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HIS LOWCOUNTRY LOCATION means he has access to the best seafood in the country. His impeccable taste means every detail, whether pertaining to decor or dish, is precisely executed. At The Ordinary in Charleston, you may want to dive head first into Chef Mike Lata’s buttery bowl of barbeque shrimp. You may require three orders of his masterfully marinated razor clams. You may want to sidle on up to the oyster bar and have a chat with the chef himself, whose intelligent banter is as impressively layered as the ingredients in his dishes. There is good reason people tuck his housemade hot sauce into their purse or pocket before leaving. It seems everyone wants a piece of perfection.

NO ORDINARY SEAFOOD EXPERIENCE

HOT SAUCE ON THE MOVE

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CHEF MIKE LATA LEANS AGAINST HIS OYSTER BAR AT THE ORDINARY IN CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA

P L U S . . .> FRY'S FAVORITE SEAFOOD GUYS> CLAMMER DAVE TALKS MERROIR> NEW ORLEANS' CURIOUS CRABS> OYSTER FARMING IN BLUFFTON> THE SOUTHERN FISH CAMP TRAIL> MEET YOUR AMUSE

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I want to create restaurants that strike a timeless emotional chord—restaurants that don’t pander to trend, but draw gen-erations of families together. When I am looking to develop a new restaurant, I start with the location. I ask myself if the space has a story to tell and if the restaurant would meet a need within the community where it is located. Then I carefully consider the culinary genre and make sure the type of food is one I am passionate about. This is my strategy. When I am looking for a place to eat, I ask myself the same questions, I follow the same line of thinking. The places on my “best seafood stops in the South” list below are all in line with my philosophies. And they all kick ass. —Chef Ford Fry

MEET THE MAJOR PLAYERS: H O T A N D H O T F I S H C L U B Birmingham, AlabamaWhat an awesome dude Chef Chris Hastings is, and he can totally respect the fish, sustainability, and simple yet fantastic fish cooking techniques. The Alabama waters have incredible seafood, and the Alabama farmland has fantastic tomatoes as well. So in tomato season, prior to getting fish from Chris at Hot and Hot, get his heirloom tomato salad. Seriously good. hotandhotfishclub.com

T H E O R D I N A R Y Charleston, South CarolinaEat here because Chef Mike Lata has access to the very best seafood, without question. It’s truly not fair, but he deserves it for how well he pulls it off. The Ordinary is an oyster bar where finesse is the focus. Super-fresh and super-local fish, but what blew me away (and I will not promise not to copy it) is his pairing fried oysters with beef tartare. Truly one of the best and most sensible combinations. I wish I had thought of it. eattheordinary.com

R E E F Houston, TexasHouston has some great old-school “fry shacks,” which I love, but Chef Bryan Caswell of Reef has a true RESPECT for fish and his local waters. What comes with that respect is the best quality fish in town—hands down. The must-get fish is whatever is “on the half-shell.” He’s got a badass seasoning and grills the fish scales down, basted with butter and lemon. I typically pick the simplest fish preparation because with super-fresh fish, this is the best way to go. And in Caswell’s hands, the results are always spot on. reefhouston.com

T H E O P T I M I S TAtlanta, GeorgiaChef Adam Evans just has a curiously inter-esting way of building flavors that enhance fish and shellfish. That talent paired with the method of cooking fish in quality pans over burning Georgia hickory just truly wins. The Optimist makes you feel like you are on vaca-tion—minus the cheap fried food you always find at the beach for some reason. The Oys-ter Bar at The Optimist is also a bonus if you are in the mood for small plates and sampling lots of raw and wood-oven-roasted shellfish. Not to mention the nearly impossible putt-putt golf right out front. theoptimistrestaurant.com

THELOCALPALATE.COM / JUNE.JULY 2015

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WHO IS FORD FRY? As chef and managing partner of JCT. Kitchen & Bar, King + Duke, Marcel, No. 246, The El Felix, The Optimist, State of Grace, St. Ce-cilia, and Superica, Atlanta-based chef Ford Fry is obviously in need of a hobby to fill his free time. The Texas native has deservedly amassed plenty of press, awards, and acco-lades, and not all for his remarkably delicious chicken sandwich and famous “angry mussels” at his flag-ship, JCT. All of Fry’s restaurants have a few things in common: they’re as formal as guests want them to be; they’re chef-owned and operated; they’re committed to their commu-nities; and they serve exceptional food made with local ingredients in casual environments where a great deal of attention is paid to detail. Fry is also a founding chef of the Atlanta Food + Wine Festival and the founder of the Attack of the Killer Tomato Festival—more unequivocal proof of his good ideas.

