Nana sits at the front table of the restaurant just as you walk in the door. She sits under the no smoking sign, a large woman in her 60s with light hair, grey eyes that sparkle, and a pack of cigarettes next to the phone. Nana greets everyone with a smile and tells them to sit anywhere without getting up, to others she opens her arms and pulls you towards her and you get two kisses and a face rub.

Nana is the owner of Telly’s Taverna in Astoria NYC, and her restaurant has become an extension of my family’s home for 20 years. Telly’s Taverna is a Greek restaurant on a block of other Greek restaurants in the largest Greek neighborhood in the City. They are all basically the same, representing the food of southern Greece and the Islands. They are all set up almost identically with a long glass case in front of an exposed kitchen displaying a wonderful array of fresh whole fish that will be char-grilled and brought on a platter with lemon and potatoes. A variety of other Greek specialties are offered, and the menus of most of the restaurants on the block offer the same dishes. There is the usual debate as to the minor but important differences between one restaurant’s approach to a particular recipe, but in the end it is hard to differentiate, especially since they are all simply wonderful. Only one has Nana.

Over the years my family, and many others as well, have been hovered over by Nana. My visits to the family always require the mandatory dinner at Telly’s, and Nana invariably says she has something special she was saving and I will be the recipient of the freshest striped bass, or flounder, or whatever she was saving, along with the two-handed face rub. She stands over our table, at times participating in the family discussions, chiming in and taking sides. She then seems to offer the diner at the next table something”special” that she was saving while petting a baby at the table. She remembers what my father, a notoriously picky eater, always orders and that my brother wants hot sauce with everything.

I know that this kind of service is what good operators practice, but there is a difference here. Nana is sincere and her kisses are kisses of a loved one. Over the past year my family has visted Telly’s less frequently due to the health of my parents, but the dinners are still an important part of our family tradition. I pick it up and take our fish and green salad, gigante beans, and spicy garlic sausage home. Always an extra portion of sausage “For your Father” gets put in the bag along with the hot sauce for my brother. When I leave she kisses me and holds onto my face; she kisses me again and says ” For your Mother.”

Guests bond with restaurants for a variety of reasons. Chefs and menus stand out from their competitors through either the complexity or simplicity of the menu, but some restaurants transcend the commercial and become a part of the fiber of a guest’s life. They become dear friends with the owners and staff and the food becomes part of the family’s tradition. The restaurant table becomes the family table and the restaurant food the family’s sustenance.

Nana and Telly’s are a part of my family’s fiber and cannot be removed.  I count Nana as one of my greatest mentors as a restaurateur, but her contribution to making me a better person has been immeasurable. I have just come back from a visit and brought some leftovers back for Claudia. The smells from my back seat during the four-hour drive instigated a barrage of memories of my parents and family. I can only hope that we can connect to a few of our guests of REPUBLIC as I have  connected with Telly’s. I can only try to be as sincere as Nana, when I say that I am very glad to see you.

If ever you are in NYC let me know and I will give you the address.

“Call me Ishmael,” without question the best opening line of a novel (“It was a dark and stormy night …” not withstanding). Moby Dick, a story about a great fish and the madman who stalked it, is a wonderful tale. Imagine, the entire industrial world was for a time made bright by the oil of boiled whale blubber. I now want to talk about fish as well. I do not have the gall to compare this missive to Melville or any other great seafaring epic, but the story of fish in our time is a topic we should be made aware of.

We all know the big picture. The stocks of popular fish are being depleted. The oceans are being mined by fleets both vast and small. Large industrial vessels that catch, process, and package at sea compete with regional small fleets that are manned at times by our neighbors. Together they are emptying the sea, putting an entire industry at peril and instigating, at times, draconian regulation.

Aquaculture, an industry that is only a few decades old, is a booming business, and rice paddies all over China, Southeast Asia as well as Central America are being turned into shrimp and tilapia farms. The coastline from Nova Scotia to Maryland is peppered with salmon pens. The Atlantic Ocean all along the Eastern Seaboard is GPS mapped into sectors and its waters are now leased out to local fleets like timeshares in Fort Lauderdale. So, what are we as consumers and chefs to do? We are told, and rightly so, that seafood is a major component of a healthy diet, but if we continue to buy fish are we not just hastening the inevitable decimation of the stocks? There is no singular course of action.

