The 33 Best Fish And Shellfish, Local And Exotic
Every year on the thirty-three weekdays of Lent, we present a ranking of the best seafood around town. Some years we rank seafood restaurants. On others, we rank specific dishes. Three years ago, it was the thirty-three best local seafood species for the table. This year, the subject is all the seafood that we find in our restaurants, seafood markets, and our dinner tables at home. The list is dominated by local seafood--we live in one of the great fisheries of the world, after all. But it also includes favorites from other places. Salmon and scallops. Lobster. Mussels. Halibut. Our chefs prepare spectacular dishes with those fine guests from other waters.
The list is not a countdown, beginning with the thirty-third best and working up to Number One. Rather, it starts at the top. It's a measure of how superb our seafood selection is that even #33 is involved in many excellent local dishes.
#11: Halibut
A fish that we are seeing more lately comes from waters far away. A northern ocean fish, halibut is fished off the coast of Alaska and also Nova Scotia. You’ve no doubt heard my joke about having halibut in Halifax? (Brilliant bit, if I do say so myself.)
Before halibut was turning up in restaurants like GW Fins here, one had to go to the northernmost areas of North America to eat it. We ran into it regularly on cruises, either to New England or Alaska. Following a favorite dictum of mine, (Eat it where it lives) we have really enjoyed this fish up there. I remember a particular lunch where my wife had it the first time. It was in 2003 in Anchorage, in a rustic lodge-like restaurant exactly like the one you’d expect in Anchorage. Curiously, it was a former location of the popular luxury department store Nordstrom. I encouraged MA to get the grilled halibut sandwich. Roasted in an open wood-fired oven, it was on crusty sourdough bread and dressed with spicy condiments. She still talks about it and gets halibut everywhere she sees it, but it will probably never match the thrill of that first sandwich for her.
On another cruise, the captain shared his bounty. He had been out fishing and these are enormous fish, sometimes getting up to 600 pounds. That fed more than a few people. It was delicious.
Halibut is a wonderful specimen of the ocean. Flaky and white, with a mild flavor, it is usually seen grilled with a light brown crust on the edges. If you ever have the chance to have this delicious fish, grab it. It will almost always be special in restaurants this far away from the source. I'm willing to break my golden rule of eating it where it lives for this one.
Places around town you’re most likely to see it: GW Fins, Briquette, and Zasu, pictured.)
