Fishtail 135 East 62nd Street (Park & Lexington Aves.)
Upper East Side
212.754.1300
Try our free Party Aid service to find the perfect venue Click here
Fishtail:
When you promote your new restaurant as the “first sustainable seafood restaurant” in a city known for culinary excellence, you’d better have the wherewithal to back yourself up—and chef David Burke is making a go of it. The set-up here is typical UES décor, with colorful new age paintings hanging from exposed brick walls and plush seating throughout. There’s a fabulous top-shelf bar and raw bar that’s open late to satisfy your late-night seafood munchies. Though the menu requires you give him your trust—believing that everything on it is sourced properly, for instance—Burke has masterfully put together a list of dishes that are entirely unique, creative, and altogether, wonderfully fresh. Granted this isn’t the only sustainable seafood restaurant in NYC, but it's certainly one worth going to. Open Mon.-Sat. 3pm-1am, Sun. 3pm-11:30pm.
Currently, there are very few fish stocks that can even be considered close to sustainable, but many positive efforts have been made and you have to give credit to those successes.
For many of these fish, measuring sustainability comes down to locality and method: which fish stocks are fished (in the high seas or territorial waters, which ocean, etc.) and how the fish are caught. The Monterey Bay recommendations are general, nationwide guidelines; they do not always take into consideration localized population recoveries or good practices. My apologies for the ensuing long post, but some inaccuracies need to be righted. After researching the fish below, I feel that Burke really did make some excellent choices.
Fishsmart, blako wasn't disputing that nearly all bluefin or all foreign farmed shrimp are bad. There's no evidence that Daniel Burke is using foreign farmed shrimp--US shrimpfarmers in the southast are using eco-friendly methods away from estuaries and converted wetlands. They could be sustainable and not environmentally damning.
I have to start off by defending Burke's bluefin tuna. Yes, it's on there, and YES, it's sustainable. I was surprised myself. Go look up "Kindai tuna," for starters. Kindai tuna are the product of a long, expensive 30-year Japanese research project into the farming of blue fin tuna, from egg to adult. Most bluefin is "ranched," where young are seized and corralled and have very high fry death rates...but Kindai tuna are grown in large ocean mid-ocean pens that, due to the high expense involved, are meticulously cared-for and raised without hormones or antibiotics, which usually cause the problems of other farmed fish. They are *absolutely* sustainable, and should be applauded. They're no magic bullet for collapsing worldwide bluefin stocks, but proof that an alternative can be found.
Red snapper fishing has been controlled in the Gulf Region for almost two full years, where individual fishing quotas is reducing bycatch and allowing the red snapper population to rebound. More needs to be done, but it's promising. Perhaps Burke gets his snapper from the Gulf.
As for monkfish, even the Environmental Defense Fund states that, as of 2007, domestic (New England) monkfish populations have been recovering since measures have been taken. Monkfish should never be fished with bottom-trawlers, which are mightily destructive and should be avoided above all, but could be fished with rod & reel with less damage. Burke does own his own fishing boat that, perhaps, fishes with rod & reel, but it's certainly not a bottom trawler.
Swordfish that are caught in the US North Atlantic by rod & reel--not longline--are also ok, by Monterey Bay's standards. North Atlantic swordfish have had their level stabilize in recent years--sure, populations need to rebound, but sustainable harvesting is a major step. I imagine these sustainably harvested swordfish are what Burke's using.
I was wrong about skate--I thought I had read somewhere that their populations also had stabilized around here, but I see I was mistaken... As far as I can tell, they should be avoided.
I just checked out the menu again, and I see that Burke's using squid, cod, halibut, black bass, and dover sole. All of which can be harvested sustainably.
Squid isn't harvested sustainably everywhere, but it can be--perhaps his quarry is caught by rod & reel, without trawling, and consists of non-threatened populations. Not too bad.
Pacific halibut is managed well, and enjoy large populations and sustainable harvests. I've fished them myself in Alaska, and they're very plentiful. Atlantic halibut's another story, but since its fishing is restricted in the US, I'd imagine Burke's looking to Pacific halibut...which is good.
Pacific cod's another good choice, particularly as Atlantic cod's illegal to fish since the collapse of the Grand Banks over a decade ago. An article last week predicted a population of Atlantic cod will be extirpated within 15 years, but populations off Maine are improving. Anyway, Burke surely uses Pacific cod, most likely by longline, which is ecofriendly.
