7 replies to this topic

[Recoil Rob]

I did a search on this topic and everything seems to be at least 5 years old so I am going to broach the subject again.

Let me start by saying I am an active salt water fisherman fishing mostly LI Sound in the Norwalk area and also New England when on vacation. I also actively shellfish for both soft and hard shell calms and oysters. I know fresh fish.

This past Saturday my girlfriend and I decided to drive down to Chinatown to check out that new large market on Mott St. among other things and to have a Vietnamese dinner.

Being a fisherman I love viewing fish markets wherever I go. I've seen the ones in Venice and Genoa, Paris and Provence as well as some of the better ones in New England. I have not seen the new Hunts point market but I used to go down to the old Fulton market all the time for Xmas eve. Arthur Ave markets are among the best. Some day I hope to visit the Tokyo market.

I was appalled by the condition of the fish offered for sale in every Chinatown market I was in on Saturday. I went into at least 6 along Mott and Canal Streets. In all of them filleted fish had ice on the cut side. Just about every whole fish looked like it had been sitting there for days, sunken cloudy eyes, brown gills and mushy flesh. I saw one large (15lb?) red snapper that had started to putrefy, it's skin was turning yellowish white blotches.

The most depressing thing though were the tanks of "live" fish. Mostly the looked like undersized blackfish (currently a 15" limit), a few had dead fish in them and one poor fish was on his last legs, just slowly rolling belly up and trying to right himself.

I can appreciate a different culture having different standards but truthfully it seemed everyone was staring and no one was buying.

I've read about the great bargains to be had in Chinatown's fish markets but I just don't see it. I was disgusted and can't see how anyone could by "fresh" fish at one of these markets.

Edited by Recoil Rob, 07 February 2012 - 09:18 AM.

[slkinsey]

I'm not sure what you were expecting, but the Chinatown fishmongers in NYC have always been poor quality. Generally-speaking they cater to a low-income community of people who eat a lot of fish, so they are offering second-quality stuff at low prices. Check out a meat market catering to low income populations that eat a lot of meat and you'll see similar things.

I've lived in NYC for 20 years, and there's never been a time I've seen anything in the Chinatown fish markets I wanted to buy. There are some good fish markets near Chinatown (e.g., the lobster farm), but these aren't what I'd call "Chinatown fish markets." If you want a high-quality Asian-style fish market, you have to go somewhere with a sufficiently large population of affluent Asians.

Edited by slkinsey, 07 February 2012 - 10:21 AM.

[weinoo]

I agree with both of these posts. I practically live in Chinatown and I never buy fish in Chinatown. I never order fish in Chinatown for the same reasons.

I do buy lobsters at Lobster Farm - last week, I got two beautiful 2 pounders for under $30.

At this point, the only place I buy fish in NYC is at the greenmarket, though decent fish can be had at Whole Foods, Wild Edibles, Citarella, etc. - if you know how to buy fish.

By the way, if you thought Chinatown was bad this past weekend, you should check it out sometime in August.

[Recoil Rob]

Truthfully I didn't expect much, they have always seemed way below par to me. Do a search on eGullet for "Chinatown Fish" and you will get 2 threads from 2007 and one from 2004 that don't mention the mess I saw.

Thanks for confirming my conclusions.

[dcarch]

I have a somewhat different view.

The most important thing to consider is that most Chinatown stores and fish markets are very high volume in sales. They have very large turnover, and most of their goods are very fresh because of high turnover.

Yes, if you sell a lot of stuff, you will also end up with a lot of leftover, picked over stuff, but you don’t have to buy those if you are a smart shopper.

They have tanks and tanks of all kinds of live fish, not just illegal black fish. Lobsters, shrimps, crabs -------. Yes you will find almost-dead fish floating upside-down in the tanks, but you are allowed to pick what you want to buy, just don’t pick those dead looking ones.

Chinese shoppers are very fussy. They demand fresh seafood and good prices, or they go some place else.

They have such incredible varieties that you cannot find anyplace else and such good prices. Razor clams at $5.00 a lb, comparing to $11.00 a lb in Eataly. I am willing to put up with messy Chinatown fish markets for their varieties and great prices.

dcarch

[KennethT]

dcarch - where is the market in above photo? I don't recognize it...

[weinoo]

They have such incredible varieties that you cannot find anyplace else and such good prices. Razor clams at $5.00 a lb, comparing to $11.00 a lb in Eataly. I am willing to put up with messy Chinatown fish markets for their varieties and great prices.

I'm not. It's not just messy markets (messy being a rather generous assessment, in my opinion). For starters, it also involves incredibly harmful aquaculture technique in farmed fish that comes from China and southeast Asia, as well as fish caught illegally in local waters.

But I will say that some of the newer markets seem to have a slightly higher level of hygiene than the markets that have been around for ages.

[dcarch]

dcarch - where is the market in above photo? I don't recognize it...

That's the New World Mall in Flushing, Queens.

dcarch