Seafood Landing, one of the few specialty seafood markets in Denver, does a brisk business in the Highland neighborhood.
“I love fishmongers,” said Bob Hart of Melbourne, Australia, who stops by every time he visits his daughter, who lives near Seafood Landing. “I never buy fish at the supermarket.”
But it’s increasingly hard to find fish markets, and not just in Denver.
Fish counters in specialty food stores and individual fish markets went from controlling about 65 percent of the seafood trade in the early 1980s to about 11 percent today, according to “American Catch” by Paul Greenberg, one of the top books on aquaculture and commercial fishing in America. During that same period, supermarkets went from selling about 16 percent of seafood to about 86 percent.
For people like Hart, fish markets are similar to butchers while many went out of business in recent decades, a handful of boutique butchers are popping up in cities like Brooklyn and Los Angeles to feed a new generation of sophisticated diners.
“As people become more aware of food, they realize fish are handled properly at the fish market,” he said
Seafood Landing, which opened more than 40 years ago, resembles a quaint seaside shop. It’s decorated with conch shells, paintings of seabirds in driftwood frames and large sculptures of such marine life as bright red crabs.
Specialty items include alderwood grilling planks, oyster and clam knives, crab boil and jerk seasoning, plus seafood cookbooks.
There’s a vast variety of fish, including king and sockeye salmon, Arctic char, haddock and monchong, a fish from Hawaii recommended by seafood advocacy groups as a good sustainable seafood choice.
Owner Bruce Johnson works the busy counter, giving frequent tips on how best to cook different kinds of fish, and, when asked, he’ll explain how he got into the business.
After nearly 30 years spent working as a civil engineer for the Colorado Department of Transportation, he was visiting his favorite fish market Seafood Landing, then located in Lakewood when the owner said he was thinking of selling the business.
Johnson jumped on the opportunity.
“Is it fun?” asked one woman.
“It’s hard work, but it’s really gratifying,” said Johnson. “There aren’t too many fish markets anymore, period.”
2015 Digital First Media