A Fish Out of "Wudder" - Philadelphia Retail Seafood

In getting to know the Philadelphia seafood scene, I've admittedly been a bit of a fish out of water. "Wooder" or "wudder" might be more appropriate, for those of you familiar with the local dialect.  Living a solid 45 minutes outside of the city, and having two fingerlings of my own, has made it challenging to dissect the true culinary bounty of Philadelphia.  A real shame as there are so many oceanic offerings, deep-sea delights, and even a nautically-focused renaissance of sorts.  Don't worry, Father's Day is quickly approaching.  New barbecue set or whiskey stones, no thanks.  Reservations at Kensington Quarters or Vernick Fish, yes please.

Five course fish tasting at Elwood

I was fortunate enough to attend a luncheon at Elwood in Fishtown recently with a lecture on Philadelphia's historic seafood culture by Dr. Teagan Schweitzer.  It included an impressive five course fish tasting: sturgeon head cheese, potato ramp soup with shad, smoked catfish and waffles, sturgeon with asparagus and spaetzle, and strawberry panna cotta that was thickened with sturgeon gelatin.  Each course was paired with a heaping side of history on the respective fish and its impact on 18th through early 20th century Philadelphia.  For those of you who know me, you immediately understand this was my happy place.  Well executed fish cookery matched with discussions of historic, local foodways.  Better than sex?  Not quite, but close.  Every fish, every topic, every dish was deserving of its own extensive exploration and blog post.  Hell, Dr. Teagan wrote her disseration on many of the subjects and even a scholarly article on catfish alone.  I certainly couldn't do them any justice with my armchair seafood historian approach.  That being said, I definitely want to dig deeper into catfish and waffles; it was basically the 19th century equivalent of the modern day Philly cheesesteak. 

The whole conversation on Philadelphia's aquatic abundance of past made me think about the city's current seafood state.  Where does the average Philadelphian go to get fresh fish?  Sure, there are dozens of seafood eateries to try.  All in due time.  But where's the best place to get a pound of swordfish, a dozen oysters, a bushel of blue crabs, or even some once highly prized shad roe?  It's most definitely not Whole Foods or Acme.  So, I decided to call in sick on a beautiful, Spring Friday and head East on I-76, diving right into the depths of Philadelphia's retail seafood scene. 

Quick disclaimer: this is by no means an exhaustive list, just a few I was able to profile.  There are several other great places I've omitted, such as John Yi's in Reading Terminal or Hill's Seafood in the western suburbs, and specialty outfits like Phil's Live Crabs or Philadelphia Caviar Co.  There are also many others I look forward to checking out like Small World Seafood or Bywood.  If you've got suggestions, please do share.  I'm always fishing for new spots.   

The Classic - Anastasi Seafood

Anastasi Street View from 9th St.

Where better to start than the heart and soul of the city's culinary history, the Italian Market in South Philadelphia.  Dating back to the 1880's, the Italian market has been a mainstay for shoppers seeking the city's best produce, meat, cheese, pastries, fish, and so on.  It certainly showcases the titular cuisine.  However, it's more broadly representative of a diverse immigrant food culture, housing some of the best Latino markets, Asian grocers, and everything in between.  Cheesesteaks, chorizo, chocolates, ceviches, carrot cake, cannoli, coconuts, caramels, curries, craft beers.  If you're keen, chances are the Italian Market's got it.  And the epitome of the Italian Market's fish peddler tradition sits at 9th and Washington in Anastasi Seafood.

Anastasi's various selections

A fourth-generation, family-owned establishment opened by Sicilian immigrants over 100 years ago, Anastasi has had a few different locations along the 9th Street corridor.  Sadly, I couldn't revisit the brilliance I'd experienced as a kid at their full service restaurant and market location in the late 90s.  It closed recently and was demolished to make way for some new restaurants and adult dorms.  The community has had mixed reactions to the project, though it will objectively be a financial boon to the neighborhood.  I just hope they can gracefully maintain the cutty character that defines the Italian Market.  Fortunately, Anastasi relocated right across the street with retail operations and a full kitchen.  While it no longer boasts the full service dine-in option, their kitchen is still cranking out high caliber dishes for carry-out and delivery platforms.  Tuna antipasto, fried calamari, pescatore pasta, shrimp scampi.  It's got a definite Italian-American theme mixed with some familiar Continental staples like crabcakes and broiled seafood platters.  The fresh fish market has the basics adequately covered, and then some.  Whatever your likely seafood need, Anastasi can deliver, literally.  Most endearing was the street-side shellfish selection.  Buckets of blue crabs, bivalves, crayfish, and lobsters, all right there on the sidewalk for your perusing and choosing.  It's quite charming in an almost Dickensian way; how I imagine the Italian Market was over a century ago.

