Chef Marc Murphy shares seafood menu strategiesChef Marc Murphy shares seafood menu strategies

Marc Murphy has spent 11 years running restaurants in New York City.

His company, Benchmarc Restaurants by Marc Murphy, operates two Landmarc restaurants, which serve French- and Italian-inspired bistro food, as well as Ditch Plains, inspired by Long Island seafood shacks. His newest restaurant, Kingside at the Viceroy hotel, opened in late 2013 and serves New American cuisine with a focus on seafood. He also operates a catering company, Benchmarc Events by Marc Murphy.

A graduate of The Institute of Culinary Education in New York City, Murphy is a judge on the Food Network show “Chopped,” and also appears on other food shows and morning news shows.

Murphy recently discussed strategies for putting seafood on the menu with Nation’s Restaurant News.

Ditch Plains Lobster Roll. Photo: Cedric Angeles

I work with suppliers like The Lobster Place and Sea to Table. They’re incredibly conscious of what’s going on. They work with a lot of local fishermen and with people who try to help sustain the fishing industry — and they try to ship within 24 hours.

Of course this winter was a little rough for some of the guys because it was so cold. We had to actually 86 mussels for a while because the fishermen couldn’t get through the ice to get to the mussels.

Where do you get your mussels?

Prince Edward Island. The lobster guys were really having a hard time as well.
But we usually seem to get what we need, and with pricing you go with the flow. You don’t get to say much about that.

I definitely try to buy as local as possible, and I do that as a restaurant customer, too. If I’m in California and I walk into a restaurant, I want oysters from that coast. But I only sell East Coast oysters in my restaurants. I have a strict rule that I don’t want my oysters to have jet lag.

Is that rule a combination of wanting the freshest oysters possible and serving food from nearby?

Yeah. And there’s less fuel cost involved. I think it’s a better way to go.

Are your customers adaptable to fluctuations in seafood supply?

This winter we did have some customers who were a little miffed that we didn’t have mussels on the menu. But it’s great when you have a great story and you can say “The fishermen can’t get them out of the water because it’s frozen.” And they say “Oh, OK, I understand.” When you do things like that it makes people realize that you are buying local or you are buying fresh. You are buying stuff that comes from a fisherman.

A lot of people in New York just expect to see a piece of salmon on a plate. But quite a lot of things happen before that salmon gets on your plate, and I think by having things not available, sometimes it makes people realize “Oh yeah, right, I forgot there’s a whole process.”

And probably better for your messaging than importing mussels from elsewhere.

Exactly.

What plans do you have for your menus this summer?

Grilled Salmon. Photo: Cedric Angeles

Every season we listen to our purveyors, who send us a list of what they have locally, what’s coming in, what the price points are. That’s where we start. When the fluke season’s on, I love fluke. I want a lot of fluke on the menu. When striped bass is running, we put that on the menu. That works two ways: one, you know it’s going to be local and fresh, and two, if it’s in season it’s going to be less expensive and better for your food cost.

Do customers accept a seasonally changing menu?

Yes, they do, but there’s no way you’re going to get away with a menu without salmon on it.

Do you have the same philosophy for salmon as you do for oysters, or do you use Alaska salmon in season?

When we see the Alaska salmon running, we definitely get excited, and they get it to us pretty quickly. I just love the texture and flavor of the wild salmon. It’s fantastic.

Do you have advice for operators who are looking to expand their seafood offerings?

You have to first see what your customers want. My philosophy is to run specials and not just see if they sell, but listen to your wait staff and make sure they get feedback from customers and understand why they bought it, if they liked it, what they didn’t like about it. You sort of have to put your toe in the water that way, and if the response is fantastic and they love, say, scallops that you’ve never had on the menu before, then it’s a good idea to put it on the menu.

Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected].
Follow him on Twitter: @foodwriterdiary