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Where Y'Eat: A Different Selection Of Shrimp Hit The Dock, And The Tables

Ian McNulty
Royal red shrimp, a menu fixture at Peche Seafood Grill.

There is a wider variety of American shrimp turning up on New Orleans menus, presenting richer possibilities.

We order our shrimp fried or grilled, boiled, poached, marinated as ceviche or sautéed for New Orleans-style BBQ shrimp.

These days, however, it's become easier to order different shrimp by species, sometimes even stacking up a few varieties of the Gulf's prodigious catch on the same table. We’re not talking about all-shrimp tasting menus — at least not yet — but a greater appreciation for differences between types of shrimp and better access to them is opening new possibilities for seafood lovers.

For instance, Pêche Seafood Grill in the Warehouse District serves boiled shrimp caught in shallow waters along different parts of Louisiana’s coast, and also grilled royal red shrimp, a buttery, supple-bodied, coral-colored species brought in from deep waters off Alabama. At other New Orleans restaurants, diners are finding pink shrimp and even soft shell shrimp.

The increased variety locally comes at a time when shrimp is under some re-evaluation nationally. Most wild American shrimp comes from the Gulf of Mexico, and Louisiana’s vast wetlands coast serves as the nursery for much of this harvest. But the domestic catch pales in compared to the torrent of farm-raised shrimp the U.S. ships in from overseas, mostly from Asia and Latin America.

These imports make up 90 percent of U.S. shrimp consumption, and concerns are growing about the economic and environmental impact of such a huge preponderance of foreign shrimp on American plates.

In New Orleans, the growing attention to locality and seasonality of shrimp has become one way to differentiate domestic wild product from commodity imports. It fits the trend of chefs naming the ranch where their steaks started out or the farm that supplied the night's greens, and it shows the richness of resources in our own backyard (or waterways, in this case). The upshot is greater variety for diners as well.

So, at his Uptown restaurant Dominique’s on Magazine, chef Dominique Macquet uses different types of shrimp for different preparations, often serving a few varieties of shrimp on the same menu. Lately, he’s been serving basil leaf wraps filled with pink shrimp, a soft-textured, sweet-flavored shrimp caught around Florida, and also royal red shrimp prepared as ceviche.

The new Lakeview restaurant Cava has made a seasonal specialty of soft shell shrimp. Like the more familiar soft shell crab, these shrimp are harvested during the animal’s molting process when the entire shell is easy to eat. They just don’t usually make it very far from the boat, as fishermen tend to keep them for themselves, and they rarely find their way onto restaurant menus. But Cava proprietor Danny Millan tracked down a source in the fishing village of Lafitte. At his restaurant they’re fried whole and plated over sliced tomatoes and greens dressed with remoulade. Since the shrimp were taken while puffing up to grow into new shells, they taste plump and full, and the soft, edible shell encasing them adds a richer flavor.

This is only the start of the Gulf’s diversity, even for shrimp. There are many other species out there, and there are differences between the same species depending on where it’s caught – inland waters or offshore, salt water or brackish. There’s a lot to explore, and as long as we protect our Gulf and our fisheries, there’s a lot to eat.

Cava

789 Harrison Ave., New Orleans, 504-304-9034

Dominique’s on Magazine

4213 Magazine St., New Orleans, 504-891-9282; dominiquesonmag.com

Pêche Seafood Grill

800 Magazine St., New Orleans, 504-522-1744; pecherestaurant.com

Ian covers food culture and dining in New Orleans through his weekly commentary series Where Y’Eat.