May 2, 2025 • 20 mins
Blu Fresh Fish Marketplace has transformed the culinary landscape of Arkansas, proving that exceptional seafood can thrive even in a landlocked state.
Join us as we talk to the owner of Blu—the visionary behind the establishment that's earned prestigious titles like "The Best Seafood in Arkansas" and "The Best Lobster Roll in Arkansas."
We'll dive into how their direct relationships with fishermen allow them to maintain remarkable freshness hundreds of miles from the ocean, their passionate commitment to quality seafood, and how they've overcome the geographical challenges of operating in a landlocked town. Plus, get an exclusive preview of their exciting new venture—Wu Zhou, an authentic Chinese restaurant coming to Downtown Bentonville where the Wolf of Wok Street or @DimSimLim and Catherine Zhang will be serving traditional dim sum and wok specialties.
Find out more about Blu Fresh Fish Marketplace here: https://blubentonville.com/
A New American Town is here to help you plan your trip to Bentonville, Arkansas. From guides, events, and restaurant highlights. Find all this and more at visitbentonville.com and subscribe to our newsletter. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, and LinkedIn.
You can listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, CastBox, Podcast Casts, Google Podcasts, iHeartRadio, and Podcast Addict.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Natalie Stika (00:10):
When you think of fresh seafood, your mind
probably doesn't go straight toNorthwest Arkansas, but this
Bentonville restaurant is amajor player in changing that.
In this episode, we're sittingdown with the owner of Blue
Fresh Fish Marketplace, a localfavorite that has earned
statewide and national praise,being recognized as best seafood
in Arkansas and even the bestlobster roll in the state.
(00:33):
We'll talk about how Bluebrings coastal quality to a
landlocked town and what goesinto sourcing their incredible
menu, and why people across theregion and beyond keep coming
back.
Whether you're a seafood lover,a sushi snob or just planning
your next meal in Bentonville,this one's for you.
Folks, we had some technicaldifficulties while we were
(00:54):
recording this conversationtoday, so please enjoy it.
In a remote location, Audiomight sound different, but we're
so excited to welcome BarryFurseth from Blue Fish House.
He's a major fishmonger in ourcity and I'm Natalie with Visit
Bentonville.
Today, I'm joined withfishmonger Barry Furseth with
Blue Fresh Fish Marketplace.
(01:15):
Thank you so much for joiningus.
Barry Furuseth (01:17):
Oh, you're welcome.
Thank you for having me.
Natalie Stika (01:19):
So, first off, I wanted to just start by asking
you where are you from and howdid you get into fish?
Barry Furuseth (01:26):
Well, I'm originally from northern
Minnesota we come from.
I was born and raised on asmall Indian reservation,
chippewa, from the Ojibwe Nation.
So my mom and dad moved usthere.
My dad was superintendent ofthe five schools.
My mom's a first grade teacher,but originally my dad's family,
both of them came from northernScandinavia, my dad's
(01:49):
full-blooded Norwegian, so wecome from a long history of
people of the sea fishermen.
So I think maybe my DNA it'show it's been there.
That's awesome.
Natalie Stika (02:02):
A lot of restaurants like to claim that
they're the best at what they do.
You probably know that, but youactually are able to claim that
you're the best.
You've had so many recognitionsand awards.
Could you name all of them?
Barry Furuseth (02:16):
for us lot I think.
But the recognition I thinkcomes from the American boaters.
You know we've had, I've had along relationship with a lot of
boaters from both coasts theGulf, maine, boston and also
(02:42):
Canada up into the Nova Scotiaareas.
That's sort of what we builtour business on and that is
strong relationships with theboaters.
Natalie Stika (02:45):
Wow, yeah, that was going to be my next question
, Like how do you have suchrenowned seafood in Fentonville?
Barry Furuseth (02:58):
I guess it kind of came easy for me because when
I first moved from Minnesota toSan Francisco, where I started
selling fish from the boats along time ago, both coasts
Seattle and Boston butlogistically when we were buying
from the boats I was shippingthroughout the United States,
whether it be Ohio, kansas,kentucky.
So logistic-wise we were ableto take it out of the water and
(03:22):
get it to these remote areas.
And when we moved to tobentonville area, as long as I
had an airport, uh, we were ableto bring fish in.
And that was that was over 15years ago.
Blue opened its doors 11 yearsago and some of the same
suppliers, most of the samesuppliers I had on the coast,
(03:43):
started shipping fish to Exaday.
Wow.
Natalie Stika (03:47):
Wow, what inspired you to open one here in
town.
Barry Furuseth (03:53):
After living, you know, growing up in a very
small town in northern Minnesotaand my wife from South America,
we probably you know the bigcity kind of as far as when we
started having kids education Ithink was a big thing.
We didn't want to bring them upin such, you know, big towns.
