FAQs
IS YOUR SEAFOOD SUSHI-GRADE?
Yes. It sure is! The NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets, which oversee seafood shops like fin – your fishmonger, has adopted the FDA guidelines for safety standards of fish that can be eaten raw. Freezing and storing at an ambient temperature of -4°F (-20°C) or below for 7 days (total time) is the standard used by fin. Another consideration in the “sushi-grade” labeling depends not just on the safety of the fish, but also on its quality. Our purveyors are very aware that fin considers the grade or quality of the fish when purchasing. This gives fin the benefit of securing some very fresh fish that has been handled in such a way as to minimize bruising of the flesh, making it ideal for sushi preparations.
YOU HAVE ITEMS THAT ARE MARKED GLUTEN-FREE – FOR REAL?
Our sweet potato salmon burgers, crab cakes and shrimp cakes come in regular and fine-tuned GF versions and other items can be made GF if, say, you brought your own GF roll for the lobster roll. We're delighted to accommodate in whatever way works for you. ***HOWEVER, please note that our items are absolutely, positively not prepared in a GF facility. Our fresh, sustainable seafood is always GF. Most of the time, our super-easy take & bake suppers are GF.
WHAT ARE THE TAKE & BAKE SUPPERS?
fin-your fishmonger prepares a different Take & Bake Supper for you each week. These are seafood selections that we prepare ahead for you with sauces, spices, and toppings that simply require you to cook them with heat from your oven or grill at home. These restaurant-quality meals include a delicious veg and starch (rices, potatoes, etc.) to complete your meal. You can pick up one or two for supper or, even get a slew of them for a dinner party and prepare them as your own! We’ll never tell…what happens at fin, stays at fin.
MY FAVORITE FISH IS NOT HERE? CAN YOU GET IT FOR ME?
We are happy to get requests from our "finatics" about seafood items that they’d like to see us carry. As long as they are sustainable, and we aren’t required by our sources to bring in 50 pounds per order (which may just be for you – holy mackerel!), we are very happy to accommodate your request. That’s how some of our customer faves have found their way into the shop and markets!
WHAT DO YOU MEAN, “SUSTAINABLE?”
Sustainable seafood is seafood that is either caught or farmed in ways that consider the long-term vitality of harvested species and the well-being of the oceans. Cod from Cape Cod, is overfished, for example. Once we begin fishing down into the adolescent population of fish, before they become of reproductive age, that variety of fish can't reproduce and the population crashes. So, we bring our cod in from Iceland, instead. More info in the next question/answer below.
WHO SAYS IT’S SUSTAINABLE?
We use four scientific sources to help determine what seafood we carry in our shops:
The Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch
The World Wildlife Federation
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association
The Marine Stewardship Council
Sustainability is a tricky, ever-evolving thing. We keep up on all the details so you don’t have to if you don’t want to. We do recommend that you download the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch App so that you can rest assured you’re shopping sustainably when you’re not shopping with fin – your fishmonger. (http://www.seafoodwatch.org/cr/SeafoodWatch/web/sfw_iPhone.aspx)
WILD OR FARMED?
Wild fish is awesome and most of our seafood is, in fact, wild. We are also aware that there is a huge world-wide demand for seafood, and that the ocean’s supply is being depleted. So, we do bring in responsibly-farmed seafood, as well. We are super careful about where we source from and continue to use the 4 scientific sources cited above when choosing what to bring in for you. Let's use the metaphor of farmed beef to explain more: the beef you can find at our local farmer's markets is farm-raised, as is the beef you can buy in a large grocery store. Let's take it a step further and state the obvious ~ Both can say that the beef is farm-raised. But, there's a difference in what "farm-raised" means ("factory"-farmed or local-field-farmed.) This analogy is very similar to the seafood world. In order to provide all of us with broad options in addition to our wild seafood options, we work with resources with access to responsible fisheries to bring in farmed seafood. We want to support the folks who are doing it right. Our responsibly farmed seafood was raised with no artificial colors/dyes, no added hormones and no (or, very limited use of) antibiotics.
I HAVE SOME FOOD ALLERGIES. IS THERE ANYTHING THAT IS NOT OBVIOUS THAT I SHOULD WATCH OUT FOR?
Your best bet would be to tell our staff what your specific allergy is and we’ll check with our kitchen to see if that ingredient is included in the item you’re wondering about. We hope you can enjoy much of the deliciousness in our shops.
WILL fin SPEAK AT PUBLIC ENGAGEMENTS?
Interested in having Pete and Dora come and speak about fin, sustainability and the awesomeness of adding seafood to your diet? Pete and Dora welcome your speaking engagement requests. They do love educating the local community and have a fun, informative hour-long (or less) schpiel, that includes time for questions and answers.
WHY DON’T YOU OPEN A SHOP WHERE I LIVE?
We truly appreciate the love and support, and although fin is constantly growing, we are actively focusing on our existing locations.
WE WANT TO FRANCHISE WITH YOU, ARE YOU INTERESTED?
You’re too kind – thank you! At this stage we are not entertaining thoughts about franchising, but we appreciate your interest and we will definitely let you know if we ever decide to move in that direction.
