fresh lake perch?

Hi, Does anyone recommend any markets for fresh lake perch? I used to get it at a Dominick's, but it's not always that fresh. I would be willing to pay a bit more if it's really fresh, as long as it's not ridiculously expensive. (Last week I saw it at a gourmet market up in Milwaukee for $14.99 a pound, which I thought was a bit too much for lake perch.)

I heard about some huge seafood market in Villa Park. Is that a good place?

Thanks for any suggestions.

Check out Don's Dock in Des Plaines. You can get lake perch fried or raw to go.

Don's Dock
1220 N.W. Hwy. Des Plaines, Il.
847-827-1817 [/url]

jiahuo wrote:I heard about some huge seafood market in Villa Park. Is that a good place?

Are you thinking of Supreme Lobster and Seafood? I believe most of their business is commercial, but they do have a retail store, which is slightly larger than Burhops (both the one in Glenview and the one in No Man's Land). Whenever I've been in there, the quality has been very high.

Supreme Lobster and Seafood
220 E. North Avenue
Villa Park, IL 60181-1221
630-834-3474

Thanks for the suggestions. Yes, I must have been thinking about Supreme Lobster and Seafood.

How is Burhops in Hinsdale? I've never been there.

It looks like the going rate for fresh Lake Perch is now $14.99 a pound! I wonder why it is so much.

Scarcity caused by overfishing and other environmental issues?

http://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/greatlakes ... perch.html

http://www.great-lakes.org/1-12-98.html

A few weeks ago, I saw whole Lake Michigan perch at Isaacson and Stein for $2.99 a pound. They were tiny-tiny, and very delicious.

Isaacson and Stein
800 W Fulton Market
Chicago, IL 60607
(312) 421-2444

There's a difference between White Lake Perch and Yellow Lake Perch. Yellow Lake Perch is considered a delicacy and WHOLESALES for around $9 a pound. White perch is much more reasonable.

You have to be aware that most Lake Perch sold is now being treated with a preservative. If the Lake Perch you saw in Milwaukee was at Grash's, it is not treated otherwise you have to ask the purveyor and I'm not sure that they all know anyway. A sign is liquid in the case with the fish.-Dick

I have purchased fresh Lake Perch at both Issacson & Stein and Hagens within the past few months. I had Hagen's prep it for frying and I fried it at home. Both were excellent and I believe around $11 lb. Problem is forget about 1/2 to 3/4 lb. per person, we ate this like candy.

So I called around, and fresh Lake Perch at Supreme Lobster and Seafood is $14.99 a pound. Don's Dock at Desplaines gets it once a week or so and sells it at $15.99 a pound.

So I remember Dominick's used to sell it for $7.99 a pound (maybe it was last year). But it wasn't consistently fresh. (When it was fresh it was really good.) Do supermarkets treat it with a preservative?

I'm assuming this is all Yellow Perch? Well, I've only had one kind of Lake Perch. (Ocean Perch, I realize, is very different and quite inexpensive.)

whatever fish that is treated with a preservative is usually treated at the processing plant. for 7.99 I really doubt that was yellow lake perch. If you live in the city try dirks fish or any of the whole foods

The Meijer chain, which IME tends to their credit to focus on "local" produce (at least local to Michigan and the surrounding markets where they exist) carries quality lake perch (and Walleye, that delicious animal) -- at least the Meijers in Michigan do. I know we have some in the 'burbs here, but I've never tried them.

JeffB wrote:The Meijer chain, which IME tends to their credit to focus on "local" produce (at least local to Michigan and the surrounding markets where they exist) carries quality lake perch (and Walleye, that delicious animal) -- at least the Meijers in Michigan do. I know we have some in the 'burbs here, but I've never tried them.

I have said that in general, Meijers has a great selection of seafood compared with the other supermarket chains. Also, the prices are very good. Most of their fish in Chicago is sourced from major Detroit area fishmongers like in the Michigan stores.

