Sogno & Wulf's Fish

.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
You're listening to Food for Thought withBilly and Jenny, brought to you by
the Box Center. For more thanfifteen years, this dining duo has been
eating their way through New England,mixing it up with top chefs, jumping
behind the line of the hottest restaurantsand giving you the inside scoop on where
to wine, dine and spend yourtime. So get ready. It's Food
for Thought giving you something to chewon. Hey, guys, welcome into

(00:23):
Food for Thought. Billy cost tohear Jenny's not here this week. I
think she'll be here next week.Boy, we haven't done the show in
a while together, aj the producerand studio. Are you in charge of
that? Aj? I try.I try to take you guys together.
It doesn't always work out, okay. Bottom line is we're going to have
some fun this week, so welcomeinto the show. We've got two separate

(00:46):
people here representing two separate entities,so to speak, but it's all about
food and it's all about greatness.We've got a JP in here from Sonio.
You're right on the Wooburn winch BurlingtonLine, Winchester line, right adjacent
to the whole Food shopping center.Okay, you got to move right up
to the mic though, and thesame thing with you. Alicia is here,

(01:07):
Alicia, Alumia from Wolf's Kitchen orWolf's Fish. Good to see you,
Alicia. Thanks, good to behere. So this is gonna be
an interesting conversation. I've been toSonya. How long has it been open?
Now? There, Sonyo has beenopen for just over a year now.
We just celebrated our first anniversary inSeptember. Well, congratulation, thanks.

(01:27):
I was at Sonyo for New Year'sEve? Was it last year?
Yep, it was our first NewYear's Eve. We're looking forward to the
next one. Oh. We hada good time. Absolutely, we had
a good time. So you saidyou're coming up on, We're coming up.
We just did our one year celebrationon September twenty first, we did
about a week long celebration, yeah, with you know, various surprises and

(01:48):
whatnot, and did a cap offon Saturday night. It was a good
time. And conversely, Alicia,you folks at Wolffish have been in business
since nineteen twenty six. Yes,so we're getting close to our one hundred
year anniversary. Wow, that isunbelievable. It is. Well, there's

(02:09):
a long history of seafood in Boston, yes, with a few real legacy
companies, and Wolves is lucky tobe one of them. We had a
fish market in Brookline for ninety years, so until twenty sixteen, and then
we got into restaurant distribution, andthen in twenty twenty we brought back that
connection to home cooks through our directto consumer So now people can go online

(02:30):
to Wolffish dot com, order thesame fish we're selling to restaurants and have
that delivered straight to their home.So locally, where would be the main
location for Wolffish. We're right inthe Boston Seaport especially, have two buildings
in the more industrial area, andthen at the historic Fish Pier, which
is where our direct to consumer is. That's where my office is too.

(02:52):
How much has fish changed in onehundred years. I'm guessing the same fish
you're still swimming around out there.I think it would be harder to come
up with what stayed the same.I mean, obviously the proportion of fish
that's coming from our local waters haschanged dramatically. I mean, most wild

(03:12):
fishing stocks around the world are fishat a much higher rate. Many are
overfish. The advent of aquaculture,which in some species is hundreds of years
old or thousands of years old,some is very new, like salmon aquaculture
from the you know, really startedin the nineteen sixties. So it's a
much more global industry than it usedto be. We're really pulling products from

(03:32):
everywhere. In Boston is one ofthe biggest hubs in the world. For
sure. Everything comes through here.If you want truly any fish from anywhere
in the world, it's going tohub through Boston before it goes out into
the rest of the country. Sowe're really lucky. And in terms of
people living in the Boston and NewEngland area, they can either go there
and get their fish or they canorder it and receive their fish right you

(03:55):
can order it. There are actuallyvery few markets really, it's not quite
you know, even a few decadesago there were fish markets in every neighborhood
right for the most part, thoseare gone, so there's shopping with a
grocery chain, and then you know, we're adding back that kind of personal
touch and ability to get the fishmore directly by ordering for us well,
I mean, if you've got wolffish in your backyard. Why would you

(04:18):
go to a grocery chain, youknow what I'm saying. Why indeed,
Well, don't you have some ofthe top shifts in the world that get
their fish from you? We do. Are you able to name some of
them? I'm sure around Boston,I mean, we sell to so many
restaurants that people will have eaten atHim in Contessa, the Banks, bstro

(04:38):
Medi Mooncuster, all of Karena Kunowitz'srestaurants, and that it just goes on
and on. I know, ifI named too many, I'm going to
forget somebody and get in trouble.I heard a rumor Danielle Baloud, Yes
is on your guest list, soto speak. And we have yet and
we sell it to the Tinhouse restaurantsin New York. You know, we

(05:00):
sell through Gordon Ramsay restaurant here inBoston, and we you know, we
ship to other cities. We sellactually to a lot of restaurants in Nashville.
We have customers in Florida and Arizona. You know, particularly for either
the New England specialties they're not goingto get anywhere else, or you know,
things that are hubbing through Boston thatwe have access to because we're bringing

