A meal including a U-4 prawn stuffed with lump crab, spicy mayo, and locally sourced and made gulf coast caviar.
Gulf coast caviar AKA bottarga is highly sought after in other countries. It is the cured roe of the mullet. Mullet until recently was considered a trash fish. It is abundant in the gulf coast of florida especially off the coast of anna maria island.
Tyler kirby of Simons coffee house and Gulf Coast Caviar is a processor and pervayor of this fine artisan product. Taking boat trips to watch his bottarga from start to finish.
I feel fortunate being in a working relationship with such a great friend and fellow entrepreneur. Being the former chef at tylers restaurant was rewarding for so many reasons.
My personal chef adventures and catering experience has proven 1 thing. Fine ingredients that are truly locally made and hand crafted are hard to come by. It is equally hard to come by a client who can truly appriecate such a wonder accompaniment to a dish.
The mullet was given a bad name as an oily trash fish many years ago here on the west coast of florida. I find it to be a nice flaky white fish and would be proud to serve it! Cost effective too! Personal chef and catering work allows me to expand my culinary knowledge while working with products that average restaurants just dont use or can't afford. I am a lucky chef here in siesta key, casey key , longboat key , lakewood ranch and all of sarasota!