Striped Bass in Philadelphia

[Rail Paul]

Dee and I went to the Flower Show, and decided to try Striped Bass after the show. As it was early, 6pm, we walked the eight blocks.

Impressive exterior, looks like it had been a bank, high windows, and limestone. The sense of permanence a bank used to convey when it wanted to assure you it would outlast you.

Valet at the ready, you are admitted into a narrow area, with curtains drawn at the top, and flared to permit a modest opening. Once through the opening, you are in a huge room, with 40 foot high columns, and a raised area to the left. That area hosts a bar, and tables by the tall windows. Straight ahead is the main dining area, with the open kitchen at the far end. There were perhaps 10 tables taken at 6 pm, although a bar crowd had gathered.

We sat in the raised area, with a view of the bar in one direction, the kitchen in the other, and a side view of the Bally's fitness center women's work out area across the street in another former bank.

Menus and wine list delivered, drink orders solicited. daily menu, all items printed out, no recited specials. Wide selection of oysters and raw bar items, sampler, etc.

Bread arrived. Other than a tasty tomato bread, the bread was average. A salmon and anise? amuse followed on a flatbread, which was very tasty. Nice bite to it.

Presentation was excellent. The shrimp and lobster bisque served with garlic bits, turnip dice?, crouton slices and cheese arrived in a bowl as dry ingredients. The soup was then ladled into the bowl. Delicious and very fragrant.

My polenta was delivered in much the same way. A plate with shaved tallego cheese, braised greens, and garlic was presented. The polenta was spooned around the edges, forming a ring. There were a number of accent notes in the polenta, suggesting a vegetable and herb addition to the chicken broth.

Dee had seared yellowfin tuna, with a thin porcini crust. Our server Patrick described this as a dried, crushed, moistened finish on the tuna. Dee felt the tuna was a little less than medium rare, I thought it was delivered precisely as requested. A bit more than an eigth of an inch of tan inside the sear line, and about an inch of magenta interior. She said it was fine, as was the ragout of mushrooms and avocado.

My halibut was good. I would have liked a bit more surface finish on it, but the interior was wonderful, with the color of pearls. Served with a garlicly mashed potato. Table service was attentive, wine glasses were filled as needed, choices of water were offered, permissions always asked before removing items, etc.

Our wine was a sancerre, Daulny 2000. The wine list was very broadly priced, with items in the $20+ to several hundred. The after dinner / dessert list was extensive, with depth in brandies, armangacs.

With tip, the dinner was about $190. Very enjoyable evening.

By the time we left, the restaurant was mostly filled. It was tough getting a cab afterward. Even with the valet working hard to flag one down, we probably waited 10 minutes at 8 pm.

An enjoyable and pleasant experience.

[KatieLoeb]

Paul:

I was up in my office until 10 Pm last night. Wish I'd known you were right downstairs! I'd have told them to give you the eGullet VIP treatment !

So glad you enjoyed yourself. I'm priveleged to work with a lot of truly professional people, from the managers, chefs and waitstaff, right down to the bus boys. I think the food and service here is top notch (NOTE: not a shameless shill, just a statement of fact after years in the Philly restaurant scene) so I'm delighted that came across. Also glad you enjoyed the wine list. Since a good part of my job is keeping that in order and well stocked, I'm particularly pleased that you were favorably impressed. The room is beautiful - it's a former brokerage house. I would have loved to show you the wine vault - it's literally an old vault with the HUGE swinging foot thick metal door on it and the old safety deposit boxes inside.

Next time you're blowing through Philly, let me know! I've had such fun meeting some the other eGulleteers

[Rail Paul]

Thanks for the kind offer, KatieLoeb. Based on my experience the average critter off the street at TSB gets very good treatment, so VIP must be exceptional. Your team is very impressive.

I expect to be down for the Degas Show before it ends in May. I'd like to combine that with a visit to the Barnes Collection, so we may stretch the visit out to a few days, and have a car with us. There are several Philadelphia food venues I'd like to visit.

[KatieLoeb]

Paul:

Just let me know when you're coming. If you'd like, an advance post to the Dangerous Dining Club forum on Yahoo.com (Yahoo.com - Groups- Dangerousdiningclub typed in as all one word) would solicit plenty of friendly advice and offers for companionship eating and imbibing whilst in the City of Brotherly Love. If the timing's right, perhaps you could join us for one of our DDC dinners? Always fun, always reasonable, usually at least somewhat "dangerous" and we haven't had a dud yet!