However, the people in the Algonquin stores are unable to differentiate between BLUE crabs and DUNGENESS crabs which can lead us to great sales.

jlawrence01 wrote:However, the people in the Algonquin stores are unable to differentiate between BLUE crabs and DUNGENESS crabs which can lead us to great seals.

Are the seals good to eat? Taste like chicken?

YoYoPedro wrote:

jlawrence01 wrote:However, the people in the Algonquin stores are unable to differentiate between BLUE crabs and DUNGENESS crabs which can lead us to great seals.

Are the seals good to eat? Taste like chicken?

Depends on the seasons. Head on up to the arctic in January, poke your head through the ice and check it out. (g) And once you knock the ice off of your head, you will be able to write a review.

I've found that the best place in Chicago to get fresh yellow lake perch is straight from the lake. Last summer my sons and I nearly filled a 5 gal. pail in about 2 hours.


Loads of fun to catch but time consuming to clean.

Filleted some and gutted and scaled the rest.

Lightly seasoned and pan fried.


Served up with some leftover Charro beans.

Perch Puttanesca !

Battered and deep fried fillets also made some excellent fish tacos !

Those pictures of yellow lake perch really look good. And I remember going fishing in Lake Michigan as a kid with my dad when he was alive. There were times when we caught so many, we didn't have any more room or buckets to save them in. Our whole neighborhood block would share in our good fortune then.

Remember when shopping for lake perch it is extremely important to find out what kind of lake perch is being sold (or served). The preferable type is the original lake perch that existed in great quantities throughout the Great Lakes Region up until about 30 or 40 years ago. Back then the only lake perch was Yellow lake perch, but back then you didn't have to describe it as "yellow" because that was the only kind there was. And that's only the official name and not really the color of the fish.

Then came the so-called "white" lake perch, which is a type of fish that invaded the Great Lakes in incredibly large numbers through the St. Lawrence Seaway about 30 years ago. Many are surprised to learn that "white" lake perch really is not a "perch" at all, but is instead a type of fish that is related to the bass family. But it is colloquially referred to as "lake perch" and that is legally allowed. If you look closely at that fish, however, you will definitely see that it more closely resembles a bass and not a perch. It is fairly good in taste, but nowhere as good and tasty as the original yellow lake perch that use to be so plentiful throughout the Great Lakes. If you go to the fish market, you will see that so-called "white lake perch" sells for about one-third the price (or less) of "yellow lake perch," and that's because it is nowhere as good as Yellow Lake Perch, which has become a real delicacy. So when shopping or dining for lake perch, keep this in mind. If it's not clear, always ask " . . . is it white lake perch or yellow lake perch?" When it says "Canadian lake perch," it is usually yellow lake perch, but it is still best to inquire.

To further confuse things a bit, because the price of yellow lake perch has skyrocked so much, fish suppliers have gone so far as to import a type of European perch that is similar to yellow lake perch called Zander perch (or sometimes Pike-Perch). I've seen packages in some stores of frozen Zander perch labeled "Product of Turkey." And it's often "passed off" as yellow lake perch at stores and restaurants. I found Zander perch to be no better than white lake perch and certainly not as good as the great yellow lake perch, which is making a surprisingly big comeback throughout the Great Lakes. Their population numbers as reported by most of the state conservation departments -- in recent reports -- are increasing greatly and many are hopeful that they get back to more plentiful levels.

Lake perch may be making a come-back according to a recent article in the Tribune:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/loca ... ory?page=1

For the last few weeks I've been able to buy fresh yellow perch at my local Ultra Foods. $7.98 a pound. I have them fry up half a pound while I'm shopping (I recommend the Cajun seasoning any time you're having them fry up seafood for you) and then eat it all on the way home for lunch.* Not as good as having them fresh from the end of a fishing pole, but quite good nonetheless.



* (I realize that only in the world of LTH might this be ambiguous. Let me clarify that I'm eating them for my lunch on the way home, not as a snack before I have my lunch at home!)