(05:23):
in products from you know, fromNew Zealand, from Europe, from everywhere
every day. And the obvious questionis why are all these famous chefs coming
to Wolfs And the obvious answer you'regoing to give me is because we have
nothing but the freshest fish in theworld or in the market. It's true,
and there's a lot of and weget that question of well, if
the cod you know, to codfishare swimming, what makes that one better

(05:46):
than the other. And honestly,in the water they're probably the same fish.
But many things happen to it whenit's caught. So it's how it's
caught, how it's treated, youknow, how quick, how well it's
handled. Is it ice properly.Is the fish thrown into a big vat
with thousands of other fish so theones on the bottom aren't so good,
or is it handled pristinely, cutby hand, packed perfectly in ice,

(06:10):
kept cold? You know, thatreally has a big impact on how that
quality is maintained. And that's somethingthat we do. I mean, every
fish is handled individually. We're noteven buying vats. We tend to buy
just the fish we want, like, particularly if we're shopping for tuna,
our tuna buyer will go and makea cut in every single tuna by only
the ones that are grated the bestthat's getting cut by hand, packed pristinely,

(06:39):
very good. Is that I don'tknow what that means, but it
means different things for different species.Okay. Everything in seafood is unfortunately like
a kind of a complicated answer.Okay, but you know, in some
species, like if you're going tosee like some things are going to be
line caught always, like a localstripe bass is really getting caught mostly by

(07:00):
small boats, and that's being linecaught. But really every fish and every
place is getting caught is going tomean something slightly different. Okay, we're
going to take a break. We'vegot Alicia here from Mubbles Fish. We've
also got Jp here from Sonyo,a restaurant, and they've got so many
things coming up between Thanksgiving and ChristmasEve and brunches and New Year's Eve and

(07:24):
all kinds of conversation to be hadon Food for Thought this week. So
what we'll do is we'll take abreak, and you know what, we'll
be right back. You're listening toFood for Thought brought to you by the
Box Center and Salem Waterfront Hotel andsuits. Hey, folks, welcome back
to Food for Thought the La CostaHere. We're having some fun on the
show this week again. We've gotAlicia here from Woltzfish and we've got JP

(07:46):
from Sonyo. So is it officiallyin Woburn or we are? We're just
buy such an easy place to getto, by the way. A beautiful
building there is it? Rout threeA or Ruth three right right at that
point at the windchowur line. Yeah, what else goes on in that building
there? It's an office building,so you know the upper levels of the
floor of our medical and regular professionaloffice. We actually own and operate a

(08:09):
Dake care center on the lower level. Really, it's funny every time you
pull up to it. I rememberdriving past because you know, we're right
in that neighborhood, and every timeI drove past, the building was all
lit up. It was like youwere arriving at the Academy Awards or something.
It's beautiful lighting on the exterior ofthat building. That was the intent.
Oh really, well, we lookedat it and said, how do

(08:30):
we bring something special to this neighborhoodand It started with the commercial real estate
aspect of it, but ultimately thedream Sonyo, which is a dream in
Italian, was to open the restauranton the first floor. Have that be
an experience. We have buildings thatFriday five o'clock building shuts down. Sonyo
operates twenty four hours, so we'vegot activity there. There's life, and

(08:54):
we really like the fact that it'sa local and regional spot for people to
come visit and have a wonderful time. Wow. I mentioned top of the
show. I think my wife Michelleand I and a few friends we spent
New Year's Eve there yep, lastyear. So big doings New Year's Eve
this year. Absolutely, we wouldn'tWe wouldn't miss it for the world.
We've got a lot going on cominginto this fall. New Year's Eve will

(09:16):
be a big one for us.We're in the suburbs and that's very convenient
for a lot of people to beable to have that, you know,
city style experience in the suburbs inproximity to their houses. Did I mention
free parking? Free parking never hurts, lots of it, lots of parking.
It's surprising how important that is tofolks. Who want to have that

(09:37):
downtown experience but still be able toget in and out quickly and conveniently.
And you and your dad. Andby the way, how was he he
was going to be here today?He is wonderful. He sends his regards.
He's a bit under the weather,but sent me along with a nice
bottle of wine for you. Ohoh, thank you so much. That's
so kind. But then then again, that's you guys. Every time I
go in. You guys are soso generous, and it's part part of
the experience hospitality. But you,your dad and the Martinetti family have an

(10:03):
much like Alicia and most fish,you guys have an incredible history in this
region. Sure I go back,maybe you weren't even born, but you
know, I've been here for awhile at Kiss, and I go back
to the nightclub Faces. Sure,and once a week I was hired as
the Kiss guy on a Friday nightto come in and do the nightclub thing.

