Fresh Mussels from the Pacific NW

Hi all,

After several rounds of searching, I have concluded that there has yet to be a post in this section of the forum detailing the best places to buy bivalves, in particular, fresh mussels (or clams, but mussels are preferred), especially those from my beloved homeland, the pacific northwest.

To celebrate the sporting event for which I've waited a lifetime, the Seattle Seahawks in the Super Bowl, we're having an intimate gathering featuring the finest the Pacific Northwest has to offer: pike place market beer, strong coffee roasted locally (Metropolis on Granville is my roaster of choice), a mushroom melange, Oregon Pinot Noir, Kettle Chips (before they were national, they were regional), and the ubiquitous salmon. The mussels have proved elusive.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Keep eating,

J. Ro

Most of the quality mussels I have seen around here have been from Prince Edward Island (I just had some last night at Kuma's), but I would try Dirk's as a place to start. It might be too late now, but if they don't carry them, they will custom order special items they do not regularly stock.

Dirk's Fish
2070 N. Clybourn
Chicago, IL
773-404-3475

_____I have no recollection of where they hail from, but I tend to just stop by the local CostCo and pick up a bag o' mussles when I need a fix. They're typically $10 to $12 and you could say they were from the Pacific Northwest...although that doesn't really answer your original posting.
_____I tried calling the one on Route 59 in Naperville, but no one is pickin' up in the meat department. Just a suggestion, sorry if it doesn't pan out.

I've had iffy luck at Costco with mussels (and shellfish in general). The meats tended to be small, the texture stringy and they had a slightly off taste.

$10-$12 must have been an load of them as I usually see them for around $3 a pound.

I have generally been pleased with the mussels I get from Whole Foods and also Sunset Foods in the burbs. The provenance of these bi-valves is a mystery to me. But they've got what I like - large meats and that special briney quality that makes mussels so tasty.

Would they be that much more succulent had they been pulled straight from the Sound?

We just had mussles 2 nites ago that I purchased at my local Jewel-- $3.49 a pound. They were small and truthfully I don't know where they came from, but they were really good. No fishy smell at all when I steamed them and the flavor was great. Our new Jewel here gets a fresh shippment in every couple of days. I'm so pleased with this new store in our area and will certainly buy them again.

HI,

I bought mussels at Costco a few weeks ago at $1.99 per pound BUT you are obliged to buy the entire netted bag, which comes out to $10. or more.

We had them steamed in a vodka and tarragon boullion, which I added cream and reduced for a sauce. Sometimes one cannot always separate the taste of the mussels from their preparation, though we managed to snarf through the whole batch in one swoop.

Regards,

It's a little late now, so this may be more for future reference, but I have had good results with items ordered at the source and shipped overnight. Internet search is one way to go. Pricey, but for a special occasion. . .and often they have specials. Fragile items such as fresh figs and porcini have arrived in pristine condition, so maybe someone has come up with an approach that can even work for shellfish. Of course, Pike Place has lots of purveyors that most likely send seafood.

Locally, I've had good luck working with the head fish guy at Davis Street Fishmarket. He was able to get belons for me, and they sometimes have kumamotos, which I believe are from Washington. The only thing is that if they special order for you, you have to get a lot.

Enjoy!

I hope the party went well despite the disappointing loss. I too am a Seattle native and long for the seafood quality I remember from home. I personally have had good experiences with Costco seafood and have found they use the same sources here that they use back home as Costco is based in Kirkland. I have given up on Jewel and Dominicks for fish and seafood as they are so inconsistent. I am also a fan of Wholefoods, Mitsuwa in Arlington Heights, and Trader Joes frozen fish case.

Let me know if you find a good dungeoness crab source that isn't to pricey.

You have inspired me I think I need to host aPNW party soon.

After my parents retired to Anacortes Washington, it became a tradition that whenever I was in town, my mother and I would drive down to Coupeville on Whidbey Island for mussels (my dad hated mussels). We went to a little bar that was in an old cannery that stuck out over the waters of Penn Cove, called Toby's. If you looked out the windows you could actually see the mussel beds just a stone's throw away. Penn Cove mussels are so much more tender and sweet than their larger and more ubiquitous PEI brethren. More than that, I realized that I had never had a truly fresh mussel in my life. I learned that fresh mussels are not pink or orange but a light beige in color, which becomes orange or pink only after the mussel dies.