(04:15):
The school systems out here atthe time we moved out here were
some of the best in nations, sowe just wanted to move to a
smaller area.
Natalie Stika (04:25):
Yeah, yeah, Bentonville is so fond of blue.
Not only Bentonville, but everyneighboring town, obviously
nationwide and statewide as well.
How would you describe it tosomeone who's never been?
Barry Furuseth (04:41):
I think you know when you walk into the, we're
not fancy.
Obviously, when you go intoblue you'll see that it used to
be an old garage.
I think the most importantthing is we've grown slowly over
the last years on people whoreally enjoy great seafood.
But you know, on a daily basisTuesdays, thursdays, fridays we
(05:03):
bring in shipments from bothcoasts.
So you're getting bluefin tunafrom Boston, you're getting
salmon from the West Coast.
East Coast we bring in salmonout of Iceland.
So when you walk through thedoors, whether you're in New
York, miami, seattle or whereveryou want to pick, you're
getting incredible seafood, justlike you were on the coast,
(05:26):
most of it like.
Just take, for instance, ourscallops I bring out of Portland
, maine.
These are dayboat scallops thatgo out.
The dayboat means these aresmall boats that go out.
They get the scallop, theyshuck them and then they ship
them to northwest Arkansas.
So you're actually getting ascallop that was brought out of
the water, shucked the daybefore.
Natalie Stika (05:51):
It doesn't get better than that.
It doesn't.
I love that.
So the amazing part about Bluehere is that you serve food.
You make amazing seafood, youmake amazing everything, but you
also have the whole half.
That is the fresh fishmarketplace.
Tell me more about that.
Was that originally the conceptor was the restaurant in first?
Barry Furuseth (06:14):
Nope, that was the original concept Coming from
the world of wholesaling freshfish.
The original concept was tocome out here and for me to just
starting, you know, bringingfish from the boats to sell
wholesale.
At the time, though, when wemoved out here 14 years ago,
there really wasn't a big enoughmarket for that, and so, when
(06:36):
we opened up the market first,that's what we were going to do,
and, seeing that the businessat that time there just wasn't
enough, then we opened up therestaurant, and that was a big
changer.
So we're able to bring in freshfish, move it in the restaurant
.
What you see in our retailcounters is always moving.
(07:00):
That's one of the things thatmakes Blue so successful is
we'll bring in fish, we'll stickit in the retail market, and
because, as the restaurant hasbecome more successful over the
years, we're moving thousands ofpounds of fish each and every
other day, that fish is alwaysfresh yeah, yeah, you can.
Natalie Stika (07:22):
You can tell, whenever you eat it and whenever
you buy fish, what's yourfavorite one that you guys sell
I've got a lot of different fishthat that I like personally.
Barry Furuseth (07:31):
Um, you know well, I like more of a fatty
fish.
So we've got Florida grouper.
One of my favorite fish isamberjack, which is yellowtail.
We get that out of the coast ofFlorida and the Carolinas, but
we also bring in from Iceland.
I bring in some of the bestsalmon in the world.
Natalie Stika (07:50):
If we have visitors coming that can't take
fish back home, what would beyour can't-miss dish?
Barry Furuseth (07:57):
I mean we bring in also.
A lot of our sales are from theGulf shrimp.
So we're bringing in and thisis a stat 92% of all shrimp
that's coming into the UnitedStates was farm-raised from
China, thailand, india, allthese different places.
Since we've opened up, we'vehad a relationship with boaters
(08:20):
on the Gulf.
We recently have a relationship, a partnership, with Dominic's
in the Gulf.
He's got eight boats.
He's one of the only boats downthere that has a complete
chem-free product.
So we're bringing thisincredible Gulf shrimp some of
the best shrimp in the world,all chem-free to northwest
(08:42):
Arkansas.
When you eat this shrimp, youwill know, you will see the big
difference right away.
Natalie Stika (08:48):
Wow, yeah, I've had friends that have raved
about this shrimp, so that makesso much sense.
My first shrimp was from theGulf of Mexico, and every shrimp
I've had after that is not thesame.
Barry Furuseth (08:58):
But we have shrimp all over the menu.
We have shrimp and grist shrimp, shrimp bowls, cocktail shrimp,
spicy shrimp.
Natalie Stika (09:05):
You sound like Forrest Gump now.
Barry Furuseth (09:06):
Yeah, well, here you go.
But just when you bite into ourshrimp, it'll have this crunch
to it and you'll see thedifference immediately.
This is some of the best shrimpin the world.
Natalie Stika (09:20):
Are there any other hidden gems on the menu
that our visitors should knowabout?
Barry Furuseth (09:24):
One of the hidden gems is when you come
into Blue and you see in thisother half of the garage, other
half of the garage you're goingto go in and our sushi chefs our
main one executive sushi chefAbraham has been doing this for
over 20 years.
He is one of the best sushichefs in the nation.
