Seafood Champions

Barton Seaver and Hook Restaurant - 2008 Seafood Champion

At Hook Restaurant in Washington, DC, executive chef/owner Barton Seaver and his team are on a mission: create delicious and memorable seafood dishes while inspiring ocean conservation. Hook, which officially opened its doors in April 2007, has been recognized as a Bon Appetit Hot Ten – Best Eco-Friendly Restaurants and the Washington Post Top 50 of 2007. It is the first restaurant in the Pure Hospitality group, led by Jonathan Umbel and Barton Seaver. The following is a profile about the restaurant, including its philosophy on purchasing ocean-friendly seafood.

Although a fairly new company, an important ethic at Hook is using its purchasing power to support companies that are doing the right thing. The goal is to inform guests and begin the conversation, so when they dine at another restaurant or are shopping in the market, they ask questions.

While the most popular dishes on Hook’s menu currently are the grilled calamari (prepared over our wood grill and served with a warm potato salad and basil-walnut pesto) and bluefish (seared on a flat-top grill and served with grilled lemon, a potato-parsnip cake and basil-walnut pesto), Seaver’s favorite to prepare is a poached fish dish – a method the chef notes is “one of the most brilliant ways” of capturing the characteristics of the fish.

“I’ve always wanted to cook with seafood because it offers such a greater palate for creativity,” says Seaver. “There are only so many cuts of beef. Chicken is just, well, chicken. But the amazing array of types of seafood, all with their own unique characteristics, makes seafood much more fun to work with.”

When it comes to sustainable seafood, however, Seaver and his team are all business.

Since day one, Pure Hospitality has emphasized education for its entire staff. Because Seaver is unable to visit each table and illustrate sustainability and ocean conservation, he relies on the servers to understand these issues. Every server must pass a test on sustainability information before they interact with guests, and we continue their education in daily staff meetings. A copy of Sourcing Seafood is kept in the kitchen so staff can easily reference various species on Hook’s menu. Excerpts from important books such as those by Callum Roberts and Charles Clover are part of our company manual, which is given to all new employees.

“We feel it’s not enough for the servers to have memorized a few sound bytes,” says Seaver. “It is critical that they represent this ethos in a sincere way with our guests, so the greater understanding they have accomplishes more for all of us.”

Seafood is 96% of Hook’s menu. So how do Seaver and his team approach procurement for the restaurant? Seaver acknowledges that sourcing sustainable seafood can take more time and effort on the front end of doing business – researching, getting to know the principles – but feels it is worth it.

“As many of our suppliers will tell you, I take a very long time to decide whether I will purchase from a company.”

Pure Hospitality does not have a rigid set of criteria when it comes to suppliers; instead it is about a relationship. Both Seaver and his chef de cuisine have traveled to potential suppliers in the Caribbean and West Africa to truly see how they source. In both cases, the time spent to research the companies’ methods was well worth the trip, and only boosted satisfaction in working with these companies.

Adds Seaver, “This has been a ten year learning curve for me personally that I am hoping to eliminate for other chefs. I am currently helping to develop new tools and methods that will allow other chefs to accurately and conveniently buy environmentally friendly seafood.”

What does being a Seafood Champion mean to Hook?

It means having to work even more diligently, not only to live up to this honor, but also to ensure that others will follow the lead. Sustainability is not about a few people making responsible choices, but rather it is about a great many people enabling responsible options for everyone.

About Hook Restaurant/Pure Hospitality:

Located in the heart of Georgetown, Hook Restaurant brings a unique flavor to the M Street row. A neighborhood restaurant serving responsibly sourced seafood and local products, Hook is committed to providing an exceptional dining experience, but also to educating the community about our mission. The menu changes daily to reflect whatever sustainable fish are in season and available, and also uses locally grown produce, and humane meat and dairy products. The restaurant’s eco-friendly practices are merely a reflection of a deeper ideology: the two things than link every human on the planet are food and environment, and we cannot live without either.

3241 M Street NW
Washington, DC 20007
202.625.4488
www.hookdc.com

Posted February 25, 2008