(10:24):
Absolutely, and Faces was legend interms of nightclubs, especially during the
disco era. Absolutely well, youknow, timing struck well right, So
I was right at the timing ofdisco and it was obviously a renown place.
For everybody in the area. Thatwas the place to go to be
seen and see. Yeah, Alicia, did you ever get to Faces,
They're on Route two in Cambridge?I never did. It was quite the

(10:48):
place. And by the way,attached to Faces, right on Route two,
right before the rotary, right toRoot sixteen, you had a bowling
alley, correct, and that stillthere. So the entirety of the site
now is apartments. So you couldgo bowling on a Friday night, all
dressed up for disco and then justwalk right next door and have a couple

(11:09):
of cocktails and meet some interesting people, a little bit of nightclubbing and bowling,
all the same experience. You know, you guys were on it early.
You know what it's called hospitality,correct, absolutely and carries forward.
You know, there was a periodof time where we didn't do it,
and it was always my father's dreamto get back into hospitality and to be
able to deliver that experience direct tothe end consumer. Now. A couple

(11:31):
of minutes ago, Alicia was tellingus about the history of a wolf fish
and it got me thinking fish AndI know you're an Italian restaurant, do
you have much fish on the menu? We do We've got a handful of
fish options, ranging from you know, your traditionals, your CODs, your
salmons. We run specials on aregular basis. Chef the other day actually
had a nice Frida Theavelo that theyoffered both as muscles, as an appetizer,

(11:56):
as an antipasty, or the optionto add apasta and get it as
a main entre Alicia, which oneof those would you go with at dinner
at Sonyo, That's a hard choice. I mean, I you know,
I usually go with whatever the fishspecial is, that's the day to try
it. I mean, I'm spoiledbeing in the fish industry, so I
can get salmon and caught and cookthem every single day. So I go

(12:16):
for what looks hardest to make suresure I'm going to be eating out.
I want somebody to have to.I had a nice grilled branzino the other
day. Oh yeah, that iswonderful and it's popular. Of course,
I joke with chef because branzino sometimescan smoke out as well, so it
smokes out a little bit more ofa challenge on the grill, depending on

(12:37):
temperatures and seasons. Yeah, I'mso glad you brought up the Brenzenohn of
my diet is fish. I adorefish of all kinds, shapes and sizes.
Can't get past the full fish withthe head. Are you serving that
at Sonyo? No, we wentwith We did go without that, but
we have done it in the past. Yeah, I'm sure you have done

(13:00):
it. And we sell it withthe head on. Really, I mean
we sell lots of fish that's fileted. We'll even sell the Bronzina filet for
people who don't want to mess withwhole fish. And yeah, I worry
about it. It's actually it's somuch easier than you think it is to
bring it down. I was intimidatedby it for a long time as someone
who's not good at butchery. Andwe have a lot of people who cut

(13:22):
fish expertly. That is not meat all. So I hand it to
them and let them do it.I'm picking it. So you could just
say, yeah, could you debonethis for me? I like to take
a couple of these. Oh yeah, no, it's wonderful. Yeah,
we don't have that privilege. Butthe whole fish is actually really really easy
once. I mean, deboning whenthe fish is raw is really difficult.
Once it's cooked. It really doescome apart beautifully. I mean, you

(13:45):
can cook it in your oven.You know, gorilla is great. Okay,
you know what unless you walk usthrough this. Okay, I've got
a whole fish sitting in front ofme. Okay, first of all,
how am I going to prepare it? Well? For a whole bronzino or
a drat or another mediatre and fish, you're gonna get it. It's going
to be gutted ver Fortunately, there'snothing, nothing ooky to deal with.
Okay. I'd probably take a fewsliced lemons and some herbs and stuff that

(14:09):
into the cavity of the fish.You know, put some olive oil on
the tray, maybe some foil soit's easier to clean up later. Yeah,
you know, rub the fish downwith some more herbs and some olive
oil, little salt, put itinto a hot oven, and let it
cook. Like literally, don't touchit again, okay until it's starting to
you'll see you know, the eyeif you left the head on and you're

(14:31):
okay with that, we'll cloud over. As it cooks, you'll see that
this skuin is starting to curl up. The fish is getting cooked through.
Then you take it out, letit cool, just so you can handle
it. And you can really,I mean you can do this with a
spoon, just go along the back. Okay, here we go. This
is the important part. So okay, so the fish just arrived at your

(14:52):
in front of you at the restaurant. Yeh okay, you're paying attention.
JP. I've done it, soI know the experience. Okay, good.
But the restaurants sometimes they'll hook youup to it for you. Yeah.
A lot of times the server willcome and take care of it.
And we ended the brenzy. Youknow, we did debone just it makes
this experience a little bit easier.It's not difficult, but to your point,
so when it's served, it's deboned. We debone prior to serving.

(15:15):
Ah oh see that. But getback to the d bone. But
if you want to do it athome, you once it's cooked, it's
going to come. Each file awill pull off the central bone structure very
easily. So you could take aspoon and go by the head and then
along the backbone, just separating themeat. It'll i mean really a spoon,
it'll happen very easily, and thenyou can literally lift the whole file

(15:37):
at off and put it on aplate. It's I promise it comes right.
You can see the whole bone structurewill stay together. It doesn't splinter.
Flip it over and do the samething on the other side. You're
done. We can take care ofthat absolutely. I'm just saying, this
is really a cool conversation. Though. I always wanted to get even more

(16:00):
education about seafood as well as thebehind the scenes of the restaurant world,
and we're going to do more ofthat throughout the show today. But before
we take a break, Alicia,you brought me a box that says brain
food inside, and my obvious questionis what's in the box? What's in