Clams Casino from Anastasi Seafood

The staff was incredibly pleasant and accommodating.  I spoke with Mia, a fifth-generation Anastasi, for well over half an hour, discussing the establishment's history, recent transition, and things to come.  She was more than welcoming of all my inquiries, ranging from when fresh sardines would be available to the ingredients of their Oysters Rockefeller.  She even mentioned a special dinner they'd be hosting this Summer, appropriately named "Dinner with the Fishes."  I'll be keeping an eye on their 'gram for updates.  As they've been so famed for their kitchen prepared items, I had to go with something take-and-bake.  Clams casino seemed like a good litmus test, and it certainly delivered.  Sweet bell peppers, ample amounts of bacon, and well-seasoned breadcrumbs all mixed with salty, toothsome bites of clam meat.  A spot on classic dish from a classic place.  The whole experience reminded me of how a house is just a house, and it takes a family to make it a home.  Anastasi's new location is just a seafood shop, but the history, staff, and quality continue to make it the Italian Market institution it's always been.

The Comprehensive - Samuels & Son Seafood Company / Giuseppe's Market / Ippolito's

Entrance to the market

First and foremost, Samuels & Son Seafood Co. is a wholesaler.  It's located on South Lawrence St. in what's best described as the shipping/industrial neighborhood of Southeast Philadeldiphia, along with several other seafood distributors.  Samuels primarily caters to local and national restaurants, retail purveryors, and larger scale seafood operations.  However, cozily tucked in the shadows of Lincoln Financial Field, between all the 18-wheelers and expansive warehouses, sits Giuseppe's Market, Samuels' retail outlet.  Samuels' foundation was actually in retail seafood, with Giuseppe Ippolito opening Ippolito's Seafood near the Italian Market in 1929.  This humble shop eventually grew into the Samuels' seafood empire.  So, when Ippolito's closed its storefront in 2018, Samuels shifted retail operations to the warehouse under the name Giuseppe's Market.  And oddly enough, as you can tell by the lead-in, the establishment still goes by all three names.  A bit of brand confusion, but hey, they're fishmongers, not marketing experts.  When I asked one of the staff about the naming conventions, he said "oh, ya know, it's like the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit - different, but also the same."  You've got to love the Italian and Irish Catholic parlance of Philadelphia.

Giusseppe's various fresh selections

The main thing you notice when stepping into Giuseppe's is that it's truly a seafood warehouse/wholesaler first, and seafood market second.  Giant tubs of iced whole fish and fully-PPEd staff are constantly scurrying through factory, dual-swinging doors.  That strong aroma of processing seafood muted by industrial sanitizers lingers.  And there always seems to be three or four employees taking their five for smoke break just outside the shipment bay.  Let me be clear that these are all positive indicators of being closer to the source on the supply chain, which is always a good thing when it comes to seafood.  But what really hits you with Giussepe's is the sheer size and variety of their selection.  Bluefish, salmon, swordfish, tuna, red snapper, branzino, Chilean sea bass, halibut, fluke, hake, cod.  Blue crabs, snow crabs, stone crabs, king crabs, dungeness crabs.  Live scallops, snails, cockles, mussels, clams, oysters.  A total of twelve different types of lobster tails based on size and region.  Every cephalopod you could possibly imagine.  Most impressive were the unconventional or often difficult to find marine delicacies they casually had on hand.  Whole langostines, pacu ribs, periwinkles, kampachi collars, Arctic surf clams, even the elusive shad roe.  And what they didn't have fresh or frozen, they could most certainly source with a simple inquiry.

Brazilian and Maine Lobster Tails

Lobster Tikka Masala w/ Cilantro Rice and Spinach

With the near anxiety-inducing selection, I scrambled and ended up with two each of Maine and Brazilian lobster tails.  Believe me, I really wanted to bring home some fish ribs or collars, even some squid ink or monkfish liver.  However, family dinner plans were still pending and I know those wouldn't have been well-received.  The wife and kids both love lobster, and love tikka masala.  A combination of the two felt unorthodox enough to appease my obscurity-seeking interests Samuels had spawned, while still being agreeable for the whole family.  I can assure you the next time I'm looking for those less common cuts of fish, Samuels will be the first place I check.  It's definitely one of the most comprehensive seafood retailers I've ever encountered.    

