ottawa foodies

Hi,
I remember hearing once that fresh fish is only delivered to Ottawa one day a week and that is the best to buy fish - obviously the day before that is the worst day to buy fish in Ottawa. Anyone know what day this is? I think the fish delivery day is tuesday or wedneday. Can anyone confirm of deny this? I don't want to start any incorrect rumours. Correct rumours, well that is another story.

Well I'm not sure if the whole city gets their fish on the same day but some stores get their fish delivered once or twice a week. I think Loblaws on Rideau Street gets their fish delivered twice a week - Tuesdays and Saturdays I think - and Lapointe's in the market get regular deliveries probably even more often since their turnover is higher than the grocery stores. You might want to ask your favourite fish store what days their fish is delivered so you can shop on those days.

Your best bet is usually Tuesday and Thursday. Those are the days when the restaurants get their fish orders. That's my it isn't great to eat fish on Monday in a restaurant. I guess it's the same for most stores. All you have to do is aks the store's fish section :)

Gee, guys (and gals), every good Christian knows that the answer to this is "Friday"!

www.kencollins.com

:-)

heh... this reminds me of a conversation I had on a bus with a very nice Sri Lankan lady who tipped me off about the availability of excellent kingfish at Aloy Asian Grocer . She was raving about how good the fish was and how they had had a feast of it during Lent. I cheekily asked if she shouldn't have selected a less desirable fish, given that the avoidance of meat during Lent was supposed to be for the purpose of deprivation. ;-)

I usually get my fish on Saturday, and it's pretty fresh, but I always ask the fishmonger first if it's looking questionable. The myth about Monday being a day not to buy fish in a restaurant was popularized/perpetuated by Anthony Bourdain's account in Kitchen Confidential, as most foodies already know. However, lots of restaurants order fish through wholesalers (like Jost Kaufmann here in Ottawa - the Sysco of seafood - I don't know why people always point to Lapointe's... probably due to their "presence")

Anyway, all that wholesaling talk withstanding, I buy my seafood at Produce Depot and One Fish Two Fish, since I've found they have the freshest available product (I think PD gets their seafood from J. Kaufmann). Lapointe's always leaves me disappointed, like their product has been picked over for their restaurant or their commercial buyers... but that's just my 2 cents ;)

as a professional chef here is my frustration with Ottawa, most things are brought in via Montreal or T.dot
so already things are at least a day old
mahi mahi, a fish I adore, is usually two days old
i've dealt with seafood most of my 37 years of culinary experience and can smell the freshness just with a whiff

most of my seafood I get from Kaufman's since alot of their products are shipped in directly
and I know from working at the Pelican, that they get in deliveries almost daily including Sundays

never buy prepackaged fish
occasionally frozen is acceptable esp shellfish but! frozen fresh at sea is alot more acceptable than garbage
most sushi grade fish is frozen at sea to -65C and require a 4 day thawing process but no degradition of the product is seen

so buying fish on any day of the week should never be an issue as long as it is buyer beware and you know what you are looking for

if any time you are in doubt, just move on
it's not worth it

Along these lines, I think that selecting the type of fish/piece of fish is far more important than the day of the week. Even if they received a delivery on a given day, the piece you are buying could be older than dirt. Some fish are more perishable than others--I would never buy mackerel or bluefish in this town, that is for sure...just not worth the risk.

Frankly, I am appalled by some of the stuff I see sitting in the case at some places in town...like opaque, fuzzy, gray-brown tuna. Outrageous.

I always go to the same place (Pelican), we recognize each other, etc. Don't hesitate to ask them "What looks good today?" I have never been steered wrong. It is a little harder to put them on the spot and ask directly: "How is the halibut?" I mean, what are they going to say? "Oh, frankly, it is rather old" Better to ask: "I am looking for a mild, firm fleshed fish for grilling: Would you go with the grouper or the halibut or something else?"