It happens more than you think, basa, swai, and pangasius all get passed off as other things most notably grouper, snapper, and flounder. No restaurants are running local shrimp right now, But I guarantee you that most of them will tell you they are local. Remember if that grouper sandwich is less than $24 you’re not getting grouper! Yellowbird a.k.a. Stephen Goldfinch and myself have been working on a truth in seafood Bill, But face opposition from the people that lie and cheat the paying customers. It all comes down to the bottom line,
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PROUD YANKEE
Oyster Baron
NMFS = No More Fishing Season
“Back home we got a taxidermy man. He gonna have a heart attack when he see what I brung him”
This is exactly the point and reasoning behind restaurants mislabeling a dish. If Restaurant A had a $14 grouper sandwich and Restaurant B had a $24 grouper sandwich, which one would most folks go to? Sure, 25% of folks would ask why there is such a difference but that doesn’t mean they’re willing to pay $24.
More than likely you got swai, it’s the go to for cheap fish you can advertise as anything. As for the sizing being identical… Most imported fish filets only have a 2oz variance (3/5, 5/7, 7/9, etc…) So it very well may have been yellowfin flounder/sole/flatfish caught on the west coast, frozen whole, shipped to china, thawed, cut, refrozen and shipped back to the usa.
Remember if that grouper sandwich is less than $24 you’re not getting grouper! Yellowbird a.k.a. Stephen Goldfinch and myself have been working on a truth in seafood Bill, But face opposition from the people that lie and cheat the paying customers. It all comes down to the bottom line,
Hopefully they don’t use tilapia and jack the price up to $24 to make you think it’s grouper.
Good luck getting the bill passed, while some people don’t care what they’re eating I do.
As Sells has stated already, I would bet a large sum it was swai or pangasius which are farm raised Asian catfish. The “Truth in Seafood Act” needs to pass so this won’t happen anymore.
Yes we do, and your own post proves it. If we had the truth in seafood bill, I doubt you would have posted this in the first place.
I’d love to do a mystery taste taste and see just how many people could name what they were eating. To add some extra, it would be deep fried. I think quit a few people would be amazed how some varieties of fresh skin off, meticulously cleaned, small fillets, of some species that are considered poor table fair would be labeled delicious.
Your’e probably right, but one of them would not be tilapia! I’m all about enjoying what used to be bycatch.Think whiting down here or haddock in the NE.What I don’t want is being lied too.There needs to be a law but please no new layer of burocracy, but when they are caught a cowhorn needs to be a hook.
quote:I cant understand for the life of me why BSB is not utilized more. There is not a more plentiful fish anywhere.
I don’t either. Govt. intervention? Very abundant and excellent eating fish. Better than grouper to me. It used to be a regular in the seafood markets and restaurants, but that was back when charter boats or anybody else could sell fish to seafood markets. I’ve made many boat payments during the winter months selling blackfish to the seafood co-ops and local restaurants, back when it was legal to do so. We used to get $2 a pound for sea bass and my mate and I could usually catch 300-400 pounds a day. Paid about as good as a charter in the 1980s.
Capt. Larry Teuton
Cracker Built Custom Boats
“Ships are the nearest things to dreams that hands have ever made.” -Robert N. Rose
