers from up and down the eastern seaboard, to principled farmers in British Columbia, Nova Scotia, and Norway who are raising the gold standard for organic salmon, as well as sustainably farmed Branzino from Greece, organic shrimp from Madagascar, delicate cockles from New Zealand, and prized lobsters from Nova Scotia,” says Gurrera. The key to the company’s success is the freshness of their product. Lockwood & Winant delivers to seafood shops and restaurants in refrigerated trucks, while Citarella ships fresh seafood nationwide. According to Joe, this is possible because they keep their fish on an “iceberg’s worth of ice.” Seafood is the most perishable protein, so to maintain freshness, it is wrapped in waxed paper, sealed in plastic, and carefully packaged with ice packs in insulated, leak-proof boxes. “When customers order our fresh seafood online, what they receive always reflects the unrivaled standard of our markets.
CATCH OF THE DAY Joe Gurrera and son Anthony at the Fulton Fish Market (left). photography courtesy Citarella
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DOWNTOWNNYC THE REFORMERS 2021
