Last week, some of Rhode Island’s finest chefs convened at food-business incubator Hope & Main in Warren, RI, to explore ways to better utilize plentiful but less popular seafood species.
The 9 chefs — including JWU alumni Derek Wagner ’99 (Nicks on Broadway), Matt Varga ’05 (Gracie’s), Ben Mayhew ’10 (Garde de la Mer) and Aaron Thorpe ’01 (Cook & Dagger) — were given an hour and a half to sample, cook and experiment with new or relatively unfamiliar seafood.
The chefs were more than up to the challenge as they thoughtfully picked through the gleaming display of freshly-caught seafood, including butterfish, conger eel, fluke, sea robin, spiny dogfish, squid, skate and whelk (conch).
The end goal? To rehab the unfair reputation of these so-called “trash” or “bycatch” species, and expand their market here in the Ocean State.