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Whole Fish

Discussion in 'Restaurants & Buffets' started by andrew60430, Mar 11, 2013.

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  1. andrew5499

    andrew5499 Low-Roller

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    We are looking for a seafood restaurant that will server whole fish. We have tried CUT - and they even gave us the fish head (very cool).

    We are looking for the entire fish to be server, including head. Most Vegas places filet the fish before serving.

    thanks
     
  2. HoyaHeel

    HoyaHeel Grammar Police & Admin

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  3. Username

    Username VIP Whale

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    Don't know where your from if close enough come on over......I can make fish several different ways including a whole fish done on the grirll...also smoked, broiled and my favorite "Beer Battered".....and all the fish will be FRESHLY caught by yours truly...

    I almost never go out for fish except for the occasional local Tavern Fish Fry on a Friday nights.
     
  4. Mitkraft

    Mitkraft VIP Whale

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    Being that I often look at my bait and think "hmm, I could eat this" Whole fish often looks very apealing to me but I've never known anyone who eats it this way or how to go about it. What are the benefits of it being whole and how exactly do you go about eating it? What parts do and don't you eat and how do you go about picking it apart? Thanks!
     
  5. bswim

    bswim High-Roller

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    I'm curious to know what the benefits are of eating fish this way are?
     
  6. HoyaHeel

    HoyaHeel Grammar Police & Admin

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    Good flavor (most foods cooked bone-in have better flavor) and awesome presentation:thumbsup: My opinion.....
     
  7. ken2v

    ken2v This Space For Rent

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    I think the cartilage has little to do with it as much as simply the integrity of the meat is maintained. I've had food researchers and chefs tell me the same think about the vaunted ribsteak vs. ribeye ... the bone theory is more sizzle than steak.
     
  8. volfaninbama

    volfaninbama High-Roller

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    Try Milo's at Cosmo. You can even pick your fish out before cooking.
     
  9. Username

    Username VIP Whale

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    I find no taste difference living the fish whole or de-headed.....it's mostly presentation...but one word of advice I can say almost without exception......the SMALLER the fish the better...and that goes for steaks, fillets or the whole fish....BEWARE of most large fish of any species.
     
  10. geoff

    geoff Low-Roller

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    bartolotta @wynn...
     
  11. PopMegaphone

    PopMegaphone VIP Whale

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    Yep, if you don't mind paying an ungodly sum for a fish this is the place for you.
     
  12. RPMCanes

    RPMCanes VIP Whale

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    Bartolotta at Wynn serves the fishes that Luca Brasi sleeps with. Great place, great atmosphere.
     
  13. Dewey089

    Dewey089 VIP Whale

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    One benefit is knowing that you get the fish you ordered. They can't disquise Vietnamese catfish, marinated in pesticides and fed antibiotics, the popular swai or pangasius as grouper if you see the grouper.
    http://www.dietmindspirit.org/2008/01/30/why-you-shouldnt-eat-this-fish-pangas-pangasius-vietnamese-river-cobbler-white-catfish-gray-sole/

    Much of the time we don't get for fish what we orderhttp://money.msn.com/now/post.aspx?_blg=4&post=013be4c2-ae42-407b-8173-2d168cb460f7

    There are some tasty bits in whole fish taken out in the cleaning. In larger fish the cheeks are very good. And in the head, at the top of many fish are two bites tossed away when the head is cut off. The head on also protects the meat from overcooking in that area of the fish.
    You can eat about anything in fish. If the tails crisp up, as they do in pan fried panfish they are as tastly as potato chips as are the tips of the fins.
    Entrails are not eaten. (Well, they once were fermented and used to make garum, a salty fish sauce used in many ancient recipes, sort of the precursor to soy sauces. However, that is not done anymore. Mark Kurlansky's book Salt talks about this in great detail.)
    Less of the fish is wasted when cooked whole as you can remove the flesh from the bones with much less waste.
     
  14. larryg

    larryg Low-Roller

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    "...Entrails are not eaten."