Let me give you some information that may help and also enlighten. First, let’s talk marketing: Its all about how the message is relayed, not the facts. The message starts with: Fish is an essential part of a healthy diet – TRUE. Salmon will help develop the good cholesterol in our bodies – TRUE. Buy farm-raised Atlantic Salmon – FALSE. With a few notable exceptions, farm-raised salmon is analogous to eating corralled beef. The fish are packed side by each and simply hover in the water. The image of salmon soaring over cascading waterfalls is simply Hollywood. Fact: For every pound of salmon two pounds of fish protein is required. That means anchovies and other small fish, the backbone of the food chain in the oceans, are being fed to farmed salmon at the expense of the wild predatory species. The white line you see in the flesh of farmed salmon is fat. Tastes good for sure, but all fat tastes good, and that fat comes from the inactivity of the fish. When wild Alaskan salmon is made available in the stores, look at the color. It is blood red and no fat. FACT: Most farmed salmon are fed corn just before harvest to fatten them, and then food coloring is added to make the fish look as expected by the consumer. Antibiotics are also added to the feed to stave off infections that would come with the overcrowding of the pens.

SHRIMP: Shrimp are called the pork of the sea since they are raised in almost the same conditions. Their waste is noxious and the fuel needed to transport the product, both jet and truck, is massive. So what to do? First, be knowledgeable and do not believe what is on the package.

CHILEAN SEA BASS: FACT: Its true name is the Patagonian Tooth Fish. I believe that the same guy that changed the name of Rose to White Zinfandel was at that meeting. The minute it hit the market it exploded in popularity. In less than a decade it is now practically extinct. Be sure to ask when the menu says “Sea Bass,” as there are many local varieties.

SALMON: There is organically-raised farmed salmon. Most are available frozen and that is fine, since freezing fish is not an issue, in fact is can be preferable. The issue is how it is thawed and stored.

SHRIMP: Wild-caught shrimp from Maine and the USA Gulf Coast are available. As with the organically raised salmon, the shrimp will be more expensive, but you do not need 8oz of salmon in a dish nor a dozen shrimp in your pasta. At REPUBLIC, I use only wild-caught Maine or Gulf shrimp and never Atlantic salmon. At the MILLTOWNE GRILLE (our restaurant at Manchester/Boston Regional Airport), our chef uses only wild-caught, frozen-at-sea USA salmon.

Next look for BYCATCH. What is that? Bycatch is any fish that is not MARKET (i.e. commonly available seafood such as cod, haddock, swordfish, scallops and tuna). Since the local fleets can no longer toss back any mature fish (all count as to their allotment), seemingly unfamiliar fish are coming to market. On my blackboard you will see Hake, Red fish, Monkfish, Skate, Poggy, Scup, Spanish Mackerel, Bluefish and Sardines. All these species are North Atlantic fish landed in Boston, Portland, Gloucester or Rye, and delivered that day. I try to pair a market catch with a bycatch on the board as often as I can. It sustains the local economy and the fish taste amazing. Mussels, oysters, lobsters and clams are also a good choice and easy to prepare at home. Throw a few oysters on the grill, close the cover and wait ten minutes. Squeeze a lemon and slurp away.

When Claudia and I were developing REPUBLIC on a European model, we both knew that seafood would be a center point of our menu. Each European bistro has a specialty and we decided that seafood would be ours. I only buy for the day and only East Coast seafood with the occasional exception of Gulf shrimp.

As a consumer you have choices and your choices make a difference. Price to portion size is a consideration, as well as choosing sustainable fish stocks. Be adventurous!! Ask where your food comes from and manage your protein to vegetable balance. Also, be a bit suspicious when your seafood is married with bacon. Bacon excites all the tastes buds at one time, can cover an “off ” flavor, and makes fish that is not quite right taste better.

I love seafood and admire fishermen. I want both to be around for a while.

See you soon

Ed