The Conscientious - Fishtown Seafood

Storefront of Fishtown Seafood

Fishtown Seafood was opened by Bryan Szeliga in January 2022, right in the heart of, you guessed it, Fishtown.  He parlayed his popular 2021 seafood delivery service into a brick and mortar, and has been the talk of the 'hood ever since, putting the fish back in Fishtown.  It's a modest yet chic establishment, very attuned to a new generation of at-home seafood consumers.  That's not to say it's exclusive, but it's certainly hipper than more traditional seafood outfits.  You can tell by its social media presence alone, particularly when compared to something like Samuels' old school newsletter.  To be competitive, small businesses need to differentiate themselves, providing novel or niche products and experiences.  Fishtown Seafood does exactly that in some of the best ways, well beyond its debonair storefront.

Fishtown Seafood's various selections

First, you won't find the conventional, store-length deli cases packed with ice and fish fillets at Fishtown.  Bryan's focus is reinventing the retail seafood industry with a culinary conservationist approach, from catch to supply chain to consumer.  This translates to superfrozen seafood, something historically only available to sushi restaurants and wholesalers.  A lot of "fresh" fish from markets is often a week or more out of the water by the time we eat it, frequently longer.  It's also usually packed in melting ice, and few things decompose fish more quickly than fresh water.  You may be familiar with this concept from the sukibiki and dry-aged fish trend, but that's for a whole other blog post.  The majority of seafood Fishtown sources is immediately superfrozen after harvest, and kept well below -70° F to ensure peak quality, texture, and freshness.  This also allows Fishtown to source conscientiously, only bringing in human rights observant, sustainably caught, chemical free, and responsibly transported seafood.  Yes, something as simple as your shrimp scampi recipe can impact others' livelihoods, ecosystem welfare, your health, and every level of our environment.  There's a lot of disinformation and greenwashing (cough, Whole Foods, cough) when it comes to seafood, and Fishtown provides amazing product while cutting through all the bullshit.

Fishtown Seafood Best Practices Cards

Second, Fishtown doesn't just sell seafood, but offers a unique and educational seafood experience.  This manifests in several ways, from regularly partnering with other small businesses to hosting weekly classes on knife sharpening or sustainable fisheries.  They carry a wide variety of tinned seafoods, plant-based seafoods, dried seafoods, seaweeds, sauces, and seasonings, all meticulously and resolutely selected.  My favorite part, however, is the oysters.  Fishtown consistently carries anywhere from twelve to eighteen different varieties of oysters, something almost unheard of in the retail seafood world.  I spoke with Bryan for a bit on my visit, and most interesting was how Fishtown serendipitously became one of the premier oyster retailers in the city.  He said when they opened, they needed a fresh but less-perishable product to fill two giant refrigerated coolers leftover from the previous owners.  Obviously, superfrozen fish wouldn't work, so "shell-stable" bivalves came to mind.  And targeting that novel or niche small business experience, Fishtown dove head first into the world of nuanced oyster flavors and textures.  Their selection, and infatuation, quickly grew.  Traditionally, trying just six different varieties of oysters would cost you $30-$40 + tip at a local raw bar.  With their $1 oyster deal every Friday, Fishtown has essentially democratized the costly raw bar oyster tasting experience, albeit with a little do-it-yourself shucking.  But hey, they've got classes for that too.   

Fishtown Seafood Medley

Prosciutto Wrapped Scallops

 I must admit, having worked in and out of the seafood industry for almost 20 years, frozen fish has always given me pause.  Sure, I've had some very good ones on occasion, but my retail experience with it has largely been less than positive.  Fishtown changed that.  I purchased a combo fish box of New Zealand raised king salmon, wild-caught Peruvian mahi-mahi, wild Mexican U15 shrimp, and Maine sea scallops, all superfrozen.  I also grabbed a package of skipjack tuna (katsuo) and a tin of Limfjord Cockles.  Suffices to say I was picking up what Fishtown Seafood was putting down.  I wanted it all.  I thawed the scallops recently for a family BBQ, wrapped them in prosciutto, grilled them, and served with a side of horseradish thyme cream sauce.  Honestly, they were much better than many retail dayboat scallops I've had.  The mahi-mahi and cockles were amazing too, and I fully expect the rest of my purchases to be the same.  Fishtown Seafood is a true inspiration, and should be a model for anyone opening a seafood outlet.  It's one of the best, most conscientious establishments I've ever come across, and is genuinely the future of the industry, especially with all those 'sters.