TRY SOME INTERNATIONAL FLAVOR K Y M A Atlanta, GeorgiaI have yet to find a Greek chef who wasn’t a fan-tastic cook. Talk about simple, perfectly cooked food served in a pool of good olive oil and lem-on. When you go to Kyma, don’t miss ordering octopus; however it is presented, it will be fantastic. buckheadrestaurants.com/kyma

C R A W F I S H & N O O D L E SHouston, TexasThe Texas Gulf is full of Vietnamese fishermen. What could be better than mixing Vietnam-ese flavors with Texas Gulf Coast seafood? You must hit this spot up during crawfish season for their boiled “in a bag” crawfish. Also check out their blue crab dishes; one (cua rang muói) is simply delicious, the other (cua rang me) is zipped up by the addition of tamarind. crawfishandnoodle.com

SAMPLE THE MISSISSIPPI CLASSICS T H E M A Y F L O W E R C A F EJackson, MississippiJust classic—they have been around since 1935. Their house dressing, which has a cult condiment following, was actually the inspiration for the comeback sauce at my restaurant The Optimist. I’ll have the Red Fish Orleans (broiled redfish with soft-shell crab) with a breaded veal cutlet as my “vegetable” any day of the week—except for Sunday since they are closed. mayflowercafems.com

T A Y L O R G R O C E R YTaylor, Mississippi This is the place for fried catfish. I am telling you right now: don’t fear good farm-raised catfish as it is truly fantastic. The best deal going is the all-you-can-eat catfish (whole or fillets) with sides for $22. As they say, “If you leave hungry, it’s all on you!” What excites me almost equally

as their exceptional catfish is their Rotel cheese fries; I grew up on Rotel dip and I still indulge in it regularly. taylorgrocery.com

GO FOR THE SHOW IN NOLA C A S A M E N T O ’ SNew Orleans, LouisianaA quintessential New Orleans joint, Casamento’s is always a must-visit just for the experience. They’ve been frying oysters since 1919! Seriously. Get the oyster loaf and if soft shells are in season, you will need to get them in a “loaf” format as well. Since the shucker puts on a show for every patron, a long line is actually a good thing. casamentosrestaurant.com

D O M I L I S E ’ S P O - B O Y S New Orleans, LouisianaI’ll be straight with you: this place is the sh$t. The large half and half (fried shrimp and oys-ter) po-boy is killer, but the real winner here is their roast beef po-boy. Shaved thin, on New Or-leans French bread, with stringy Swiss, and some serious graaaaavy! Feel better about indulg-ing knowing you are paying honor to Miss Dot, who held it down year after year. (Dorothy Domilise and her husband, Sam, took over the business in 1922 that his parents had started in 1918. Miss Dot then passed the business along to her daughter-in-law about eight years before her death, at age ninety, in 2013.) domilisespoboys.com

THELOCALPALATE.COM / JUNE.JULY 2015

C H E F P I C K S : C H E F ’ S D I N E A R O U N D

FRY ’ER UP! Chef Ford Fry Knows Southern Seafood

OCTOPUS FROM KYMA

BELIEVE THE HYPE: AT PÊCHE IN NEW ORLEANS, THEIR SPICY GROUND SHRIMP AND NOODLES COULD BE ONE OF MY FAVORITE BITES OF THE ENTIRE YEAR. THIS PLACE HAS SERIOUS AUTHENTICITY TO IT. PÊCHERESTAURANT.COM THE VIBE AT CHARLESTON’S LEON’S OYSTER SHOP IS SUPER CASUAL AND SUPER FUN; I FREAKIN’ LOVE THIS PLACE. GO THERE OVER AND OVER AGAIN FOR OYSTERS AND AMAZING FRIED CHICKEN. LEONSOYSTERSHOP.COM

A DAILY OFFERING FROM REEF

i recently participated in the making of the

documentary Overalls and Aprons, a four-year labor of love by Thibaut Fagonde. Thibaut took an in-depth look at the sustainability of the farm-to-table movement through a collection of small farmers and the chefs that depend on their products.