Let me know what your other "must visit" choices are for dining here as well. Chances are I used to work there

Looking forward to meeting you!

[tautog]

FYI. The Striped Bass buys some of the best seafood available in the area. For many NJ commerical tuna and swordfisherman, they are the second choice for their best produce, the first being Japan of course.

[Holly Moore]

FYI.  The Striped Bass buys some of the best seafood available in the area.  For many NJ commerical tuna and swordfisherman, they are the second choice for their best produce, the first being Japan of course.

Back in 1995 I had the chance to spend a day with the guy who was buying fish for the Striped Bass. Here's the resulting column.

"Fuckin' fresh," proclaims a Striped Bass kitchen worker as we lift a shimmering swordfish, still dripping blood, from it's bed of crushed iced.

"Top of the trip," Tony McCarthy proudly boasts. Tony's been around fish since 1978 when his high school principal allowed him to graduate two weeks early so he could help his father open a fish market. Seven months ago, Neil Stein, co-owner of the Striped Bass, saw Tony cutting fish at Hopkin's Seafood wholesalers. Liked his work so much he offered Tony a full time job buying and butchering fish for the Striped Bass.

Tony, who's been hanging out on the docks "forever," has the rare privilege of selecting the Striped Bass's fish as they come off the boats. This cuts out the middle man, the fish distributor. A few complained so Tony set up his own wholesale company. Only two customers so far. Tony handles all the fish for the Striped Bass and air freights softies (soft shell crabs) to Mark Miller's Coyote Cafe in Santa Fe. He about ready to take on a few more restaurants.

"Top of the trip" is fisherman lingo for "fuckin' fresh." Fishing boats set out to sea for two weeks at a time. Their catch is stored in a refrigerated hold. Fish caught early in the journey wind up at the bottom of the hold. During the trip, the hold fills up. The last fish caught, the freshest fish, end up on top - the top of the trip.

Tony and I spent the morning at the Viking Village dock at Barnegat Light, Long Beach Island selecting the fish that would be featured on that evening's Striped Bass dinner menu. A couple of "long-liners," the Provider and the Marion Frances, had docked the night before and were unloading their catch, mostly tuna, along with a few swordfish and mahi-mahis.

"Long-liner" refers to the single 30 mile long fishing line with 1,200 hooks that the boat sets each evening. The line, baited with squid, drifts overnight. The next day they haul it in - typically catching only 30 to 40 fish, sometimes less. Come evening they repeat the process, and keep doing so until they run out of either bait or fuel. Smaller boats like the Provider and the Marion Frances will head home with, maybe, 10,000 pounds of fish.

"It's a democratic process," Marion Frances skipper and long liner Mike Schaub observes. "It's up to the fish whether or not they bite the hook."

Today's catch is mainly tuna. Mostly small yellow fins that weigh in between 30 and 70 pounds. The Provider also landed a good number of big eye tuna (100 to 125 lbs.). Tony says big eyes make the best eating. There is also one and only one blue fin tuna. Blue fins start at 300 pounds and can weigh in much heavier.

Yellow fins, as their name suggests, have yellow tips at the top of their fins. Then again, so do big eyes and blue fins. Go figure.

Conservation laws limit fishing boats to one blue fin tuna a voyage. Any others accidently hooked, dead or alive, are thrown back - crab bait. Commercial fishermen pretty much agree that it's a stupid regulation. The fishermen are pushing to allow any additional blue fins caught to be hauled in and donated to Second Harvest, a nationwide food bank that feeds the homeless. Makes sense to me.

The yellow fin tuna are unloaded first. One crew member, down in the hold, passes a fish up, through the fish hole, to a guy above deck. He rolls it on a conveyor off the ship and onto a scale. There, a fish grader whacks the tail off each tuna, checking it for fat content, freshness and color. Saul Phillips who pretty much developed the premium tuna export trade to Japan, grades a good portion of the fish that comes through Barnegat Light. Later in the morning Dave Henderson, aka Big Bird, takes over. I figure Saul got tired of all my questions.

If a tuna is over 50 lbs, Saul also takes a thin hollow tube and sticks it through the gill, into the upper body. He pulls out a small core of flesh which he examines closely, looking to see if the meat is red and clear - the more red and clear the better. He's also checking the blood line that runs through the sample. It should be a bright red, not black.

Fish by fish, Saul calls out the weight and, if over 50 pounds, a grade - "one" is considered sushimi quality, "two" just as good, but better suited for grilling. Inferior tuna is graded "chocolate" because of it's brown color. "Chocolates" died on the fishing line and partially cooked in the ocean water before they were hauled on board.