    The Japanese still eat salted, fermented fish guts (and squid guts). Called shiokara, it's a little weird, but not as exotic tasting as it sounds. Raku sometimes offers it. But fresh fish guts? I think I'd pass.
     
  15. Electroguy563

    Electroguy563 Vegas Joker

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    Upon your recomendation and others in this board I have tried this on my last Vegas trip in Dec. It was awesome!

    But it was HUGE!!!

    It was presented on a grand scale on a platter with Vegetables and rice. The fish was so big I didn't see the vegetables and starch under it. I asked the waiter if it comes with vegetables and starch and he said, "Ummm... it's under the fish..."

    Lol! He was right. Just couldn't see it....:thumbsup:
     
  16. hammie

    hammie VIP Whale

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    This is a major problem and it is usually not the fault of the restaurant. With so much fish being imported today, a wink is as good as a nod to a blind man.

    Not a specific recommendation, but Spanish restaurants should have a whole grilled fish. Sometimes Italian or Greek restaurants will have a whole Bronzino, which is farmed. Finally if there is a Turkish restaurant, check out the grilled sardines.

    Dewey, you may want to check out Paul Greenberg's book "Four Fish", its a good read.
     
  17. Dewey089

    Dewey089 VIP Whale

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    Thanks, it is on my list. I love reading these books, but they are so sad. There is hardly any real good news. Kurlansky's "Cod" is like that. Still wonderful. The Oyster Book: History on a Half Shell drags in part, but it is a great history of NY city. Still sad how much natural resources we waste with unrestricted pollution and no sense of living with the environment instead of exploiting it into oblivion.

    Since I love panfish, I loved this project that farm raises yellow perch and vegetables using the perch waste.
    http://sweetwater-organic.com/about/foundation
     
  18. Dewey089

    Dewey089 VIP Whale

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    I know some of the fish is actually mislabeled right when it is frozen on the boat, so sometimes the restaurant gets fooled.
    But so often they know exactly what they are serving, and when I ask they tell me how wonderful Swai is and how they never get any complaints, etc. A bit of internet reading tells us that the fish is a huge risk to those who take seriously what they eat.

    Meanwhile our own environmentally sound farm raised catfish industry does a responsible job putting out healthy food in an environmentally friendly way and it can't seem to get the business. And farm raised Idaho trout are a good eat too.

    Personally, I don't trust any imported fish. I try to buy American and generally far down the food chain. And there are some restaurants that have taken this seriously. A little local place with cheap diner meals has an owner radical about finding good fish and avoiding the imported stuff.
     
  19. hammie

    hammie VIP Whale

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    Dewey, you might want to check out a fish called Barrimundi, it is farmed in Turners Falls, Mass and in Vietnam and Indonesia. It is one of the top species on the recommended list compiled by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch. Here is a link to a pocket guide http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/cr_seafoodwatch/content/media/MBA_SeafoodWatch_NationalGuide.pdf

    As for oysters, I was told by a waterman that around 1900, the per capita consumption was 4.3 lbs., today it is .4 lbs. Oysters were very cheap and became over harvested and disease wiped out much of the stock. But today there are many sustainable aquaculture farms raising oysters. A full sized oyster can filter a gallon of water an hour and they will be an important part of improving the Chesapeake bay.
     
  20. Dewey089

    Dewey089 VIP Whale

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    Thanks. Nice to read some good news for oysters. However, if you read the Kurlansky and get the sense of what it was like in NYC decades ago with oysters plentiful and huge, you get the sense of the loss.
    I did see that Gov. Cuomo suggested that some of the government bought out land from the storm might be used for oyster beds.

    Thanks for the fish tip. I'll look for it if it is raised in the states.
    However, at home I live on the panfish, down the food chain so no real accumulation of heavy metals, and here in winter Florida there is a great little fish market a mile away with clean shrimp from the East coast and some great speared snappers and other local fish. I do well for home. It is the restaurants where I have trouble, especially the cheap ones.
     
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