The Community Driven - Fishadelphia 

I'll be transparent right from the start, Fishadelphia holds a special place in my heart.  The previous establishments were all either brand new to me, or I'd had a fleeting familiarity with them from my childhood, decades ago.  However, I have been following Fishadelphia all the way from San Francisco since its inception back in 2018.  I used a similar vendor, The Seaforager, in the Bay Area, and was ecstatic to the see same thing happening in Philadelphia.  So when we decided to move to the area in the Summer of 2021, at the very top of my to-do list was trying out Fishadelphia.

Fishadelphia pick up stall - source - Hakai Magazine

For starters, Fishadelphia isn't a brick and mortar like the other establishments.  You can't simply walk into their shop on a casual Tuesday afternoon and step out with two dozen little neck clams or a pound of bluefish.  It's a subscription program known as a community supported fishery (CSF).  Much like community supported agriculture memberships (CSAs), you sign up for a specific time period, pay a flat rate, and pick up a fresh catch at a Fishadelphia stall or cooler every two weeks.  Same as CSAs where you get a mix of random seasonal produce, your fish is chosen for you and you don't know what it is until the day of.  Dogfish, scallops, oysters, skate wings, fluke flounder, tilefish.  You get whatever's in season and being raised or landed by South Jersey aquaculturists and fishers.  It's a brilliant way of connecting local seafood harvesters directly with local seafood consumers.  Not only does this support small fisheries committed to ethical and responsible practices, it ensures you're getting the freshest product possible.  Remember how a lot of market fish is often over a week out of the water before we eat it?  Not Fishadelphia's shares.  Staff members pick up the product straight from the docks, process it, and have it in your hands no more than 24 to 48 hours later, depending on how much butchery or packaging is required.  Every share I've received has been absolutely impeccable.  Also, supporting Fishadelphia is supporting our aquatic ecosystems by eating a variety of sustainable sea life.  No, you won't get your beloved center cut salmon fillet.  But who wants to eat that over and over again anyway?  To protect our oceans while continuing to enjoy seafood, we must choose from a broader diversity of fisheries, eating smaller and lower on the food chain.  Who knows, you might just find whole roasted porgy is actually tastier than IQF tortilla crusted tilapia...trust me, it is. 

Fishadelphia Scallops - source - Facebook

If you're not sold just yet, Fishadelphia's merit goes well beyond providing top-notch, sustainable seafood.  As their website says, "we bring fresh, local seafood to Philadelphia's diverse communities."  However, as is the case with most great things, actions are much louder than words, and Fishadelphia's undertakings speak volumes.  First, they offer a tiered pricing structure.  This means people from all economic backgrounds can partake by signing up for subsidized or even free memberships.  Healthy, fresh seafood shouldn't just be available to the rich, and Fishadelphia acts on this food justice principle.  Conversely, members who are financially able can sign up at "supporter" or "sustainer" rates, contributing to those aforementioned subsidizations and much more.  Fishadelphia prioritizes robust youth education projects, running after school programs on business and marine ecology for high school students in South and North Philly.  Staff and producers all receive living wages and fair compensation.  They regularly organize educational field trips to local providers, docks, and farms and participate in local events.  Their outreach and messaging is acutely focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion.  They champion local businesses, organizations, and initiatives, amplifying traditionally quieter voices.  The only thing that may surpass the quality of their seafood is the quality of their mission. 

Oyster Bánh Mì Po' Boy - a.k.a Oyster Bánh Boí

Scallop Wrapped Bacon

I've picked up dozens of shares of Fishadelphia product over the last two years, and as noted, each time the fish or shellfish has been incredible.  It's hard to pick a favorite from the countless dishes we've created.  One of the most memorable was a bánh mì and oyster po' boy mashup, what we affectionately named an oyster bánh boí.  Another was the Kris Kross-esque scallop wrapped bacon.  Maybe I'm just a nerd, but whimsical seafood dishes always make me smile.  Trust me, though, it's on brand when using Fishadelphia product, as they've got more dad jokes than you can shake a fishing rod at.  They always give me a chuckle when I'm scrolling through Instagram.  I can't think of many businesses I'm happier to patron for so many reasons.  Sure, Fishadelphia could be considered just a seafood provider on paper, but in practice, they're truly a pillar of the community.

My foray into the world of Philadelphia retail seafood was an overwhelming joy.  I met some wonderful people, tasted some great food, and was introduced to some phenomenal products.  I look forward to exploring and discovering more.  More importantly, I look forward to supporting these business again and again, and becoming a part of the Philadelphia seafood community.  I hope you have the chance to do so as well.  

    

Cheers,

The SF Oyster Nerd