"Black Bass," as Burke lists it on the menu, can either refer to freshwater bass or black sea bass. Any freshwater bass is sustainble with healthy populations--that's the mainstay of US bass fishing competition. Black sea bass in the North Atlantic had crashed but is rebuilding; it should be fine if not bottom trawled.
Dover sole is also a good sustainable choice, as both stocks off Alaska and the Pacific are managed well with high populations.
Burke also scores points with his good choices for the meats. His chicken is organic, and Niman Ranch supplies the pork. Niman Ranch is known for raising high quality meats that are hormone-free, antibiotic-free, vegetarian-fed, and "humanely raised" (cage-free, humanely killed).
Burke, if choosing his fish from the proper stocks/methods, can be making a number of sustainable choices...this may be the most sustainable high-end fish menu in the US. That may not be saying too much, but it's more of a step in the right direction than most others.
12/4/2008 3:50:00 PM
fishsmart . says:
Bluefin, shark, monkfish, shrimp? These are among the WORST fisheries! Bluefins are as endangered as wild pandas and shark populations have dropped 90%. Shrimp farming overseas causes massive pollution and is the main source of mangrove deforestation. Wild shrimp are caught with trawl nets that also catch 4-10lbs of marine life for every 1lb of shrimp. DO NOT BELIEVE that this one restaurant has discovered sustainable shark, bluefin or monkfish! They DO NOT EXIST!!!
Correction to perhaps sustainable: Monterey Bay provides contaminant info as a public service but their listings are based on environmental impacts of the fisheries, not the contaminants. Species on their red list are there because the fisheries are in major trouble and/or causing serious damage. Contamination is just the cherry on top.
Visit the websites of Monterey Bay Aquarium, New England Aquarium, Shedd Aquarium, Blue Ocean Institute, Environmental Defense Fund, or WWF if you want to learn more.
12/4/2008 12:08:00 PM
blako . says:
The bluefin tuna is inexcusable for a restaurant biiling itself as "sustainable," as bluefin is all stocks are critically threatened regardless of the techniques used to catch it.
But for the other fish, sustainability takes some more investigation. Shrimp are to be avoided if farmed abroad (SE Asia), but US shrimp farms are not as bad as recent practices have been ungraded. As for shark, red snapper, monkfish, and swordfish, they can be harvested sustainably...but the reason they're listed on Monterey Bay Aquarium's Sea Watch Program as fish to avoid is that they're high in bioaccumulated mercury. Lobsters are quite sustainably-harvested now, as are oysters and mussels. Bronzino is not threatened, and can be sustainably harvested. Cod is ok if its Pacific, rather than Atlantic (which is decimated and practically illegal to fish). I also hope that his meat dishes (beef, pork) take sustainability into account as well.
Burke clearly chose with some eye to sustainability, as some other fish options could have been much worse. But, it's a step in the right direction--most other chefs don't care a whit about issues like sustainability and environmental concerns.
12/4/2008 9:33:00 AM
SoFL Gal . says:
If you're looking for sustainable seafood DO NOT eat here. Not only do they serve blue fin tuna (about to be eaten to extinction), they also have shrimp (unless it's farm-raised), red snapper, swordfish, monkfish and cod on the menu: all listed as red (aka AVOID) on the Monterey Bay Seafood Watch website.
It's too bad: many will eat here and be misinformed into thinking these are good choices.
If you're truly interested in sustainable seafood, check out the above website. You can even download a handy pocket guide.
12/3/2008 10:07:00 AM
Guest says:
I won’t even go to a restaurant if they have blue fin, shark or marlin on their menu. Apparently FISHTAIL doesn’t know the defintion of sustainable because blue fin tuna is the most over fished species in the ocean! I am SO shocked to see if they have blue fin tuna on their website, It’s not only on there 1x but 2x!
According to Monteray Bay Aquarium: Maguro/Toro/Tuna, Bigeye is listed on the Sustainable Seafood list as “AVOID” in huge RED letters!
The last thing “FishTail” is would be an example of Sustainable Restaurant. Honestly, it’s a great approach to the effort to keep our oceans abundant, and reading about David Burke’s efforts for a sustainable restaurant would be such an accomplishment. Totally aligned with the green movement, but is way off!
based on 
