By Jennifer Glickel
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — The Gulf Coast oil spill devastation is making its way north to New York’s seafood eateries as they gear up for the start of Restaurant Week Monday.
With the Gulf Coast disaster nearly depleting the normally ample supply of shellfish and small fishes from the Gulf and triggering a jump in seafood prices nationwide, some Manhattan chefs are reworking their menus for Restaurant Week accordingly.
“The price of male blue crabs has increased so drastically recently that I only put one type of blue crab on my Restaurant Week menu in order to be cost effective,” said City Crab and Seafood’s executive chef Joe Vaina.
“On top of that, I chose to put crab cakes on the menu because it was more cost effective than serving whole crabs while I'm monitoring the market's price fluctuations,” he added.
According to Vaina’s experience at the fish market, the price of a bushel of male blue crabs was about $55 two weeks ago. Days later, the price leapt to $85 and, as of last Wednesday, prices hit $95.
“Is anyone at the market saying this is happening because of the oil spill? Of course not,” Vaina said.
“But from my professional experience in this business for 20 years, I know it’s absolutely happening because of the Gulf. Prices generally fluctuate, but to increase this much in such a short period of time is a clear sign that it’s because of the oil spill.”
In addition to crabs, the spill is affecting Vaina’s use of shrimp during Restaurant Week.
“There’s no shrimp on my Restaurant Week menus at all,” Vaina told DNAinfo, noting that the price of shrimp has increased since the spill.
“We used to get shrimp from the Gulf area, but since the oil spill we definitely haven’t. I’m not going to take that gamble."
Other chefs aren’t as concerned about the oil spill’s impact on Restaurant Week as the impact in months and years to come.
“When I was planning my Restaurant Week menu, I didn’t take into account the Gulf Coast crisis,” said Oceana executive chef Ben Pollinger.
“We pay a premium for quality fish and a lot of the product from down there didn’t happen to be as expensive as the stuff that I buy already,” Pollinger added. “But there's also a lot of increased supply of fish in general this time of year, so it takes some heat off of the Gulf.
But the long term effects of the oil spill are definitely of concern to the seafood chef.
With the increase in demand of fish from regions other than the Gulf in the months to come, Pollinger said there will be an increase in price at his restaurant, which will eventually have to be passed on to the customer.
“I think you can already see some catastrophic effects on the fisheries down there,” Pollinger said. “There will definitely be a huge effect on our supply, whether it’s this fall or next year.”
