SeaFood Business

JUL 2012

SeaFood Business is the global trusted authority for seafood buyers and sellers. We are the seafood industry's leading trade magazine with more than 30 years of experience. Our coverage is based on the "business" of buying and selling seafood.

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Photo by Lauren Kramer Behind the Line occasionally sell the fi sh his clients didn't want to T e Is- land House chef. T en he opted to focus ex- clusively on writing novels, and became a successful au- thor. But he also brought suc- cess to the owners of T e Is- land House, who took White's advice and reinvented their restaurant as Doc Ford's Sani- bel Island Rum Bar & Grille, later opening a second Doc Ford's in Fort Myers Beach. Both restaurants sell White's novels and hold book signings twice a year. White has become an honorary owner at Doc Ford's, receiving royalties for use of his protago- nist's name and income from the sale of his books. T e Island House's meta- morphosis to Doc Ford's oc- curred in 2004 and one of the most noticeable changes was its menu. Ninety percent of the dishes are seafood, and as much as possible is sourced from local waters. "We always Changes in latitude Sanibel sports bar reinvents with gourmet food, becomes island hotspot BY LAUREN KRAMER N ine years ago, T e Island House was a nonde- script on Sanibel sports bar Is- land in southwest Florida, serving burgers and wings. T en a light-tackle fi shing guide who worked nearby became an acclaimed novel- ist and approached the sports 34 SeaFood Business July 2012 bar's owners with an idea: Reinvent the establishment, upgrade the menu, name it after the protagonist in his novels and see what happens. T e novelist was Randy Wayne White, who worked as a monthly columnist for Outside magazine, but whose real job was boating the waters around Sanibel as a guide at Tarpon Bay Marina. In those days, he'd have local snapper, grouper and mahi as well as phenomenal stone crabs in season," says Kris- topher Zook, executive chef. "But we also menu calamari from Asia, Chilean salmon, blue lump crab from China, blue mussels from Prince Ed- ward Island and bluefi n tuna from Costa Rica." T e menu at the 150-seat restaurant is more diverse and interesting than typi- cal sports bars. T ere're still burgers and wings, but there are also items like quinoa salad with grilled shrimp, seafood paella, ceviche cock- tail and Campeche fi sh tacos. T e tacos, made with local grouper, are among the most popular dishes, along with the paella, banana leaf snap- per and mahimahi, which is seared and served with prick- ly pear ginger vinaigrette. Zook's favorite local fi sh is triple tail, which he pan-sears and serves over plantains. Doc Ford's culinary offerings transcend those of a typical sports bar. "My signature is a Carib- bean, or Floribbean fl air," he says. "I love serving a tropi- cal fruit salsa with my dishes and adding as many Carib- bean and South American ingredients as possible." T e sports bar's reinvention was an overnight success. "We hadn't surfaced as a hot spot until the Doc Ford's concept came up, and when it did, it increased our notoriety and we became the busiest restau- rant on the island," he says. In high season, vacationers from all over the United States and Canada come for meals, and Doc Ford's serves 1,000 din- ers each night. But even in the quiet season, the restaurant has numbers in the range of 200 a night. Regulations make it illegal for Zook to buy fi sh from lo- cals at the restaurant's back door. T ese days his main suppliers are Blue Star Sea- food in Fort Myers, Fla., Jug Creek Co. in Pine Islands, a supplier of stone crabs, and occasionally Sysco. A Fort Myers native, Zook attended the Culinary Insti- tute of America in New York, worked at the Ritz Carlton in Naples and other Florida res- taurants before joining Doc Ford's three years ago. White still writes novels and says he loves the symme- try of his partnership with Marty and Brenda Harrity and Mark and Heidi Mari- nello, owners of Doc Ford's. "I helped provide seafood here way back in the 1970s, and now, because I've joined this excellent team of restau- rateurs and staff , I have the opportunity to play a small role in providing fresh fi sh here once again," says White. Contributing Editor Lauren Kramer lives in British Columbia Visit us online at www.seafoodbusiness.com

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