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Photo by Chris Kessler.
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This story appears in the May 2011 issue of
Milwaukee Magazine.
by Ann Christenson
Every Sunday, Roy Axelson drives to O’Hare International Airport to pick up a shipment of Dover sole from Holland. The fresh-caught fish had sold at auction on Friday or Saturday, then were flown to the States on Sunday.
By 5 p.m. Sunday, Axelson is loading 1,500 pounds of sole into his truck, then it’s heading north to Milwaukee’s Lake Park Bistro and other restaurants along the way. That evening, the restaurant’s servers will filet these delicate, creamy fish tableside – a beautiful technique to watch. Just a couple of days before, the fish were still swimming in the North Sea.
We have become a nation with high expectations as to the freshness of our fish, even if they are ocean fish served far from the country’s coasts. For more than 30 years, Axelson and his wife, Bonnie, have been meeting this expectation, supplying restaurants from Chicago to Milwaukee (and many other cities) with tuna, scallops, stone crab claws, oysters and other species within hours of their catch. The Axelsons run a small operation, delivering to 20-plus stops six days a week from their business – The Seafood Merchants Ltd. – in Vernon Hills, Ill. They’ve flourished partly because of longstanding relationships with the restaurants they work with. Bonnie recalls sending shipments of fish to chef Sandy D’Amato when he worked at John Byron’s in the ’80s, well before D’Amato opened Sanford. The couple also keep close ties to the fisheries.
“Roy and I visit the boats,” says native Canadian Bonnie. They stop at a fishery on every vacation so they can inspect the facilities firsthand.
Their methodology is far from unusual. Dan Ryan, general manager and fresh seafood buyer for Milwaukee wholesaler Empire Fish, develops the same rapport with his suppliers and customers. For deliveries, Empire has a morning and an afternoon truck. Speed is of the essence. If Empire gets an order from a restaurant by 5 a.m. (that’s the cutoff for a morning delivery), “We can get it anywhere [in the Milwaukee area] that morning,” Ryan says.
In the case of a restaurant like Hinterland, Ryan will talk to the chef, Dan Van Rite, at 1 p.m. on a given day, and the chef “will see the fish by 3 or 4 p.m.” the same day, Ryan says.
Ryan has learned the preferences of the chefs he serves, so he knows he’ll be able to find a home for what he’s buying – whether wild-caught walleye for Honeypie or sablefish for Hinterland. He comes at this from the perspective of a chef, says Meritage’s owner/chef Jan Kelly. “He really listens to what I want to do with the fish,” Kelly says. “It’s great to be able to talk to him that way.”
These days, local chefs can easily get their hands on freshwater fish, oysters from both coasts, farm-raised Scottish salmon and everything in between with daily phone calls to their suppliers.
La Merenda co-owner Peter Sandroni works directly with local fish farms, such as Palmyra’s Rushing Waters Fisheries, and drills his supplier, Tim Collins of Milwaukee’s St. Paul Fish Co., on the origin of the creatures he carries.Sandroni wants to know exactly what he’s getting.
It’s about ensuring freshness andtracing seafood to its source. Traceability is the precondition of sustainability, so many chefs want to know the point of origin and are giving it more attention on their menus. Ever more diners are aware of sustainability and the implications of overfishing.
Nationally and internationally, this has become an increasing concern. The U.S. government regulates the fishing industry and places limits on catches so that the supply of fish and seafood that goes to consumers is safe. Savvy restaurant customers care about such issues. Hotel Metro’s Bar & Café is embracing the trend with a new seasonal menu that emphasizes sustainable fish.
Another way to ensure freshness – and support the community – is to eat local, also a national trend. One Milwaukee farm is leading the way. Will Allen’s groundbreaking Growing Power – which includes aquaponically raised perch and tilapia – earned him a spot last year on the “Time 100” and a MacArthur Fellow honor in 2008. Inspired by Allen, Sweet Water Organics has turned an abandoned industrial building in Bay View into a thriving sustainable aquaponic system, a simulated wetland that grows produce and perch. Now, the whole country knows about it thanks to “NBC Nightly News,” which profiled the “green” business last November.
Meat and potatoes Milwaukee, in short, is increasingly becoming a seafood town where expectations of quality and freshness have increased, and retail and wholesale options are expanding. A case in point is the amazing Rushing Waters farm, where trout are raised in temperature-controlled, artesian water-fed ponds. Another example is the work of local “scallop queen” Helen Brady, the sales and marketing rep for the famed seafood producer Viking Village, based on a barrier island off the coast of New Jersey.
Here then is the magazine’s first-ever feature on the entire seafood scene. The 15 restaurants we’ve included offer some of the best in watery wonders. But we’ve also investigated which wholesalers supply Milwaukee’s restaurants and retail stores and sushi bars, and looked for tips for consumers to make sure you truly get the best seafood.
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