(09:48):
Mandy is our other sushi chefover at DTR.
I've got to talk a little bitabout DTR.
It's in downtown Rogers, butMandy is incredible, and so one
of the things is, you wouldn'texpect it, but when you come in
to Blue and you go to the leftand you get the sushi, we've got
(10:09):
bluefin tuna coming in fromBoston, we've got toro, we've
got dayboat scallops, I've gothamachi in from Japan, we've got
caviar.
Natalie Stika (10:19):
So it's pretty incredible.
Really extensive Backtrackingyou were talking about when you
first walk in.
The vibe is just my favorite.
I mean, the food is obviouslyincredible, but I love that when
you walk in, you walk into thisgreenhouse of sorts outside and
you feel like you're in atropical oasis.
(10:40):
And then you walk in and to theright you see the whole fresh
fish marketplace and to the leftyou see a sushi counter and all
these bustling tables and itreally is such an experience.
It transports you out ofdowntown Bentonville.
It's so special.
Barry Furuseth (10:56):
One of the things that I wanted to create.
The other thing is this I'm abig gardener, so that's one of
my passions is flowers and trees, but we've created a whole
marina.
When you come down that block,you're driving, you're going to
see palm trees, you're going tosee rope from the big boats that
are coming in.
We've created this whole marinaatmosphere From the minute you
(11:17):
come into the parking lot.
When you walk in, you'll seethe fish on the walls, You'll
smell that fresh marina, smellthe lobster tanks.
I'm probably one of the onlycrazy people that has lobster
tanks in the middle of theirdining room to the right.
We go through about 300 to 400live lobsters a week and one of
(11:38):
the things that you're going toprobably ask me is about we were
just rated in Yelp the numberone the seafood restaurant in
Arkansas, but they also rated usthe number one lobster rule in
the state of Arkansas.
I would probably say we have oneof the best lobster rolls in
the nation and I tell you whatmakes a great lobster roll.
In the state of Arkansas, Iwould probably say we have one
of the best lobster rolls in thenation and I tell you what
makes a great lobster roll is wehave live lobsters, we have
(12:00):
steamers that we bring in thatlive lobster, we stick it in the
steamer, take it out, chop upthat lobster right there, and
then we also have fresh breadthat we make every single day.
So when you take that freshbread, open it up, you put that
fresh steamed lobster thatminutes ago was live, you put
that in that bun.
We toast both sides so you geta crunch when you, when you bite
(12:23):
into it and it is, like I said,one of the best lobster rolls
you'll ever eat I'm so hungry.
Natalie Stika (12:31):
How did you guys go about getting those
recognitions?
Barry Furuseth (12:33):
I mean, tell me more well, I just, you know, I
think, I think it's, it's, it'sall about delivery.
Um, your seafood lovers, yourpeople who are really passionate
about seafood, um, they, they,they know, they know great
seafood.
You can't fool them, and sowhen you're bringing this stuff
out of the water, you're cookingit right there.
Um, it's, it's, it's the is thereason why we would get that
(12:57):
praise.
So it's not because we have abrand new building or everything
is perfect.
It's not You're walking into agarage, but one thing that
you're going to get when youcome into Blue Fresh Fish
Marketplace you're going to getthe best, freshest seafood in
the nation.
Natalie Stika (13:11):
Yeah, what was it like when you saw that article
for the first time?
The best seafood in Arkansas.
Barry Furuseth (13:17):
You know what I thought it was great.
You know, I've had 15 of ouremployees for the last eight
years.
I think that the recognitionthat we get a lot of it is from
a team of people that have beencooking great seafood for a long
time great seafood for a longtime.
And the other thing, theboaters.
Believe it or not.
Dave Hopkins and these peopleMark Ring from Gloucester
(13:41):
Massachusetts, gloucester Boston.
Natalie Stika (13:49):
I send them these articles and the boaters are
extremely excited when they seethis stuff because they work
their butt off.
Yeah, that's so good.
Are there any new dishes orseasonal specials that we should
know about?
Barry Furuseth (14:00):
We try to seasonally.
Especially when you're in theseafood business, there's a lot
of seasonal things that come in.
Some of the areas that we bringin product from are not always
the fishermen can't go out.
I bring a lot of stuff out ofNorthern Nova Scotia, the Arctic
.
When you think of, well,there's an area that I love
bringing seafood, the fishermencan't go out, I bring a lot of
stuff out of northern NovaScotia, the Arctic.
(14:20):
When you think of, well,there's an area that I love
bringing seafood, it's calledthe Bay of Fundy, which has the
highest tide changes in theworld.
If you've ever been there, it's25 feet a day.
It's incredible.
But what comes from thesewaters, these rich Arctic waters
that come down south into NovaScotia, into Maine, the Gulf of
Maine is extremely rich watersfull of plankton, zoo, plankton,
(14:41):
live water that's crystal clear, and what your mussels, your
clams, your oysters, yourbivalves, your scallops that
come from these regions areabsolutely incredible.
