by Shannon Blair

A chilled corn velouté featuring Lucky Fish sea scallops tartare from a UP event. TM Petaccia/UP

Cut away fins first. Use backbones as a guide, and listen for a slight pricking noise as the filet knife rides down the bones. Peel up the flesh slowly during the process. Apply pressure with the hand, fingers flexed upward, for stability. Don’t waste the carcass; reserve it for stock. Charlotteans can learn these finer points of fileting a fish at a seafood workshop, such as the one held at Chef Alyssa’s Kitchen. However, where can home cooks turn to source fresh fish when ready to embark on their own seafood culinary journey?

Lucky Fish Seafood & Meat Market is a nearby resource. What began as a weekend hobby of selling fish at farmers’ markets for former chef Mike Casagrande has blossomed into the addition of a brick-and-mortar retail store in South End — all while maintaining a career as a purveyor of fresh seafood to restaurants nationwide for seafoods.com.

“During the pandemic, my day job selling to restaurants nationwide dried up,” Casagrande says. “I didn’t know how long that was going to be in effect. I was fairly successful just being able to go to the farmers’ markets, selling five times the amount of fish that I was selling before the pandemic. Now that restaurants are open again, that situation has changed. So now I have a retail store, [stalls at] six farmers’ markets, and a day job.” 

During the past fifteen years, Casagrande has developed a close relationship with “mobile seafood markets,” as he refers to the trucks that come up from the coast. “[What I obtain] may be limited, but at least it’s that much fresher,” Casagrande says. “For example, the truck that just pulled in this morning had local grouper, local black sea bass, local triggerfish, local snapper, and local hogfish. I climbed up on the truck, and we picked through all this fish. We picked certain ones I can sell whole fish and certain ones I can sell as filet fish.”

Transit time varies greatly when it comes to freshness of fish. Casagrande is able to sell in-season fish, natural to the region, twice a week directly from the boat, while supermarket chains have to rely on trucking and shipping to their distribution locations. Competitive marketplace pricing by large retailers may appeal more to buyers, but it’s important to realize that those business models have to decide list prices a month or more out for advertising purposes; this is more difficult to do for vendors like Lucky Fish where the fish is usually fresh, never frozen and dependent on what the boats are able to bring to shore. Advance price-setting by grocery chains means most of their fish will need to be frozen or frozen then thawed. Casagrande doesn’t even own a commercial freezer.   

Directly shopping the freshest catches of the day enables Casagrande to support the local and domestic fishermen and women by keeping more money in their local communities. This close connectedness within the industry also helps Lucky Fish provide a premium product to customers. “The fish cutters all know me and know not to put some things in my box,” he says. “I pick it up directly, so I see it before I buy. If it’s not perfect, I reject it right there.” 

Casagrande’s expertise in guiding customers who need selection assistance is another benefit beyond freshness and quality for the consumer trying to decide whether to shop seafood more locally at places like Lucky Fish versus at larger seafood distributors like Costco or Whole Foods. “The person behind the counter is just working the counter and not always doing it for a career,” Casagrande says. “It takes a lot of training to understand all the different fish, all the different seasons and how to work with the customer to ensure they go home to eat something they’re going to be happy with.” 

While Lucky Fish primarily sells fresh fish versus a frozen or farmed fish, he acknowledges there is a place for farm-raised, frequently on sale at the average supermarket. “I’m not gonna poo poo farmed products because there is a need,” he says. “We are taking a large amount of seafood out of the ocean everyday, and unfortunately it’s not 100 percent sustainable. We also have to understand that some farmed fish are done very well.” Casagrande tries to find programs that are quality to offset out-of-season demand. For instance, wild salmon season runs from May through September. Anything outside of that will need to be a frozen or farmed product. “There is a farmed Norwegian steelhead salmon that I like,” Casagrande says. “I also carry one out of Iceland. Both are doing a low-density, sustainable program.” This careful vendor filtering by Lucky Fish is passed along as a time-saving benefit to the customer, for whom it can be confusing to sort through all the grocery aisle packages to identify a quality farm-raised fish. 

