Right Bite restaurants receive twice-yearly staff training on seafood issues provided by Shedd experts. The restaurants pledge to offer at least one sustainable seafood dish at all times and, if applicable, to permanently remove at least one unsustainable choice from their menus. Shedd Aquarium is committed to helping our partners find and offer the highest quality and most environmentally friendly seafood available. Our restaurant partners know that we mean business when it comes to sustainable seafood, but equally as important, our partners know that we care about their business.
Check out our Right Bite partners:
312 Chicago's Chef Dean Zanella is well-known for his commitment to sustainability, with local organic produce and naturally-raised livestock often featured on his menu. So it was no surprise when several Right Bite restaurants suggested contacting Chef Dean to invite 312 Chicago to join the Right Bite roster. From our first conversation, we knew that 312 Chicago was a perfect match for Right Bite.
The Right Bite team knew Carnivale was restaurant-partner material when we heard its executive chef, Mark Mendez, speak at a local sustainable seafood event. Chef Mark's energy and knowledge about the issues were apparent as he introduced one delicious course after another. While you'll likely find Australis barramundi and Kona Kampachi on Chef Mark's menu, we'd also recommend trying the delectable, sustainable arctic char ceviche.
Davis Street Fishmarket, Evanston and Schaumburg, are the most recent restaurants to join the Right Bite program. Owner Larry Huber contacted Shedd through his seafood purveyor after reading about sustainability issues in National Geographic magazine: “I became overwhelmingly aware of the importance that we need to put on day-to-day awareness of the ocean environment after reading an article on bluefin tuna in the April 2007 issue. I don’t think I will ever look at seafood buying the same way again." Davis Street continues to have a large variety of fresh fish that can be prepared any way you like it, in addition to the chef's preparations. Be sure to ask your server what sustainable options they recommend. We always enjoy the farmed oysters!
If you're a foodie, you likely know of 2008 James Beard Award Winner Carrie Nahabedian. Chef Carrie and her brother, Michael, are the owner/operators of Naha, a top Chicago restaurant and local icon for Chicago’s sustainability movement. Chef Carrie is a board member of the Green City Market, and Naha is an original Right Bite partner. Naha's menu features sustainable choices such as wild striped bass, lake whitefish and one of the Right Bite team's favorites, arctic char. Join us for a Right Bite dinner at Naha on Monday, Sept. 8, and try Chef Carrie's creations for yourself!
Zagat has ranked Oceanique as the premier seafood restaurant in Chicagoland, so we were determined to add this local favorite to Right Bite partner roster. Lucky for us and for our oceans, Chef Mark Grosz is passionate about seafood and healthy fisheries. Oceanique regularly features such sustainable delights as arctic char, farmed American sturgeon caviar and shrimp sourced from Laughing Bird farm, which has been recognized for its innovative and environmentally responsible practices. And Cecelia Ungari, our Right Bite program coordinator, is still talking about Chef Mark's wild Alaska halibut featured during a 2007 Right Bite dinner!
When the Right Bite team set out to recruit Chicago’s most talented and enthusiastic chefs, we struck gold when we found Chef Patrick McLaughlin at Parkers' Ocean Grill. Parkers' has been a Right Bite restaurant partner from the very beginning and is a crowd favorite among the restaurants that host the annual Right Bite dinner series. Chef Patrick delights us and inspires others when he recounts how the Right Bite program literally has changed his life. After becoming aware of the issues surrounding seafood, Chef Patrick’s interest and fascination with the ocean grew. He has since earned his scuba certification and now spends much of his vacation time exploring the undersea world. Parkers' menu offers so many sustainable choices that it’s tough to pick a favorite, but Michelle Jost, Shedd’s Right Bite program manager, recommends wild Alaska halibut, "wood-roasted, please."
Shaw's Crab House's Chicago and Schaumburg locations are original Right Bite restaurants, joining as partners more than three years ago. Shaw’s has a long history of supporting local farmers and offers a variety of seafood on its menus, so offering sustainable seafood was a natural choice for this Chicago-area dining legend. Shaw’s goes above and beyond the parameters of a Right Bite partnership. In addition to menus that feature Marine Stewardship Council-certified wild Alaska king salmon and Pacific halibut, both Shaw's support many important Great Lakes conservation initiatives. Shaw’s Chicago has hosted several Right Bite dinners and has led fun cooking demonstrations at the aquarium for our guests and members — perhaps none more memorable than the lessons on how to shuck and slurp oysters at our annual member’s open house. As one of Shedd's earliest restaurant partners, Shaw's enthusiasm for Right Bite energized the aquarium's efforts to reach out to the culinary world. And Shaw's clam chowder is the best, according to Michelle Jost, Shedd's conservation programs manager and a Boston native who knows about these things. Consider joining us on July 14 for a Right Bite dinner at Shaw's Chicago!
Need more information about the Right Bite restaurant program? Just e-mail us at rightbite@sheddaquarium.org.
