Purchasing Seafood Online

[chomer]

Has anyone had experience with buying seafood on-line? I was reading an article in Food and Wine (I think, I subscribe to so many) and it said if you are not satisfied with your local seafood markets (which I am not), then buy on-line. However the article did not suggest any particular site to purchase from. My daughter, who works for a seafood restaurant in DuPont, says they buy almost all their seafood on-line. When I ask her where she says "all over". No help there.

thanks

Cathy

[zoramargolis]

Has anyone had experience with buying seafood on-line? I was reading an article in Food and Wine (I think, I subscribe to so many) and it said if you are not satisfied with your local seafood markets (which I am not), then buy on-line. However the article did not suggest any particular site to purchase from. My daughter, who works for a seafood restaurant in DuPont, says they buy almost all their seafood on-line. When I ask her where she says "all over". No help there.

Where are you located? Have you tried BlackSalt Market on MacArthur Blvd.? The seafood there is uniformly excellent and of the highest quality.

A restaurant or fish market may place their orders online with local or Boston wholesalers, or even get some stuff FedExed from fish brokers in the Pacific Northwest, but I'm skeptical that those same places would ship small quantities to a retail customer.

Jim Chambers is a DR.com member who wholesales fish from Alaska and the Pacific Northwest--he picks it up at Dulles and then delivers to a whole bunch of high-end restaurants in DC. He will sell to private clients. His stuff is fantastically fresh, but you have to buy a whole fish, and they are only gutted, not scaled. If you are prepared to break down a whole fish, go for it. I've done it a couple of times, used the bones and head to make stock, but it was a lot of work and I don't think I saved much money. A whole black cod, for example cost me about $75 @ $7.99 a pound, and I could have gotten almost as much usable meat if I had bought $75 worth of filets at BlackSalt.

[Mrs. B]

Waitman and I have regularly purchased oysters from Rappohannock Oysters and been very satisfied with the product and the customer service.

We have also purchased scallops and sea urchin that have been equally satisfactory but I'm not sure of the source.

I have purchased shrimp from Joe Patti's in Pensacola and stone crab claws from Joes in Miami Beach with fine results but find the cost to be a bit too high for my wallet without a big order. Frankly I could probably make this same comment about all the places noted but in those cases I was always ordering quantity so the delivery cost (totally just I think) didn't stick out as much.

[LauraB]

I used to buy fish (especially salmon) from Vital Choice. The quality of the fish was superb; however, the price was ridiculously expensive, with shipping. After awhile I just couldn't justify it. Now I buy most of my seafood from River Falls Seafood in Potomac or BlackSalt on MacArthur Blvd in the Palisades.

[Waitman]

Waitman and I have regularly purchased oysters from Rappohannock Oysters and been very satisfied with the product and the customer service.

We have also purchased scallops and sea urchin that have been equally satisfactory but I'm not sure of the source.

I have purchased shrimp from Joe Patti's in Pensacola and stone crab claws from Joes in Miami Beach with fine results but find the cost to be a bit too high for my wallet without a big order. Frankly I could probably make this same comment about all the places noted but in those cases I was always ordering quantity so the delivery cost (totally just I think) didn't stick out as much.

You are thinking of The Fresh Lobster Company, whose lobsters we have never gotten but whose sea urchins an day-bpat scallops are unmatched. Also, with all due respect to Rappahannock, their Wellfleets are the best oysters I know how to buy.

[teddyk]

I strongly agree with the Blacksalt recommendation. I have made puchases there three dozen or more times a year for the last four years or so and they have never failed me.

[ktmoomau]

I have ordered for myself and others crab/crabmeat/crabcakes from: http://crabplace.com/ with good results. My Mom helped them get funding for a grant program (she is the director of the Microenterprise Council of MD) and they seem like really nice people. Local Maryland crabbers from Crisfield, MD. I have eaten some of their other products which were good, but I mainly stick with the crab.

[chomer]

Thank you all for your recommendations. Very helpful. I will check out Black Salt soon. Have heard many good things about their seafood. I spend a lot of time on the Eastern Shore in Maryland and have no problem finding great oysters and crabs there. But fish has always been lacking in freshness and variety. Would be nice if a reliable fish store would open up in the downtown DC area somewhere!

[goodeats]

Has anyone ever ordered from I Love Blue Sea? There is a coupon in Plum District for $15 for $30 (which is pennies counting shipping) and they sell only sustainable stuff, which is why I am curious...

[Salmon & Sable]

I am a commercial fisherman from Alaska wintering here in the DC area. I also sell my catch directly to the public through my business Cold Country Salmon.

Having mailed fish of all kinds all over the place over the last 20 years, I can say that buying fish locally is almost always cheaper than mail order––and the quality will be better if you do your homework and buy from the right place. Fresh or fresh frozen fish needs to be shipped via courier overnight (or 2 day) which regularly costs the same or more than the fish itself. There are also the expenses of dry ice, foam-lined boxes and sometimes waxed boxes. Conversely, you can often buy fish from local purveyors who are the fishermen themselves and bring their catch in fresh frozen in large lots and store it to then resell locally. Because the seafood is moved in volumes of 1000 or more pounds, the cost to the purveyor (and ultimately the customer) for transportation is 90% less or more. I noticed that www.vitalchoice.com sells three (3) wild Alaskan sockeye salmon fillets (4.5 pounds total) for $96––$3 more gets you free shipping. For the $99 order, this is $22 per pound shipped. Whether that free "standard" shipping is fast enough to keep the salmon frozen is another story. While this could be an amazing product, the customer is paying far more than market price for salmon they really know nothing about, bought from a purveyor they also know little or nothing about. Who shipped it? Who processed it? Who caught it? Where was it stored and for how long? Sometimes questions as basic "is this really sockeye salmon and not chum or coho?" or even, "is it really wild?" are questions not asked without warrant. By comparison, the fish I, and other fishermen like me, sell, is 25% less expensive or more, of equal or better quality, and the customer can learn every detail of the salmon by simply asking the fishermen, me. These are questions I get from my customers and love answering: How is the fishery managed and what makes it sustainable? What is the environment like where these fish were caught? How do you catch your fish? What are the differences between the five species of Alaska salmon? How should I thaw, prepare and cook the salmon? And anything else you may want to know about the food you put in you and your family's bodies. While it is is ideal to buy as much locally produced food as possible, certain foods some people deem a necessity of life (salmon for myself ) are not available from local waters. Some folks also have concerns about the quality of their local waters and the seafood produced from them.

In my opinion, and this may be biased, buying direct from the fisherman is the only way to know every detail about your fish. Middlemen of any kind are never savvy to all the details of where fish come from, caught, processed; sometimes even simple things like, was it caught sustainably, what waters is it from, and what method was used to catch it? For example, A New York Times article by Marian Burros found that six of the eight stores selling salmon as "wild Alaskan salmon" were in fact selling inferior farm raised salmon. While none of the store owners took responsibility, some claimed ignorance saying their supplier misled them while others admitted that they just didn't know where the problem was.

In short, my personal belief is that seafood lovers (and foodies of all persuasions) should buy local or at least locally sold and always from the producer him or herself. If you love tuna (me too!), perhaps look for a fisherman involved in that fishery who brings fish into the area him or herself. If you love lobster (who doesn't?), look to fishermen who catch the critter and bring it down themselves, if your looking for salmon, I love to talk about Alaska, seafood, sustainability and specifically, salmon!