Saul's always looking for export quality tuna - superior, fatty tuna that are destined for an evening flight to Tokyo where they are individually auctioned in one of Japan's twenty wholesale fish markets. Of the 180 tuna on the Provider, Saul only selected three for export. From the remainder, Tony found just two big eyes worthy of the Striped Bass. There were a lot more ones and twos which will end up at the regional wholesalers.

Next off, after the yellow fins, is the single blue fin - a whopper that weighs in at 493 pounds. All of a sudden Saul is the center of attention. Everyone stops talking, gathering around as he grades the blue fin. If export quality, that one fish will bring $20,000 to $30,000 dollars.

Saul hacks off the tail and examines it. Slices off a little more for a second look. He pulls a core sample. "Two." Not export quality, but it still will command a good price. "Big steaks." "Money fish."

Chris Einselen's ears perk up whenever Saul pronounces a fish export quality. Chris, owner of the Provider, has already turned a large bucket upside down and haas placed a hacked-up piece of plywood on top - a cutting board. Saul hands him the tail from an export tuna. There's still good meat to be had. Chris cuts a thin slice of tuna from the tail, dips it in a sauce of wasabi (sharper than horseradish) and soy sauce that he carries in a yellow cup, and offers it around. Same premium sushi that's sold in expensive Japanese restaurants except it's three days fresher than when it will be served in Japan - and the price is right.

When Tony gets back to the Striped Bass his day is only half over. He's already stopped at a couple of Philadelphia seafood wholesalers to pick up soft shell crabs, a bag mussels and jumbo lump crab meat. Now he has to butcher all the fish that will be served for dinner.

Striped Bass sous chef John Anderson checks in Tony's fish. He opens every container of lump crab, smells it for freshness. Inspects each layer of softies by running his hand over their stomachs. If they're ticklish they're alive. If they don't move, they won't be served. He even pulls his own core samples from the two big eye tuna that Tony had selected.

I leave Tony as he's filleting a big eye tuna. Tont carries his own knife. Sharpens it on a stone before butchering the fish. Cuts off the skin; then trims and quarters the fish. Slices each quarter into fillets - 11 steaks per quarter, only 44 steaks to a 65 pound tuna. What the Striped Bass considers to be scraps are used for tuna tartar, seafood dumplings and staff meals.

Tony does the filleting in the Striped Bass's small, crowded prep room where four or five cooks are busy cleaning vegetables, whipping up cold sauces. One cook stops and carefully takes in Tony's knife work. "That's why I work here. Just to see Tony butcher a fish."

[herbacidal]

nice article, holly.

there's the tinge of familiarity, so it's possible i may have read it originally.

at any rate, i'd since forgotten about it, so it's nice to re-read it.

[tommy]

copied from another thread:

The room is absolutely beautiful. Billion foot ceilings, give or take, in an old bank. Open kitchen. Hoppin’ bar. Wow. Great vibe.

Ms. Loeb was kind enough to say that we were “friends” (even though I had just met her), and introduced us to the sommelier, Jason, and some others. The staff was cordial and efficient. After I put the server through some hell during ordering (I couldn’t decide what I wanted, and if I wanted three courses rather than two, etc, etc), he deferred to the sommelier when I started in with the wine. Jason recommended a sparkler to start, and a white from Provence for the rest of the meal.

Started with oysters. I forget what kind they were, but they were fresh and right on.

Moved on to share a corn and morel soup of some sort. I forget how it read on the menu, but it was green and served with a corn concoction in the middle. A soup that you had to chew. I loved it.

Mrs. Tommy had a roasted lobster, served out of its shell. I forget the preparation, but I recall artichokes, which turned out to be a great match. I had a crispy black bass (I think it was black bass). As promised, the skin was crispy. Again, I forget the specifics of this dish.

We skipped dessert, as we were both falling asleep (although that didn’t stop Katie and Herb from dragging us to the bar at le bec fin, much to their chagrin no doubt).

My one complaint is that the place is too dark. I’m a handsome young man with perfect vision, and even I had a hard time reading the menu. The older couple next to us were sharing reading glasses and tilting the menu towards any light source they could fine. Aside from the obvious obstacles of reading, I found that I really couldn’t see the food very well. In fact, I thought the soup was “green” and mrs. Tommy thought it was “brownish.” That’s just a shame.

I forget the total, which worries me because I can’t find my receipt (did I pay!?!?), but I think it was about 140 before tip.