(16:22):
the box? Alicia, Well,we know the movie seven. We know
now most of us if you've seenthe movie right at JP, you know
what was in the box. PoorGwyneth. You know Gwyneth Paltrow. It
didn't end very well for her inthe movie seven. So, Alicia,
what's in the box? No,thanks, scary in this box seafood.
It's our fishmonger Favorite Box, whichis a selection of you know, some

(16:47):
of the items that are really themost popular and that we consistently love.
A Wolf's fish, and in ourtest kitchen two it's going to be a
Norwegian salmon, some cod, Arcticshar, some Gulf strand we have a
partnership with some shrimp out of Florida. Actually they're fishing in the Gulf and
so those are completely cam free.Those are peeled into veins. I believe

(17:08):
there's some graysol in there, whichis another really elegant local fish you can
make so minier, just like JuliaChilds. So many people listening are so
jealous right now, and you knowwhat, I don't care, because this
is brain food and I'm going tohave some when I get home. We
do have to take a break whenwe come back, Sonia. I think

(17:30):
I mentioned top of the show.You guys have so much going on over
the weeks and months leading up tothe holidays, and as well as well's
fish, people are planning, theymight be entertaining at home, they might
be looking to stock up and getready for the holidays rather than wait till
last minute. So we've got asmuch information as you need coming out right
after the break. You're listening toFood for Thought, brought to you by

(17:52):
the Box Center and Sale in WaterfrontHotel, in sweetes Hey, folks,
welcome back to Food for Thought.We've got Alicia here from Mobile's Fish.
We've got Jp here from Sonya Restauranton Rout three in Wooburn. Short break
here. So Alicia, if youdon't mind, we were just talking about
the box of brain food that Ijust got from you. Thank you so
much. Is this something people canorder if they're looking for incredible creative gift

(18:17):
ideas? Absolutely? I mean,what a great gift for anyone in your
life who really likes to cook,who likes fish. This is our fishmonger
Favorites box, So it's really agreat introductory selection some you know, everybody's
everybody's favorite, the shrimp, thesalmon, the cod, and a few
others. We ship everywhere across thecountry. All of our fish is also
super frozen, so you don't haveto worry about consuming it right away.

(18:41):
So is it better to have itshipped to somebody for a holiday gift or
better to come and pick it upand bring it to somebody. We ship
to everybody. We actually don't havea way for people to come pick up
right you're in the z port.If you're local, you can order you
know, up till midnight the nightbefore and we'll ship it out the next
day. So it's really it's nowaiting, no driving, No, this
is cool. We've got the wholeshow with Alicia with JP from Sonyo JP.

(19:03):
Somebody's walking into Sono in Woolban onRoot three for the very first time.
What's the absolute must have at sothe go to I think amongst our
regular guests or new guests, wesee a lot of meatballs, we see
a lot of orang chini, oryou can go with our salumium from Agi
board that meat and cheese or ascommonly known a chikuteri board. So now
you're in the door, you've started, and what are you recommending For an

(19:26):
entre? Generally people will follow witha salad. We've got a great kale
salad, a great caesar salad that. But in terms of entre, you
know, everyone seems to use thebolonnaise as their their their flag as to
whether or not they enjoy their experience. So we sell a lot of bolonnaise.
But you know, honestly, youcan't go wrong. We've got a
rotating selection of pastas as well asmeat, chicken and fish dishes. So

(19:49):
you know what I left about Sonya. First of all, it's a beautiful
restaurant. Inside. Uh, you'vegot a gorgeous bar, yep, and
it just welcomes you when you walkin the door. And even if you've
got a reserv for a table,when you walk into Sonyo for the first
time, you're saying, ah,I should have just planned to sit at
the bar. It happens frequently,right, We have these couples date night
and they look around and say,jeez, you know, the bar is

(20:11):
so inviting. Maybe we'll just havea night at the bar, speak with
the bartenders, meet some friends.It's a great experience. How far an
advance should people make reservations? Weencourage you as far out as possible,
just to make sure that you canget a table. You know, our
weekend nights are very busy, veryactive, and we've got unique experiences too.
So if you want to have areally special evening, we've got a
chef's counter experience where you literally sitat the edge of the expo counter watch

(20:34):
your meal be prepared and okay,hold on to I want to hear more
about that. Absolutely all right,we got plenty of time on the show.
We're gonna hear more about Sonyo,what's going on there, what's coming
up for the holidays, more aboutWolf's Fish and what you can do or
plan for the holidays, the scienceof fish, so to speak. We'll
take a break. We'll be rightback. You're listening to Food for Thought,
brought to you by the Box Centerand Salem Waterfront Hotel in sweets.

