Page 28 - March & April

26 MYROUSESEVERYDAY MAY | JUNE 2013
The Boston Seafood Show is the big fish of international
seafood expos. Over four days over 20,000 buyers and
suppliers hit the floor of the Boston convention center. I’d
been in Nashville just two weeks before to meet with our national
meat and poultry suppliers. I was ready to talk – and eat – seafood.
There are over a thousand exhibitors every year, so you need a
strategy. I try to get Rouses seafood straight from the source. I
bought stone crabs from fishermen from Florida, lobster from
fishermen from Maine, and clams from the fifth generation of the
Ballard family from Massachusetts; their Fish & Oyster Company
has been around for over 115 years.
A few years ago, I toured all of our west coast processors and
manufacturers. The trip took me through Oregon and Seattle in
search of the freshest oysters, cod and salmon. I also started working
directly with the Alaska Marketing Institute to bring even more of
their wild-caught seafood to Louisiana and Mississippi. (We love
our local redfish, tuna, catfish and drum around here, but we eat
quite a bit of salmon, too.) I had a great visit with the Alaska people
– they have a spectacular sustainability program. We get our Alaska
wild-caught salmon flown jet fresh directly to our stores. We also
get our Alaska cod, and wild-caught Alaska Dungeness, king and
snow crabs sent jet direct.
There were some nice surprises at the show this year, including
some small, family owned and operated companies that do in-
house smoking. And there were some familiar faces. The Louisiana
Seafood Board was well represented. So were our catfish suppliers
from Mississippi and our oyster suppliers from Louisiana.
When I wasn’t eating seafood at the show, I was eating it at the local
restaurants. I had steamed lobsters, lobster bisque and lobster rolls.
I ate fried-oyster sliders, which seems like a natural for the Gulf
Coast, baskets of fried scallops, bowls of chowder and even bigger
bowls of mussels. I hit two different raw bars for oysters and clams,
and four different dive bars for local beer. New England is famous
for its craft beers. I tried a toasty, malty Fishermen’s Brew from
Cape Ann Brewing Company, which seemed appropriate for the
occasion, a dark ale from Ipswich Ale Brewery, and a Belgian-style
IPA from Cambridge Brewing Company. Samuel Adams is brewed
in Boston. It’s their Abita, and the locals drink it with everything.
I always try to take in as much
local color as I can, and while I
didn’t run into Ben Affleck or
Matt Damon, or pahk my cah in
havahd yahd, I did tour several
seafood markets, and visited
Legal Seafood, one of the best-
known seafood restaurants and
markets in the country. It’s a
must-see if you’re in Boston.
Before I got on the plane to
come home, I had one last
bowl of chowder at the airport,
and when we touched down at
Louis Armstrong International,
my first thought was GUMBO.
Boston Seafood Show
by James Breuhl, Seafood Director
James Breuhl
Photo by Frank Aymami