Our
own Das Ubergeek (or as you know him, Dave Lieberman) is a fixture at
our area farmers' markets. He brings us his wonderful weekly feature “At The Farmer's Market“;
but this week, it's my turn. That's not to say that Dave didn't
have a hand in it. It was the Ubergeek himself who recommended I try Dry Dock Fish at the weekly Saturday UCI Farmers' Market after I asked him if he saw wild salmon at 99 Ranch after his post.
And when the Ubergeek says so, it will be good. But seafood at a
farmer's market, you ask? Well why not? All a purveyor needs is plenty
of ice and some good product.
]
Sure enough, I found wild king salmon there (along with other
creatures aquatic). My specimen wasn't Alaskan, but from New Zealand — thick, longitudinal fillets buried in chipped ice and packaged in
plastic bags. The price? $12.95 per pound, which is on par with Whole
Foods.
They'll bag it up for you and pack it with a satchel of ice, which
will last for about three hours if you have a particularly long trip
home. My suggestion is to bring your own cooler with ice, just in case.
I sliced my haul into steaks, steamed
them over a bed of sliced lemons and ate them with ponzu sauce, a dab
of mayo, lemon, and sea salt, which is how Cafe Hiro used to do them.
In addition to the Saturday UCI Farmers' Market, Dry Dock Fish is everywhere these days. Check here to see the appearances at markets all around the county.
Before becoming an award-winning restaurant critic for OC Weekly in 2007, Edwin Goei went by the alias “elmomonster” on his blog Monster Munching, in which he once wrote a whole review in haiku.