Reviews

Wild Edibles, NYC – simply seafood

This restaurant is now closed, although Wild Edibles runs a seafood market on Lexington Avenue and 43rd Street.

In a city as fast-paced as NYC, there’s always something new. Equally, there are some places that just endure. Wild Edibles, on the east side, just below midtown, is one such venue.

Greedy Girl and gluttonous husband stopped by a couple of times on their last visit. It’s basically a fish market with a few bar stools and a line of tables along one wall. They don’t take reservations so, on this late-spring Saturday night, we walked the 20 or so blocks from our apartment in the east village to present ourselves for a feed (oh, and to stave off jet lag).

This is not the place to come for a steak, or pizza, or hamburger (unless it’s filled with swordfish rather than beef). This area of Manhattan has a pizza place every five paces and burgers are pretty much a dime a dozen. Wild Edibles prides itself on market-fresh seafood; this early in the evening patrons were split fairly evenly between taking their choice to cook at home or to stay and eat.

Settling in with a very nice Narragansett Lager (served in a branded glass), we ordered a starter to share and a couple of main courses.

Narragansett Lager

Beer o’clock

Despite having been to the US a great many times, Greedy Girl’s never managed to get into the habit of calling starters ‘appetisers’ and mains ‘entrees’. Note to American diners – in Australia we call starters ‘entrees’ – the world is globalising but not completely so!

First up was a delightful tuna tartare. The last time we had this dish, the tuna had been quite finely minced. This time it was cubed, with a quenelle of parsley pesto in the middle, with the instruction from the wait staff for us to mix it in to taste. The tuna was dressed minimally with soy, a little thai chili and toasted sesame seeds. It was absolutely delish.

tuna tartare

Tuna tartare

Next up for Greedy Girl was a special – fish tacos. These soft taco shells were filled with pico de gallo, a chipotle mayonnaise and guacamole, alongside largish pieces of swordfish. They were yummy.
Fish tacos

Fish tacos. Light and very tasty

Gluttonous husband chose the classic fish and chips. The waiter told us this was also swordfish but the flesh was very white and the flavour quite mild. Despite not often ordering his fish with batter, gluttonous husband commented once the dish had cooled a little, any residual greasy tang was minimal. The chips, described as ‘old bay fries’ on the menu were liberally coated with chicken salt and extremely moreish.

Classic fish and chips

Classic fish and chips

There was a wide variety of fish on offer and one of the wait staff was urging a take-home diner to choose some skate – Greedy Girl thought this was a species that had almost, literally been fished out of existence. The restaurant offers insights into the availability of various types on the menu. A ‘green’ rated fish is abundantly available through sustainable fishing methods. A ‘yellow’ rating means there’s some concern about population density or fishing methods while ‘red’ is rated over-fished with serious environmental impacts. Despite that, atlantic salmon was available on the menu with a red rating. The final rating was ‘white’ where the variety is in the process of being ranked.

Wild Edibles is a fun spot for a quick feast. It’s easy to get into early in the evening and you can be rewarded for early dining with 99c ‘happy hour’ oysters. Fish lovers rejoice.

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