(20:57):
Hey, folks, walcome back tofor Thought. I've got JP here from
Sonya. I've got a list youhere from Wolf's Fish and JP. Before
the break, you mentioned the chef'scounter. What is that and what do
I do with it? So wehave a chef's counter experience. So the
pre ticketed events where you get afive course meal and you sit at a

(21:17):
nice car or at countertop right atthe edge of the expo kitchen. So
we have an open kitchen. Youcan see all the food being prepared right
in front of you. So yousit right at the edge of that facing
the kitchen on the expo line.So you get a chance to chat with
the chef, watch all the activityof the restaurant coming and going, learn
about your dish, how it's made, and kind of have an insider experience
on and otherwise big and bustling restaurant. Now, is this something you have

(21:40):
to make reservations for in advance oryou can't just show up and sit at
the chef's So we do advance ticketson open table. It's basically a different
form of reservation, and we canaccommodate up to six at a time,
so it's great for couples. Oftentimeswe have a few different couples that will
buy tickets together or just happen tomeet that night of the event. So
it's a total of six, atotal of sex. So you can do

(22:03):
a party up to six people.Wow, that sounds like a lot of
fun. It's a great experience.And oftentimes, you know, depending on
what the special is of the evening, because it is a prefixed menu,
chef will introduce some additional options orsome tastes or whatever happens to be happening
in that particular night. Mm hmm. Alicia, if people are looking to
place orders do things for the holidays, get a jump on it now.

(22:23):
I mean right now is when peoplereally start panicking. What are you recommending
the best things are for people toget done? Otherwise their list is over.
Some people probably do their whole listwith both fish, right, I
think some people do. I mean, we can ship a box of seafood.
We also do gift cards. Ifyou know, maybe you're giving to
a picky eater or someone more adventurousand is going to pick things you don't

(22:45):
even know about, you can givethem a gift card. They can go
pick out exactly what they want.And I'm a big gift card shopper.
Oh yeah, you lazy people.Reach me there you go. Don't have
a ball. You can do thatright now up to the end and get
an e gift card. Probably me. If you were going home tonight and
sitting down to dinner and you hadyour absolute choice of any fish you could

(23:10):
have for dinner tonight, what wouldit be and how would you prepare it?
Well, this sounds like a Jeopardyshow or something now, but I
think that does. I know.It's like the picking the favorite child.
Yeah, like, which one wouldyou? Really? Well, you gotta
do it. I gotta do it. I love sea scallops. I mean
a great dayboat scallop, completely keemfree. So it's draw you can get

(23:30):
a perfect seere on it. It'sjust you know, it's it's a local
specialty. It's just always a delight. It feels really fancy, great restaurant
meal. You're a restaurant quality meal. But it actually they cook up in
just a few minutes. So Iprobably see her off some scallops and we're
serving them with I'm a big vegetableeater, so whatever's in season and probably

(23:52):
lots of it, and then afew scallops seared off, and then brown
butter in the pan and butter basedit on top, because butter makes everything
better. Oh yeah, Now whenyou leave work at the end of a
day, Uh, do you getto take anything you want on? I
mean we can, we can buythings. I mean we don't you know,
if we don't get unlimited fish,that would be great. Oh you
don't have like a like an accountthat you just put in on my account

(24:17):
and then it can Yeah, wedefinitely can do that. And so I
can take anything from the director consumerside. It is actually I sit upstairs
from there, so it's pretty easyto have no plan and then go downstairs
and sure talk to them, talkto the downstairs manager. Or we can
get you know, anything from ourwholesale side as well. You know,
I'm some of my favorites. Ilove octopus, I bring home my wife

(24:37):
loves octopus so good. That's anice appetizer. How are you preparing your
octopus over at Sonya? So it'sdone in our in our oven, So
it gets prepped in the oven andthen finished on the grill. I think
my wife Michelle had that as astarter last time we were at Sonyo.
It's fantastic. It's one of themost popular dishes and adventurous. It feels

(24:59):
it interest for something. Yeah,just looking at it, like you know,
as to the look, it scaresme, but it hits the table
and people actually get a taste itis. It's a crowd favorite for sure.
I got to tell you something.I'm a scuba diver and and one
of my biggest thrills all these yearsdiving was when I was kind of cruising
around I don't think it was inthe Mediterranean or something whatever, I came
upon my first octopus and it wassuch a beautiful moment. I felt as

(25:26):
though the octopus and I were justlooking at each other in the eye,
and it was so regal. Itwas like in a you know, it
was like in this mountainous kind ofa thing. But just sitting there.
Okay, JP's looking at me like, what the hell is he talking about?
Unless you've been there. Okay,we're gonna have to get you hooked

(25:47):
up with Wolf. If I didn'tknow you were a scuba diver, you
can potentially push some product along.Oh, that would be an adventure.
No, I'm telling you. Itwas one of the coolest things I've ever
seen in the ocean, just sittingthere and like totally in charge of the
hole. You know, you onlysee them in movies, you know what
I'm talking about, So when yousee it on a plate, it brings

(26:07):
back fond memories of even of thedeep of the deep. I don't even
know what I'm talking about. Ineed to ask you before we go to
another regularly shit. In terms ofthe science, I want to get back
to the science again for a second. How do we stack up New England
seafood versus the rest of the countryas far as the quality the health of
fisheries. We have a number ofreally healthy fisheries in New England. I