Anyhow, I have long searched for a local establishment that serves these wonderful Pacific Northwest treats. So far, I have not had much luck. It is possible, however, to order Penn Cove mussels online and have them delivered within 16 hrs after they are pulled from the Puget Sound, it costs about $10/lb plus $15 shipping (5 lb. min). Here is a link:
http://www.farm-2-market.com/products/m-and-c.html

I have a friend who is a caterer and a mussel fanatic. I told him about the delectable sweetness of Penn Cove mussels, and he told me he would check his local sources to see if he could find a distributor who carried them. Well, apparently he has found one. I do not know the details, and I am a little sceptical about whether or not they are the real thing (the price he quoted me seemed awfully cheap). Anyhow, tonight I am going to his house for a mussel party, and will find out the details and report back here.

Let me know if you find a good dungeoness crab source that isn't to pricey.

dvrstygrl,
I've posted this before, but if you are looking for good quality live dungeness crab at a reasonable price, try Sea World on Argyle (this of course after you have your fill of bahn mi and pho from the restaurant of your preference). It's on the north side of Argyle just east of Broadway. I think in the 10 years that we've been going there, they've only been out of crab twice. Price is usually 5.99 a pound, and they have pretty good size variety - ones we got last week were just over 2 1/2 pounds each.
John

Sea World
1130 W Argyle St
773) 334-5335

Mr T-

Thanks for the Argyle hookup. Even after living here for five years, it is still weird to me to buy the fish and seafood that we once caught as a regular part of family outings. I have been trying to focus on local sources and look forward to checking this out.

Does anyone have restaurant suggestions to find a local source for panko-breaded fried fish- preferrably halibut or copper river red?

I'm making a squash/lemon/mussel soup this Sunday. The Fish Guy has some P.E.I mussels now for $6.95 per pound. What makes these mussels better than any other, and as dumb as this may sound, would it be worth the extra $10 to buy these rather than the $2.99/lb ones at Jewel if I'm using them in soup?

Thanks!

My favorite mussels are the greenish ones from New Zealand.

I would think it would depends on your prep: I want fat, juicy mussels for preparations that call for open-shell presentation. The ones at the Jewel tend to be small and not so plump, but are still pretty tasty. I suppose if they're unshelled and floating around in a soup, the size matters less, though you should buy more of them.

The soup calls for open-shell presentation, but it's all for me so looks don't matter as much.

It's less about looks, and more about what the star is in your dish: open-shell presentation usually means that the dish is all about mussels and the other stuff is a nice afterthought, in which case you want really fat, juicy ones. If the mussels are the afterthought (usually when presented out of the shell,) you can get away with the smaller ones.

For open shell (and truth be told, just about any time I use mussels) I always want the biggest, plumpest ones I can find.

d4v3 wrote: We went to a little bar that was in an old cannery that stuck out over the waters of Penn Cove, called Toby's.

Nothing much new to add, but just wanted to share that I had been to Toby's about two years ago, and I still dream of those Penn Cove mussels. They're a bit smaller than what we're used to around here, but I haven't had mussels as good since. If anybody finds themselves in the Seattle area, it's worth taking the trip out to Whidbey Island to Toby's.

Man, do I miss my trips to Toby's and their Penn Cove mussels. I was flat wrong in my post above. Toby's mussels aren't beige because they are fresher than the orange PEI mussles we get here. They are a different color because they are a completely different species called Mytilus trossulus, which are only grown in Penn Cove and the adjacent area. They should also not be confused with Mediterranean mussels (Mytilus galloprovencialis) which are also farmed on the west coast. I have tried in vain to find a restaurant that serves this type of mussel around Chicago. I have also called around to several high end fish stores in the area only to get into arguments about the very existence of the species. I know they can be ordered online and overnighted, but they are expensive, and I much rather have someone else do the work. There is a wholesaler here that lists Penn Cove mussels as a special order item, but I have yet to find a retail source.