You will taste the differencethe difference.
Natalie Stika (14:57):
Yeah, that's so cool.
You really bring seafood fromthe world right here to
bentonville.
Wow, that's so special.
Barry Furuseth (15:05):
I think there's another, you know, like with
with squid.
Where does some of the bestsquid comes from?
You know we bring squid againout of the southern region of
the antarctic.
Uh, there's the falklandislands that produce some of
that.
They get those northernantarctic uh waters, but our
squid is just.
You'll taste the differencewhen you have our calamari, our
(15:27):
stuffed squid.
You'll taste the differenceyeah, uh.
Natalie Stika (15:32):
well, if our listeners don't know yet, you
have have another restaurantyou're opening in downtown
Bentonville called Wu Zhao.
That's right, and we can expectsome really good seafood there
as well.
Barry Furuseth (15:47):
Yeah, some of our dishes are seafood
influenced, so you're going toget.
You know, wu Zhao obviously thename is Chinese.
When I moved to San Franciscoand started selling fish in my
early days, I fell in love withincredible Chinese food.
It was always a you know,that's my favorite.
But when the opportunity came upas a lot of your listeners will
(16:13):
know, as Bentonville explodes,there's certain things that we
kind of can fill that thosedoors.
One of them is the Chinese food.
We also have dim sum.
So along with this great youknow when you look at place and
time the Chinese, the dim sum Ialso brought in one of the top
(16:35):
chefs in the world.
He'll be one of the firstcelebrity chefs to come to town.
He's the wolf of Walk Street.
What he does on the walks isjust mind-blowing.
So he's going to be behind theculinary and we actually got a
two-for-one.
So his partner is CatherineZhang, who won Netflix Desserts.
(16:55):
She was the youngest person towin Netflix desserts, at 19
years old.
The desserts that she createsin her brain are mind-boggling.
So we're going to haveincredible Chinese food.
Our dessert menu will be offthe charts, but we're also doing
handmade dimsums, which youdon't see a lot in mid-America
(17:17):
If you go to the coast.
It's really really popularright now and will continue to
be, but we have, along with ourtwo sushi stations up there,
we'll also be doing handmadedimsums daily, putting into
these steamers.
It's going to be really special.
So when you walk through thesedoors, we're at Northwest A
(17:38):
Street, just off the BentonvilleSquare.
We have a ton of parking overthere, but it's going to be your
Asian experience.
Natalie Stika (17:46):
Yeah, I'm so excited.
Barry Furuseth (17:48):
Probably mid-May we'll be opening that up.
I'm excited.
Natalie Stika (17:51):
Yeah, it's going to be epic.
Barry Furuseth (17:54):
A lot of our dishes that will be inspired by
the chef do have seafood in themor seafood.
There'll be quite a bit.
Natalie Stika (18:02):
That's great.
That's awesome, like ourdumplings.
Barry Furuseth (18:04):
We have shrimp dumplings, wild shrimp dumplings
, wow, things like that Wow.
Natalie Stika (18:09):
Well, one thing I always like to ask our guests
what's on your Bentonvillebucket list and I assume you've
already done a lot of things,but if you had friends or family
in town, what should be ontheir bucket list?
Barry Furuseth (18:21):
Well, I think the number one thing when you
come to Bentonville you know,along with some great
restaurants, our restaurantscene right now going in
northwest Arkansas not just BlueFresh Fish Marketplace, not
just Wu Zhao, but we've got someextraordinary restaurants
coming in.
You know the restaurant sceneis pretty great.
(18:44):
But obviously you know when youlook at what we have to do with
our biking community.
It's some of the best in thenation.
You go out to the Ozarks, yougo to these bike trails if you
get a chance to, there'shundreds and hundreds of miles
of bike trails if you don't wantto be that adventurous.
We've got amazing.
You've got Crystal Bridges.
Of course, that's the big onethat everybody usually comes
(19:06):
here for.
We've got the Momentary.
The Momentary what's theheadband over?
We're across the street fromthe Momentary so we get most of
their staff over at Blue.
But the lineup of what momentaryhas for this summer is crazy.
The groups that they havecoming in.
A lot of this stuff is free,but if not, I know that it's a
(19:30):
very minimal charge to become amember of the momentary and you
get to experience all of thesefestivals, all of these groups
that are coming in, but there'sjust so much that northwest
arkansas has to offer right now.
A lot of people don't eventhink if you, if you're, if you
love the lake, we've got beaverlake.
Beaver lake is one of thecleanest lakes in the nation.
(19:51):
It's huge, it's monstrous, butit's our drinking water, and
what they've done to keep thatwater clean is it's just.
This is you can almost drinkthis water.
In fact we do.
It's our drinking water, but itis.