(26:30):
mean the scallops that I mentioned,those are landed locally. That's a fishery
that's really well managed. I meaneverything domestically is subject to a lot of
regulation. So if you're you're concernedabout wildfish and you want to know that
it was well regulated, domestic fisheriesare a great choice. You know.
We have a lot of really popularspecies that have done really well in Black

(26:51):
Sea bass is popular. I thinkyou see that mostly on restaurant menus,
but we sell it for home cooksto There's a lot less cotton hattock than
there used to be. It's stillout there, it's not you know,
I wouldn't say that's in the greatestshape. I mean, obviously lobster fishery
is still there well, then movingnorth increasingly. Yeah, well, you
know what. I want to stayon top of this topic for a couple

(27:14):
of more minutes, but we dohave to take a break. But when
we come back, I'd like tocontinue this conversation if we can. It's
Food for Thought. Billy Costa here, will be right back. You're listening
to Food for Thought brought to youby the Box Center and Sale and Waterfront
Hotel in swedes Hey. Folks,welcome back to Food for Thought again.
Billy Costa here and I've got JPhere from Sonyo in new Woodbourne, we'll
talk more about Sonyo and I've gotAlsha here from both Fish the fish Expert

(27:37):
and why not. I mean,ninety years in the business. I got
to tell you, Alisha, youlook fabulous for ninety I mean, that's
the obligatory, stupid joke. Youknow, maybe they should just take me
off the air at some point here. Anyway, before we went to break,
we were talking about the science offish and how New England snacked up

(28:00):
in terms of the rest of thecountry. Is there an actual competition in
the fish world, so to speak, different parts of the country or is
it all just one big, happyfamily. Well, I think that.
I mean the Pacific Northwest and NewEngland in particular are really really proud of
our local species and they're great.You know, it's nothing against Pacific Northwest

(28:22):
has wild salmon's, they have blackcod. Those are great fish. We
actually bring them in in season.But I think New England has a real
incredible diversity of species, so it'snot just you know, salmon rules.
It may be in Seattle, butin Boston, I mean we have from
the ground fish the cod's had apollock hake that everyone knows. We have

(28:42):
monkfish, which is a really fantastic, delicious species and totally different in texture
from the whitefish we have, youknow, black sea bass. We have
an incredible local aquaculture industry. Whenyou look at oysters, we have scallop
fishery. I mean, see scallops, bay scallops. I mean, there's
really so much. I mean,can't forget lobster either. There's so much

(29:06):
interesting that you left lobster out untilthe end there because everybody travels from around
the world. They got to getmyself a New England lobster. They are
the best though, like the Caribbeanlobster, it's kind of a different texture.
It's a little brainy. Yeah,we don't mess with that now.
We leave those back to that.Yeah, leave them in the Caribbean.
You know, if you're down inthe Caribbean, it's fine, y'all have

(29:27):
a lobster. You know. WhatI like and would like to know more
about is the telapia do we Wheredoes that come from? Telapia is?
I mean, it's a tropical species, it's fresh water. It's farmed in
various places around the world. It'snot something that we carry because it's just

(29:47):
not something that our customers are necessarilyinterested in. But you can get a
good you can get a well farmedtelapia. I mean it gets a bad
rap because there's a lot of youknow, potentially dirty farming practices in some
places. But there are a lotof practice like farms that are doing a
really good job, particularly Central America. There's a little bit of production in
the US, but it's very small. But I mean from a sustainability perspective,

(30:12):
it's a great fish. It reproducesreally quickly, it grows really quickly.
It's kind of like a bamboo offish, so it's wore constantly.
You know, some fish might takethirty years to grow. You know,
telapia keeps it moving. So ifit's done well, there's there's really nothing
wrong with tilapia. I feel likeit gets sustainability wise, it can be

(30:33):
wonderful. Well. I ask mostlybecause I had a moment once with a
so called fish expert whose name Iwon't bring up, but I once you
know, I'm the king of stupidquestions, as you probably noticed by now,
and I once asked him what's thecutest fish in the ocean? Like
the best looking fish? And withouthesitation, he said telapia. What are

(30:56):
your thoughts on that? I meanthey can be I mean they can have
a nice little color, little facethere. Yeah, I mean, you
know, I don't mind the reallygnardly looking Northeast species. You're seen a
monkfish. Monkfish. That's kind ofa homely fish. No, I mean
homely is a nice way of puttingit. We usually use it for Halloween
pictures. I mean it's a giantjaw of teeth. Yeah, it looks

(31:21):
like, oh yeah, swallow yourhead, but delicious. Sure. Dog
is another one that has those crazylittle teeth up front and looks a bit
like a monster, but delicious.Sure. See now, AJ, the
producer is showing me a picture.Is that the telapia? That's the beautiful
fish? See what I'm talking about? JP? And the PR guys standing
here, like, what on northis going on here? Look at the

(31:42):
monkfish? Is that your first lookat the TELAPIAJP? Grab a picture of
a monkfish. That Really, monkfishcan be scary. Yeah, what is
the ugliest fish? Since we're onthe topic, and I do think monkfish
to talg probably compete for well,con is not really a handsome fish.
I mean, but have you seenit to dog's teeth that come out?

