DINING/PUZZLE
Uni, meenie, miney, roe Casting a wider net for your palate could mean incorporating uni into your diet
For most of us, the dining out experience goes something like this: Review dining op- tions, select a restaurant, arrive and review the menu, select a dish, wait patiently, receive the dish, eat. What’s missing from the equation is a firm knowl- edge of where that food comes from. That topic is arguably most important when it comes to seafood. Enter Mitch Hobron and Peter Halmay; affable enough sounding names, sure, but who are they and why should you care?
Mitch and Pe- ter fully compre- hend the merits of living on the coast of the coun- try, aside from pleasant ocean breezes and the ability to make quick jaunts to the beach. They’re local ur- chin divers and, for those who don’t frequent Japanese restau- rants and adven- turous eateries, urchin— or uni— is quickly becom-
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of other sea creatures. Most of the uni’s livelihood occurs on its underside, where its mouth and tiny tube feet are located. It may look daunting but when prepared correctly—or even left alone—it’s delicious. Peter began diving for uni in 1972, far before eating it was en vogue. He and Mitch, who
If you like eating seafood,
urchin is a good alternative to the overfished sea creatures typical to American cuisine. We’re undoubtedly a culture of people who like eating big fish, like salmon and tuna, often unjustly balk at the likes of sardines, herring, anchovies and other diminutive swim- mers. We have to get over it. Blame commercial fishermen for overfishing, but equally guilty are our discriminatory (not to be confused with discriminating) palates.
Thinking you’d like a nice shrimp dinner? It’s so easy to prepare, right? Most store-bought shrimp is raised on destructive farms or, if wildly caught, still bears the guilt of ample by-catch: other sea creatures caught in the large nets used to dredge the ocean. By-catch is typically unceremoniously disposed of. San Diego’s
An example of uni as you might find it in a sushi restaurant.
ing the hot ticket. Culinary Trends Magazine, an industry publication that follows and shares restaurant trends with chefs across the U.S., devoted this month’s issue to the spiny crustacean. Chefs are becom- ing increasingly interested in this wild-caught, sustainable treasure. They are sustain- able because they eat very few other living animals, meaning when you eat them, you’re not, in turn, eating several servings
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began diving after leaving a more typical career path, hit the waters each morning, often hand-delivering their catch to local restaurants and forward- thinking companies like Catalina Offshore Products, a Linda Vista-based wholesale op- eration specializing in locally- caught seafood. It’s open to the public seven days a week during a window of specific hours. For more information, visit
www.catalinaop.com.
urchin, by compari- son, is hand-caught by Mitch, Peter and
other cats that care about the future of our oceans. No by- catch, no parting with scruples. It’s arguably some of the best in the world, so no compromis- ing quality. And it’s available year-round, so you have ample time to warm up to the taste, if you haven’t already. Some chefs transform it into bisque. Others opt for a more natural prepara- tion. When served raw in its shell with sea salt and lemon, its divinity can’t be overstressed.u
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