Natalie Stika (20:02):
It is an amazing lake as far as recreation goes
yeah, uh, if you're ever over atthe momentary, don't get to
stop at blue in between.
Well, we get most of them ohgood well, thank you so much for
joining us.
Barry Furuseth (20:21):
It was good um exciting time to be in
Bentonville yeah, it is.
Natalie Stika (20:26):
Uh, don't forget.
Visit Bentonville is here tohelp you navigate things to do,
where to eat and stay and what'sgoing on in our new American
town.
Check out the show notes.
To follow us on social, sign upfor our newsletter and check
out our website atvisitbentonvillecom.
Thanks for listening.
When you think of fresh seafood, your mind
probably doesn't go straight toNorthwest Arkansas, but this
Bentonville restaurant is amajor player in changing that.
In this episode, we're sittingdown with the owner of Blue
Fresh Fish Marketplace, a localfavorite that has earned
statewide and national praise,being recognized as best seafood
in Arkansas and even the bestlobster roll in the state.
(00:33):
We'll talk about how Bluebrings coastal quality to a
landlocked town and what goesinto sourcing their incredible
menu, and why people across theregion and beyond keep coming
back.
Whether you're a seafood lover,a sushi snob or just planning
your next meal in Bentonville,this one's for you.
Folks, we had some technicaldifficulties while we were
(00:54):
recording this conversationtoday, so please enjoy it.
In a remote location, Audiomight sound different, but we're
so excited to welcome BarryFurseth from Blue Fish House.
He's a major fishmonger in ourcity and I'm Natalie with Visit
Bentonville.
Today, I'm joined withfishmonger Barry Furseth with
Blue Fresh Fish Marketplace.
(01:15):
Thank you so much for joiningus.
Barry Furuseth (01:17):
Oh, you're welcome.
Thank you for having me.
Natalie Stika (01:19):
So, first off, I wanted to just start by asking
you where are you from and howdid you get into fish?
Barry Furuseth (01:26):
Well, I'm originally from northern
Minnesota we come from.
I was born and raised on asmall Indian reservation,
chippewa, from the Ojibwe Nation.
So my mom and dad moved usthere.
My dad was superintendent ofthe five schools.
My mom's a first grade teacher,but originally my dad's family,
both of them came from northernScandinavia, my dad's
(01:49):
full-blooded Norwegian, so wecome from a long history of
people of the sea fishermen.
So I think maybe my DNA it'show it's been there.
That's awesome.
Natalie Stika (02:02):
A lot of restaurants like to claim that
they're the best at what they do.
You probably know that, but youactually are able to claim that
you're the best.
You've had so many recognitionsand awards.
Could you name all of them?
Barry Furuseth (02:16):
for us lot I think.
But the recognition I thinkcomes from the American boaters.
You know we've had, I've had along relationship with a lot of
boaters from both coasts theGulf, maine, boston and also
(02:42):
Canada up into the Nova Scotiaareas.
That's sort of what we builtour business on and that is
strong relationships with theboaters.
Natalie Stika (02:45):
Wow, yeah, that was going to be my next question
, Like how do you have suchrenowned seafood in Fentonville?
Barry Furuseth (02:58):
I guess it kind of came easy for me because when
I first moved from Minnesota toSan Francisco, where I started
selling fish from the boats along time ago, both coasts
Seattle and Boston butlogistically when we were buying
from the boats I was shippingthroughout the United States,
whether it be Ohio, kansas,kentucky.
So logistic-wise we were ableto take it out of the water and
(03:22):
get it to these remote areas.
And when we moved to tobentonville area, as long as I
had an airport, uh, we were ableto bring fish in.
And that was that was over 15years ago.
Blue opened its doors 11 yearsago and some of the same
suppliers, most of the samesuppliers I had on the coast,
(03:43):
started shipping fish to Exaday.
Wow.
Natalie Stika (03:47):
Wow, what inspired you to open one here in
town.
Barry Furuseth (03:53):
After living, you know, growing up in a very
small town in northern Minnesotaand my wife from South America,
we probably you know the bigcity kind of as far as when we
started having kids education Ithink was a big thing.
We didn't want to bring them upin such, you know, big towns.
(04:15):
The school systems out here atthe time we moved out here were
some of the best in nations, sowe just wanted to move to a
smaller area.
Natalie Stika (04:25):
Yeah, yeah, Bentonville is so fond of blue.
Not only Bentonville, but everyneighboring town, obviously
nationwide and statewide as well.
How would you describe it tosomeone who's never been?
Barry Furuseth (04:41):
I think you know when you walk into the, we're
not fancy.
Obviously, when you go intoblue you'll see that it used to
be an old garage.
I think the most importantthing is we've grown slowly over
the last years on people whoreally enjoy great seafood.
But you know, on a daily basisTuesdays, thursdays, fridays we
(05:03):
bring in shipments from bothcoasts.