(32:02):
It looks like a crazy underwater beaverbase. It's really it's which fish are
we talking about now? It's crazylooking. Oh what is this guy?
That's the monkfish? Oh? God, bless him? Delicious. I don't
think he's really the first person awoman calls for the prom down there?
You know what I'm saying, Uh, you just find the tail. You

(32:24):
don't have to see that sharp teeththey bite hopefully they line shellfish, which
is part of why they're so delicious. So those those fish with the crazy
teeth, they're really scary ones.A lot of they have those teeth for
chomping through the shellfish at the bottom, and that makes them extra sweet and
delicious. And that's what the monkfishdoes. Yeah. Wow, so they're

(32:47):
using that job for good. Wow. Isn't this fun? You know?
I think Alicia is having fun,but it's afraid to admit it because people
are listening back at the office andthey're like, Okay, whin JP.
Bring her to that show JP fromSonyo? What do you have for seafood
on the menu? We've got afew options. So right now we have

(33:09):
a cod on the menu. Wehave a salmon on the menu. We've
got a pasta dish mentioned the diavolo, which has muscles. I am our.
Our cod dish actually comes on abed of seafood, so it's got
shrimp in it and it's made witha shellfish sauce of broth. I should
say. So you've got, youknow, a rotating list of options on

(33:31):
seafood, and I'm gonna put youon the spot. Sure, JP,
if you don't mind. Where areyou getting your seafood for Sonyo? We
we do work with a few differentpurveyors, but I believe most of our
product comes from Rocky Neck. Oh, very well established place. Right,
Alicia did do a good job.You're down on the pier with us,
uh huh are you open to maybea new Uh? Absolutely? I mentioned

(33:55):
that. Uh. You know,we're we're always in discussions with different purveyors
and trying to deliver the best productto all of our customers. You see,
That's what we do here on Foodfor Thought. We bring people together.
Of course that was not my mission, but if it happens accidentally,
that's all good. Right. Onlyyou can take care of do you hear
some of the names that she's servingfrom Wolffish absolutely mean, Danielle Blue.

(34:17):
I mean, there were some bigguys and you do. Bobby Flay,
Yeah good. I never liked himnow he's a little obnoxious, overly confident.
Am I making that up? I'mjust saying, I'm only kidding,
Okay. Gift cards. Holiday seasonis coming JP Sonia. What's up with
a gift cards? Absolutely so.Gift cards are available both on our website,

(34:37):
Sonyo Italian dot com or in store. You can get them anytime during
the day. We're open seven daysa week, launching dinner, feel free
to stop in. We deliver themin a nice gift box. So if
you're looking for a nice last minutegift, it's a great pickup. Or
if you just want to send somethingout quickly, feel free to jump on
our website. We'll send out ane gift card for you. Now.

(34:59):
If people are Minnesonia, we talkedabout the bar earlier, can you make
a reservation for the bar? Ialways wonder that, see right away,
it's no technically, first come,first serve, First come, first serve,
and usually we'll always have a seat. Forty bills are usually two or
three deep at the bar, dependingon the night. But the bar is
a hotspot. As you mentioned,a lot of people come in for reservations

(35:20):
and do end up at the barmh. Just because of the atmosphere at
the bar, or you know,we have events that come in, so
they may be headed to a localcharity event or something short and first thing
you know, you know, thebar is pretty full and then there's thirty
forty people standing two rows deep.Yeah, it never fails. If you're
looking to sit at the bar andthere are no seats, you just stand
have a cocktail. Chances are ourseats you're going to open up all the

(35:43):
time. It never fails. There'salways somebody coming and going. Oftentimes we
have people that come in for areservation. They'll grab a drink at the
bar thirty minutes before the reservation andthen head to their table. And now,
Alicia, I'm gonna put you onthe spot. Okay, you've been
here most of your life, rightin this area for part of it.
I'm actually a return so I grewup on the nurse for it and then

(36:04):
I just moved back in twenty twenty, California. If I asked you to
name your three favorite restaurants in thearea. I get that question all the
time, so I feel, whycan't I ask it of somebody else?
What would it be? Oh,I won't in no particular order. Well,
pretend Sonyo is not here. No, no, go, you're on

(36:24):
the spot. I have to answerthis all the time. There's JP,
your lawyer, who's saying, no, you can't do this, You're going
to alienate. No, it's allabout it. We're having a conversation.
Okay, you know what, Allright, I'll give you a couple of
minutes on that. JP. Ifit's not Sonyo, where are you going

(36:45):
out to eat with your wife orgirlfriend? Or I'm in the same position
here, Billy. So I comefrom an Italian traditional family, and outside
of Sonyo, there's only one placethat I enjoy eating, and that's at
my kitchen table with my wife.Oh god, oh god, she can
cook. She can cook. Boyboy, did you just get some bonus

(37:06):
points? Huh. We only havea few minutes left to the show.
We're going to take a break.But on the other side, I've got
to get all the information again incase people are just tuning in. And
by the way, it is Foodfor Thought. But I want to know
websites how far in advance they needto order, whether it's Wolffish or Sonyo
restaurant in terms of making reservations,because and we'll go over that one more
time between Thanksgiving, which is justdays away now, and then we come

