Whole Sea Bream from New Deal Fish Market

I first discovered New Deal Fish Market last year, when one of my grad school classmates, Roxy, was putting in some hours there as an apprentice fishmonger. It's a bit hidden if you're not from the area, located in the outskirts of Inman Square, heading towards Lechmere, directly across from Mayflower Poultry (home of the famous "Live Poultry Fresh Killed" sign.)

I love buying fish at New Deal because the staff is extremely knowledgeable, friendly, and full of good suggestions. Go in with a vague idea of dinner and they'll flesh it out for you.

Back in mid-October, I found myself at Christina's Ice Cream in Inman to meet up with Ben from A Year From Scratch. We had been housemates back in college and recently realized that we were both food bloggers in Boston, so we had a Rochester food reminiscing session. There was an idea of a future Rochester-themed get-together. Want in on the garbage plate-alicious fun? Email me and let's make it happen! (Wondering what a garbage plate is? You probably don't want to know, but here you go.)

Anyways, after ice cream, I found myself wandering around Christina's Spices, where you can probably find just about any spice you'll ever need. Overwhelmed, I left with only a bag of dried Thai hot chili peppers. 

Wondering what to do with the peppers and what to eat for dinner, I called Joel and told him to meet me at New Deal. On the way over, I passed Tupelo and saw that they had an alligator special, but we decided to save that for another day and go with the fish.

We left New Deal with two whole sea breams, which we stuffed with red peppers, chili peppers, and lime.

When Joel was on a business trip in Japan last year, he realized that chopsticks are great for eating whole fish, because it's easier to avoid the bones.

Definitely check out New Deal if you're looking for high quality seafood and knowledgeable sellers. They often have sushi-grade fish, too.