When shopping for fresh fish at any location, Casagrande provides these useful insights: 

• Fresh fish should not smell. “Yes, there will be a seafood odor, but it should not be stinky,” he says. A more pungent odor typically derives from a thawing process, and possibly an improper thawing. 
• There should be a nice clear color overlaying the fish rather than a gray or brown tinge. 
• Keep fresh fish in the back of the refrigerator to keep it coldest and away from the opening and closing of a fridge door.
• Aim to use your fresh fish within about three days, which allows for a couple days of grace, since many customers are not strategic about putting their purchase into a meal plan to ensure use.
• If you need to freeze fresh fish, do so as soon as possible. Allot time to slow-thaw it for a day in the back of the refrigerator when planning to use it.

To avoid waste, Casagrande plans ahead, too. Lack of a freezer helps him maximize each week’s purchase rather than building up a stockpile of frozen, forgotten inventory; however, this means there is a constant need to move items that have not pre-sold. Watch for Lucky Fish blowout sales on Sunday afternoons. What Casagrande doesn’t sell after this, he offers at a discount to clients on a budget and donates to homeless shelters. “I also accept EBT,” he says. “The farmers’ markets that I work with double your money with EBT, which I think is huge because that’s the state helping people on a budget, who may be price-conscious, to go shop at the farmer’s market and buy product directly from the farmers.” 

He encourages savvy seafood consumers to consider less common picks to cut costs as well, always leaning toward what’s in season first. During these cooler months, Casagrande recommends not only grouper, snapper, triggerfish, black sea bass, and wild-striped bass but also less familiar fish. “Vermillion snapper, Porgy Snapper, and Jolthead Bream are definitely worth trying. For an Omega 3-rich fish, customers should think about the frozen sardine filet I carry from Spain.” This is one of the few items available through Lucky Fish that must be freezer-stored offsite. It comes in a one-pound package and, according to Casagrande, is very easy to broil. Using an air fryer is another preparation method he recommends since many of his customers report success this way — both from frozen and thawed states. 

In the end, keeping the fish fresh and the technique basic is good practice for novice seafood chefs. Starting with a straightforward approach like grilling, sauteing, and broiling lets home cooks focus more energy on different accoutrements so that everyone in a group can enjoy the same meal. In Casagrande’s case, his wife is Thai and prefers spicy chili garlic sauce while his son opts for Japanese condiments like ponzu.  When his mother dines with them, she has to have her traditional tartar sauce. “I live in a household where everybody wants some sort of different sauce on their fish. I can’t cook it with a [single] sauce, so I keep it simple. That way, everyone can put what they want on it.” 

Here are a few other places to access fresh fish in Charlotte in a variety of locations:

Clean Catch Fish Market – Centrally located in Myers Park, this market offers up fresh fish and other premium seafood options daily. It also offers the customer the convenience of curbside pick-up and the advantage of weekly specials (both lunch and market selections). While shopping, check out their other unique goods as well, such as a plentiful assortment of bacon, Snake River Farms wagyu hot dogs, and sous vide meals.  

Saltwater Markets – This family-owned and operated business prides itself on helping to support the livelihoods of regional fishermen and women. It is managed by Piedmont Culinary Guild member and former Lucky Fish owner, Rodney Roden. Saltwater Markets is located in Clover, Fort Mill, and Gastonia with shipping and delivery options. Here, you can source fresh seafood as well as top-tier meats.

Terra Mare Market – Open Tuesday through Saturday 11 to 6 in Waxhaw, this market also has a catering service and to-go or outdoor lunch dining options (note: kitchen closes at 5). The menu of salads, soups, and sandwiches has a long list of interesting seafood dishes like New England clam chowder, tuna or salmon poke bowls, fish tacos, and a mahi banh mi. Owners Larry and Tracy Mesiti are on hand, as well, to extend their expertise to customers seeking ideas on how to prepare the fresh fish and locally-sourced meat and poultry. Tracy is a former chef, and Larry was a fishmonger before a long career operating several restaurants in New York. The couple formerly owned Deep Sea Seafood Market on Monroe Road.