(37:30):
up on Christmas Eve and Christmas Dayand New Year's Eve and New Year's Day,
and you have a lot going onat Sonyo as well as Wolffish.
So we're going to take a break. We've got a few minutes left.
Right after the break, you're listeningto Food for Thought, brought to you
by the Box Center and Sale inWaterfront Hotel in sweets. Hey, folks,
welcome back to Fruit for Thought.Just a few minutes left to the

(37:51):
show. We're having a lot offun, you know, I kid,
I make jokes occasionally and sometimes theyjust fall flat. But that's okay.
We've got JP here from Sonyo andwe've got Alisha here from a Wolf's Fish.
Okay, JP, a lot goingon. Let's start with Thanksgiving.
If people want to have somebody elsedo all the work and they want to
come out and have a Thanksgiving meal, what's happening how do they do that.

(38:12):
That's the experience. So if you'restill looking for a reservation, get
it in, give us a callor visit our website so on youo Italian
dot com. You can make thaton open table as well. We've got
a special menu in addition to ourregular menu. We're looking at a pretty
full house, but we do stillhave some space, so if you'd like
to get it in, come joinus, please do so. Although we
are an Italian restaurant, we willhave turkey on there. There you go.

(38:35):
You know, I say to mywife every year, she's a wonderful
cook. She loves to cook forThanksgiving. And you know what I'm saying.
They always like a couple of weeksbefore the holiday. No, I'm
going to cook. I love tocook. As soon as Thanksgiving comes,
they're all aggravated. I can't believewe've got people coming over. You have
to do this and everybody gets tenseand cranky. But I would love to
just come out for dinner. Idid it one year and it was fabulous.

(38:58):
You get a chance at some wonderfulfood. You know, we're doing
the traditional American fair as well asthe regular menu. We do have a
twist. We've got a porketta.So if you want to spin towards Italian
on the Turkey experience, you cando that. But it's a it's a
great menu with a pumpkin cake fordessert. Enjoy that or enjoy your regular
favorite. Okay, So make yourplans for Thanksgiving. Now you've got a
Santa's Brunch December tenth, we do. We've got a brunch starting at eleven

(39:22):
am. We're gonna have Santa inthe house, photographer in the house.
It'll be great experience for people tobring their families, visit with grandparents,
take a picture with Santa, findout whether you're on the nice of the
naughty list. There you go,and Christmas Eve you're doing dinner. And
that makes so much sense because alot of people are confused sometimes what do
we do on Christmas Eve? What'sgoing on Christmas Eve? So for the

(39:44):
Italian experience, Christmas Eve is thebig night. You're doing the Seven Fishes.
We've got a special menu with Ibelieve eight total fish. Oh one
more than seven. Well, youknow everybody else you go to eight.
Yeah, so we're sure it'll benine. Well, at a certain point
in time, I'm gonna have toconnect and we're gonna have to get them
some additional options. Yeah, butyeah, we've got a great special menu

(40:06):
again in addition to the regular menu. So get those reservations in as well.
New Year's Eve happening again. NewYear's Eve party is off again.
We expect a full house as wedid last year. Lots of champagne,
clinking and glasses, everybody having agood time. New Year's Day, you're
doing a brunch, we are.We're doing a brunch this year, so
we're going to be opening a littlebit early. We're gonna open eleven o'clock
and do a true brunch little Hairof a Dog, a lot of breakfast

(40:29):
options, you know, in additionto our lunch menu, so it'll be
a good time. Website quickly websiteSono Italian dot com s O g n
O. All right, Alicia,Wolves Fish. If people want to make
plans, they want to order alltheir seafood in advance, what's the best
rest road to take? They cango online right now wolvesfish dot com shop

(40:50):
our full range there. People aredefinitely ordering for Thanksgiving now. The fish
is all super frozen in house,so we're handcutting it and super freezing at
ourselves, so it's going to keepperfectly in your refrigerator. Have to worry
about rushing out at the last minutefor the seafood you want, you can
have it in the freezer. No, it's going to be there, you
know, take that one piece ofstress out, so you know. Ordering
for Thanksgiving now, whether they're havingpescatarian guests or looking for seafood appetizers the

(41:15):
shrimp Cocktails and high wolfsfish dot Com, and I've got to ask if for
the holiday they're planning to entertain athome and they want to have the seven
fishes. I know that's grammatically incorrect, but that's the way I say.
Live with it. Okay, canyou get all the seven fishes? Absolutely
well. We have at least fiftyplus items for sale on our site at

(41:36):
any time, so you can reallymix and match and find things that are
so more complicated. If you're reallygoing to cook seven at home, you're
going to want a few that arereally fast and easy. And we even
have caviars so you can get anextra fish there just by Okay, caviar
Wolf's fish legend. Did I mentionone hundred years in the business and also
Sonyo in. We'll been great tohave you guys. Thank you so much

(41:59):
for coming by. We got togo, but you know what up next. Sixty minutes