So you're getting bluefin tunafrom Boston, you're getting
salmon from the West Coast.
East Coast we bring in salmonout of Iceland.
So when you walk through thedoors, whether you're in New
York, miami, seattle or whereveryou want to pick, you're
getting incredible seafood, justlike you were on the coast,
(05:26):
most of it like.
Just take, for instance, ourscallops I bring out of Portland
, maine.
These are dayboat scallops thatgo out.
The dayboat means these aresmall boats that go out.
They get the scallop, theyshuck them and then they ship
them to northwest Arkansas.
So you're actually getting ascallop that was brought out of
the water, shucked the daybefore.
Natalie Stika (05:51):
It doesn't get better than that.
It doesn't.
I love that.
So the amazing part about Bluehere is that you serve food.
You make amazing seafood, youmake amazing everything, but you
also have the whole half.
That is the fresh fishmarketplace.
Tell me more about that.
Was that originally the conceptor was the restaurant in first?
Barry Furuseth (06:14):
Nope, that was the original concept Coming from
the world of wholesaling freshfish.
The original concept was tocome out here and for me to just
starting, you know, bringingfish from the boats to sell
wholesale.
At the time, though, when wemoved out here 14 years ago,
there really wasn't a big enoughmarket for that, and so, when
(06:36):
we opened up the market first,that's what we were going to do,
and, seeing that the businessat that time there just wasn't
enough, then we opened up therestaurant, and that was a big
changer.
So we're able to bring in freshfish, move it in the restaurant
.
What you see in our retailcounters is always moving.
(07:00):
That's one of the things thatmakes Blue so successful is
we'll bring in fish, we'll stickit in the retail market, and
because, as the restaurant hasbecome more successful over the
years, we're moving thousands ofpounds of fish each and every
other day, that fish is alwaysfresh yeah, yeah, you can.
Natalie Stika (07:22):
You can tell, whenever you eat it and whenever
you buy fish, what's yourfavorite one that you guys sell
I've got a lot of different fishthat that I like personally.
Barry Furuseth (07:31):
Um, you know well, I like more of a fatty
fish.
So we've got Florida grouper.
One of my favorite fish isamberjack, which is yellowtail.
We get that out of the coast ofFlorida and the Carolinas, but
we also bring in from Iceland.
I bring in some of the bestsalmon in the world.
Natalie Stika (07:50):
If we have visitors coming that can't take
fish back home, what would beyour can't-miss dish?
Barry Furuseth (07:57):
I mean we bring in also.
A lot of our sales are from theGulf shrimp.
So we're bringing in and thisis a stat 92% of all shrimp
that's coming into the UnitedStates was farm-raised from
China, thailand, india, allthese different places.
Since we've opened up, we'vehad a relationship with boaters
(08:20):
on the Gulf.
We recently have a relationship, a partnership, with Dominic's
in the Gulf.
He's got eight boats.
He's one of the only boats downthere that has a complete
chem-free product.
So we're bringing thisincredible Gulf shrimp some of
the best shrimp in the world,all chem-free to northwest
(08:42):
Arkansas.
When you eat this shrimp, youwill know, you will see the big
difference right away.
Natalie Stika (08:48):
Wow, yeah, I've had friends that have raved
about this shrimp, so that makesso much sense.
My first shrimp was from theGulf of Mexico, and every shrimp
I've had after that is not thesame.
Barry Furuseth (08:58):
But we have shrimp all over the menu.
We have shrimp and grist shrimp, shrimp bowls, cocktail shrimp,
spicy shrimp.
Natalie Stika (09:05):
You sound like Forrest Gump now.
Barry Furuseth (09:06):
Yeah, well, here you go.
But just when you bite into ourshrimp, it'll have this crunch
to it and you'll see thedifference immediately.
This is some of the best shrimpin the world.
Natalie Stika (09:20):
Are there any other hidden gems on the menu
that our visitors should knowabout?
Barry Furuseth (09:24):
One of the hidden gems is when you come
into Blue and you see in thisother half of the garage, other
half of the garage you're goingto go in and our sushi chefs our
main one executive sushi chefAbraham has been doing this for
over 20 years.
He is one of the best sushichefs in the nation.
(09:48):
Mandy is our other sushi chefover at DTR.
I've got to talk a little bitabout DTR.
It's in downtown Rogers, butMandy is incredible, and so one
of the things is, you wouldn'texpect it, but when you come in
to Blue and you go to the leftand you get the sushi, we've got
(10:09):
bluefin tuna coming in fromBoston, we've got toro, we've
got dayboat scallops, I've gothamachi in from Japan, we've got
caviar.
Natalie Stika (10:19):
So it's pretty incredible.
Really extensive Backtrackingyou were talking about when you
first walk in.
The vibe is just my favorite.
