While seafood suppliers typically think of the Mississippi Gulf Coast as a market for catfish and crawfish, it is an up-and-coming market for high-end seafood and sushi.
For example, in two of its eight restaurants and bars, the IP Casino Resort & Spa in Biloxi, Miss., sources Kona Kampachi from Kona Blue Water Farms in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. In addition, the 1,000-room property buys sustainable seafood from Japanese Food Co. for the sushi served at its tien Asian restaurant, which opened last May.
“There are still many companies like us out there, that push quality first and cost second,” said Chris Poplin, executive chef for IP Casino Resort & Spa. “If you can create a good seafood meal time and time again, it creates a loyalty and consistency.”
While sustainable fish from overseas is offered, IP’s primary focus is on sourcing local, fresh seafood for its restaurants, which include tien, the upscale steakhouse thirty-two, Carnival de Brasil, Back Bay Buffet and other cafés and lounges.
“What most of our clientele is used to, is locally caught tuna, snapper and redfish, which outsells salmon five-to-one. There is a public misconception that, if it is not caught here, it is not fresh,” says Poplin.
For its thirty-two upscale restaurant, Poplin buys three local fish and one tropical or overseas fish, for the menu that changes daily. “We watch the market closely, and we watch the seasons. Now that snapper season is around, that is what we push,” said Poplin.
In addition, shrimp entrées are becoming more popular for the summer season. “We use a couple of local purveyors, such as Desporte & Son; places where our local shrimpers go and they uphold our standards,” said Poplin.
Crawfish, of course, is a Gulf Coast favorite, and there is “no way” that locals would accept crawfish from any other area besides the Gulf, said Poplin. “We went through thousands of pounds of crawfish this year,” Poplin said of the season that is just wrapping up.
