As a Seattle institution, the Pike Place Market evolves but doesn't really change. A coffee shop called Counter Intelligence has been gone for over a decade, though its sign still hangs over the bar at the remodeled and expanded Matt's In the Market, three times the size it used to be, but no less cozy. For that matter, Matt Janke himself moved on a couple of months ago, leaving the place to his business partner, Dan Bugge. He's been careful not break the spell.
From his command post in the kitchen, chef Chet Gerl channels Matt's spirit: the signature grilled lamb burger (ground by Don & Joe's, literally across the street) with goat cheese, bacon and herbed aioli. Or the cornmeal-crusted catfish sandwich, the grilled octopus with romesco, the braised brisket or the pork belly. For almost a decade, Dan Bugge threw fish at the Pike Place Market, and when the opportunity arose to buy Matt's In The Market, he moved across the street and up the stairs. His found his chef, Chester Gerl, at Place Pigalle, just a salmon-lob away. Now they've been asked to put their hands-on knoweldge of seafood to use in the Gulf of Mexico, the only restaurateurs from the West Coast to be invited. .
Cris Comerford, the White House chef (who's turning into something of a food activist), is touring the Gulf this weekend alongside celebrity chefs John Besh (six restaurants in New Orleans), John Folse (several restaurants and a TV show, "A Taste of Louisiana") and Rick Tramonto (Tru in Chicago, among others). Also on the trip, the commissioner of the Food & Drug Administration, Dr. Margaret Hamburg. Their goal: to reassure the American public that seafood from the Gulf is safe to eat despite the gusher of oil that leaked from BP's Deepwater Horizon well this summer.
The FDA, along with other federal and state agencies, implemented protocols to test the waters as they were reopened to fishing over the past few weeks. "The biggest challenge at present is helping this industry get back on its feet," the official White House statement says. "That is why these promient chefs have come together, to tell America that the Gulf is open for business."
The official party gathered in New Orleans over the weekend. Yesterday they rode shrimp and fishing boats into the Gulf, then visited shrimp docks and fish processing facilities. Last night there was a shrimp boil prepared by the hosts and visiting chefs at a block party in St. Bernard Parish.
Says Bugge: "It's an opportunity to experience one of the world's greatest seafood-producing areas firsthand with some of the most knowledgeable seafood people around." Photo is from Dan's camera, by the way.
Meantime, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is stepping up its testing. "We're taking extraordinary steps to assure a high level of confidence in the seafood," says NOAA's administrator, Jane Lubchenco
And Whole Foods has started displaying the Monterey Aquarium's sustainability ratings for seafood. "The industry has changed very rapidly," said the Aquarium's Mike Sutton. "When the consumer starts to care, it is the enlightened self-interest of businesses to care."
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