I mean, the food is obviouslyincredible, but I love that when
you walk in, you walk into thisgreenhouse of sorts outside and
you feel like you're in atropical oasis.
(10:40):
And then you walk in and to theright you see the whole fresh
fish marketplace and to the leftyou see a sushi counter and all
these bustling tables and itreally is such an experience.
It transports you out ofdowntown Bentonville.
It's so special.
Barry Furuseth (10:56):
One of the things that I wanted to create.
The other thing is this I'm abig gardener, so that's one of
my passions is flowers and trees, but we've created a whole
marina.
When you come down that block,you're driving, you're going to
see palm trees, you're going tosee rope from the big boats that
are coming in.
We've created this whole marinaatmosphere From the minute you
(11:17):
come into the parking lot.
When you walk in, you'll seethe fish on the walls, You'll
smell that fresh marina, smellthe lobster tanks.
I'm probably one of the onlycrazy people that has lobster
tanks in the middle of theirdining room to the right.
We go through about 300 to 400live lobsters a week and one of
(11:38):
the things that you're going toprobably ask me is about we were
just rated in Yelp the numberone the seafood restaurant in
Arkansas, but they also rated usthe number one lobster rule in
the state of Arkansas.
I would probably say we have oneof the best lobster rolls in
the nation and I tell you whatmakes a great lobster roll.
In the state of Arkansas, Iwould probably say we have one
of the best lobster rolls in thenation and I tell you what
makes a great lobster roll is wehave live lobsters, we have
(12:00):
steamers that we bring in thatlive lobster, we stick it in the
steamer, take it out, chop upthat lobster right there, and
then we also have fresh breadthat we make every single day.
So when you take that freshbread, open it up, you put that
fresh steamed lobster thatminutes ago was live, you put
that in that bun.
We toast both sides so you geta crunch when you, when you bite
(12:23):
into it and it is, like I said,one of the best lobster rolls
you'll ever eat I'm so hungry.
Natalie Stika (12:31):
How did you guys go about getting those
recognitions?
Barry Furuseth (12:33):
I mean, tell me more well, I just, you know, I
think, I think it's, it's, it'sall about delivery.
Um, your seafood lovers, yourpeople who are really passionate
about seafood, um, they, they,they know, they know great
seafood.
You can't fool them, and sowhen you're bringing this stuff
out of the water, you're cookingit right there.
Um, it's, it's, it's the is thereason why we would get that
(12:57):
praise.
So it's not because we have abrand new building or everything
is perfect.
It's not You're walking into agarage, but one thing that
you're going to get when youcome into Blue Fresh Fish
Marketplace you're going to getthe best, freshest seafood in
the nation.
Natalie Stika (13:11):
Yeah, what was it like when you saw that article
for the first time?
The best seafood in Arkansas.
Barry Furuseth (13:17):
You know what I thought it was great.
You know, I've had 15 of ouremployees for the last eight
years.
I think that the recognitionthat we get a lot of it is from
a team of people that have beencooking great seafood for a long
time great seafood for a longtime.
And the other thing, theboaters.
Believe it or not.
Dave Hopkins and these peopleMark Ring from Gloucester
(13:41):
Massachusetts, gloucester Boston.
Natalie Stika (13:49):
I send them these articles and the boaters are
extremely excited when they seethis stuff because they work
their butt off.
Yeah, that's so good.
Are there any new dishes orseasonal specials that we should
know about?
Barry Furuseth (14:00):
We try to seasonally.
Especially when you're in theseafood business, there's a lot
of seasonal things that come in.
Some of the areas that we bringin product from are not always
the fishermen can't go out.
I bring a lot of stuff out ofNorthern Nova Scotia, the Arctic
.
When you think of, well,there's an area that I love
bringing seafood, the fishermencan't go out, I bring a lot of
stuff out of northern NovaScotia, the Arctic.
(14:20):
When you think of, well,there's an area that I love
bringing seafood, it's calledthe Bay of Fundy, which has the
highest tide changes in theworld.
If you've ever been there, it's25 feet a day.
It's incredible.
But what comes from thesewaters, these rich Arctic waters
that come down south into NovaScotia, into Maine, the Gulf of
Maine is extremely rich watersfull of plankton, zoo, plankton,
(14:41):
live water that's crystal clear, and what your mussels, your
clams, your oysters, yourbivalves, your scallops that
come from these regions areabsolutely incredible.
You will taste the differencethe difference.
Natalie Stika (14:57):
Yeah, that's so cool.
You really bring seafood fromthe world right here to
bentonville.
Wow, that's so special.
Barry Furuseth (15:05):
I think there's another, you know, like with
with squid.
Where does some of the bestsquid comes from?
You know we bring squid againout of the southern region of
the antarctic.
Uh, there's the falklandislands that produce some of
that.
They get those northernantarctic uh waters, but our
squid is just.