My take-away from the film was basically the same lesson I learned in college back in the seven-ties: it’s damn difficult to make a living compet-ing with industrial agribusiness. While the smaller farmer produces higher-quality crops or livestock,

they can hardly compete head-to-head with the corporate types. If the small guy can’t distinguish their product from the big guy, efficiency in num-bers usually always wins in farming. To under-score the point: only half of the farmers filmed four years ago were still in business by the movie’s premiere.

I left the theater feeling humbled and fortunate to still be around to tell my story. I chose mari-culture (aquaculture in the ocean) fifteen years ago because I wanted to produce a specialty food product where I could control production from cultivation to delivery. After extensive due dili-gence and a year of permitting, I began planting clam seed on forty acres of intertidal bottomlands leased from the state of South Carolina near Ca-pers Inlet. At the time, the water was still clas-sified as “pristine” and since growing clams and oysters is entirely dependent on a clean water source and healthy ecosystem, I hoped that lo-cating next to the huge federally protected Cape

Romain Wildlife Refuge would be an insurance policy for a busi-ness I hoped to pass along to my grandchildren someday.

As years passed, the salt marsh, wildlife nursery of the Atlan-tic Ocean, produced healthy shellfish with a merroir (flavor derived from the ecology from which it grows, like terroir and wine) unique to the Lowcountry, allowing me to brand the clams and oysters with an identity that could not be

reproduced anywhere else. Add-ing to my good fortune was the rapidly evolving culinary scene in Charleston, where many chefs were gaining acclaim partially by seeking out the highest-quality in-gredients straight from the farm. The clams were immediately accepted, as were the Capers Blade oysters. This brand recog-nition helped me avoid the largest pitfall of a small farmer, compet-ing with the big guys with a com-modity product: there is nothing else like a Capers Blade.

My advantage ends there how-ever, as my dirt-farming friends

have an altogether different jump on me—they can prevent anyone from spraying sewage efflu-ent, pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers, or industrial chemicals on their fields that could poison their crops, rendering them unfit for human consump-tion or killing them altogether. I have to rely on people to do the right thing with my sea water fields of shellfish and “doing the right thing” is a type of resource stewardship that evolves and revolves around a single societal building block, sustaining our fragile and economically important ecosystems and natural resources. To this end, this will be my demise, as the progressive poisoning of the salt marsh is well under way, locked into our very public policy and infrastructure.

From our nations capitol to our own barrier island communities, there is a huge contingent of lawmakers who deny human contribution to air and water pollution, dragging their feet or preventing progressive stewardship policies. As modern urbanites, we have lost our connection to

nature, and this loss is reflected in our stewardship policies that are governed by the double-blad-ed sword of ignorance and arro-gance. Our own state’s attorney general vows to resist the EPA’s efforts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions even though the ab-sorption of CO2 by our oceans

has increased the acidity of seawater to the point that coral reefs and critters with shells are dying off all over the world. Ocean acidification is the number one catastrophic environmental event of our time. It has already hit the West Coast, mak-ing it nearly impossible for oyster hatcheries to raise seed stock in Washington and Oregon.

Locally, we have a conundrum of counterpro-ductive policies where utility companies spray herbicides directly in the ocean’s watershed. Our county government maintains a war on mosquitoes with a larvicide that also kills clams and oysters.

When I say I can see the end, I mean I can foresee a rapid collapse of the oyster populations and with them a tremendous decline in a myriad of the sea fauna that depend on the oyster cluster

at some point in their life cycle including shrimp, crabs, trout, sea bass, grouper, snapper, mussels, blood worms, and a host of other organisms. The oyster is a very sensitive animal, a canary of the salt marsh, and as my counterparts on the West Coast lay their canary to rest, I feel their pain and share their pessimism that people don’t care about the things they can’t see. There is a faint and flickering light at the end of this tunnel however, and I may be wrong but as sensitive as the oyster might be to negative changes in its world, it’s also resilient and is capable of responding favorably if we humans are capable of effecting changes that reverse the ecological tailspin of our coastal and ocean resources.

A P E R S O N A L E S S A Y

The Future of the Sea FarmerBY CLAMMER DAVE BELANGER

C O N C i E R G E

COURTYARD LINDEN ROW

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THE SALT MARSH PRODUCED HEALTHY SHELLFISH WITH A

MERROIR (FLAVOR DERIVED FROM THE ECOLOGY FROM WHICH IT

GROWS, LIKE TERROIR AND WINE) UNIQUE TO THE LOWCOUNTRY.

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