You'll taste the differencewhen you have our calamari, our
(15:27):
stuffed squid.
You'll taste the differenceyeah, uh.
Natalie Stika (15:32):
well, if our listeners don't know yet, you
have have another restaurantyou're opening in downtown
Bentonville called Wu Zhao.
That's right, and we can expectsome really good seafood there
as well.
Barry Furuseth (15:47):
Yeah, some of our dishes are seafood
influenced, so you're going toget.
You know, wu Zhao obviously thename is Chinese.
When I moved to San Franciscoand started selling fish in my
early days, I fell in love withincredible Chinese food.
It was always a you know,that's my favorite.
But when the opportunity came upas a lot of your listeners will
(16:13):
know, as Bentonville explodes,there's certain things that we
kind of can fill that thosedoors.
One of them is the Chinese food.
We also have dim sum.
So along with this great youknow when you look at place and
time the Chinese, the dim sum Ialso brought in one of the top
(16:35):
chefs in the world.
He'll be one of the firstcelebrity chefs to come to town.
He's the wolf of Walk Street.
What he does on the walks isjust mind-blowing.
So he's going to be behind theculinary and we actually got a
two-for-one.
So his partner is CatherineZhang, who won Netflix Desserts.
(16:55):
She was the youngest person towin Netflix desserts, at 19
years old.
The desserts that she createsin her brain are mind-boggling.
So we're going to haveincredible Chinese food.
Our dessert menu will be offthe charts, but we're also doing
handmade dimsums, which youdon't see a lot in mid-America
(17:17):
If you go to the coast.
It's really really popularright now and will continue to
be, but we have, along with ourtwo sushi stations up there,
we'll also be doing handmadedimsums daily, putting into
these steamers.
It's going to be really special.
So when you walk through thesedoors, we're at Northwest A
(17:38):
Street, just off the BentonvilleSquare.
We have a ton of parking overthere, but it's going to be your
Asian experience.
Natalie Stika (17:46):
Yeah, I'm so excited.
Barry Furuseth (17:48):
Probably mid-May we'll be opening that up.
I'm excited.
Natalie Stika (17:51):
Yeah, it's going to be epic.
Barry Furuseth (17:54):
A lot of our dishes that will be inspired by
the chef do have seafood in themor seafood.
There'll be quite a bit.
Natalie Stika (18:02):
That's great.
That's awesome, like ourdumplings.
Barry Furuseth (18:04):
We have shrimp dumplings, wild shrimp dumplings
, wow, things like that Wow.
Natalie Stika (18:09):
Well, one thing I always like to ask our guests
what's on your Bentonvillebucket list and I assume you've
already done a lot of things,but if you had friends or family
in town, what should be ontheir bucket list?
Barry Furuseth (18:21):
Well, I think the number one thing when you
come to Bentonville you know,along with some great
restaurants, our restaurantscene right now going in
northwest Arkansas not just BlueFresh Fish Marketplace, not
just Wu Zhao, but we've got someextraordinary restaurants
coming in.
You know the restaurant sceneis pretty great.
(18:44):
But obviously you know when youlook at what we have to do with
our biking community.
It's some of the best in thenation.
You go out to the Ozarks, yougo to these bike trails if you
get a chance to, there'shundreds and hundreds of miles
of bike trails if you don't wantto be that adventurous.
We've got amazing.
You've got Crystal Bridges.
Of course, that's the big onethat everybody usually comes
(19:06):
here for.
We've got the Momentary.
The Momentary what's theheadband over?
We're across the street fromthe Momentary so we get most of
their staff over at Blue.
But the lineup of what momentaryhas for this summer is crazy.
The groups that they havecoming in.
A lot of this stuff is free,but if not, I know that it's a
(19:30):
very minimal charge to become amember of the momentary and you
get to experience all of thesefestivals, all of these groups
that are coming in, but there'sjust so much that northwest
arkansas has to offer right now.
A lot of people don't eventhink if you, if you're, if you
love the lake, we've got beaverlake.
Beaver lake is one of thecleanest lakes in the nation.
(19:51):
It's huge, it's monstrous, butit's our drinking water, and
what they've done to keep thatwater clean is it's just.
This is you can almost drinkthis water.
In fact we do.
It's our drinking water, but itis.
Natalie Stika (20:02):
It is an amazing lake as far as recreation goes
yeah, uh, if you're ever over atthe momentary, don't get to
stop at blue in between.
Well, we get most of them ohgood well, thank you so much for
joining us.
Barry Furuseth (20:21):
It was good um exciting time to be in
Bentonville yeah, it is.
Natalie Stika (20:26):
Uh, don't forget.
Visit Bentonville is here tohelp you navigate things to do,
where to eat and stay and what'sgoing on in our new American
town.
Check out the show notes.
To follow us on social, sign upfor our newsletter and check
out our website atvisitbentonvillecom.
Thanks for listening.
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