Red sea urchin, an under-recognized seafood from the ocean off the West Coast, has found a place of honour on the menu at Vancouver seafood restaurant Blue Water Cafe.
Along with sardines, mackerel, herring, squid, octopus and periwinkles, the red urchin is among what executive chef Frank Pabst calls his "unsung heroes."
Long a champion of the B.C. coastal fisheries, and fiercely protective of commercially endangered species, the German native turned his hand five years ago to the promotion of the not-so-well-known seafood found in abundance in the area.
"We started out thinking of putting things on our menu once the halibut and salmon season are over and not going too far away on the globe to do so," he says.
Pabst's concept is straightforward: Avoid species that are overfished, or fished in ways that damage ocean beds or cause unnecessary bycatch.
The latter term refers to fish and marine mammals that are caught unintentionally by fishing gear meant for other species.
For example, nets intended to target tuna can also catch other species, which are tossed out, dead or dying, West Coast author Jill Lambert says in her recently published A Good Catch.
Pabst says that, at first, the concept was "a little tricky."
"We wanted to expose people to a variety of unsung heroes in a little tasting menu that first year," he says.
"After a month, we noticed customers were certainly willing to try them out, but didn't want to commit to a whole dinner of unsung heroes."
So the second year, he and his staff "smartened up and decided on offering a tasting menu and would make little dishes rather like tapas.
"This was much more successful."
Pabst says the regular seafood menu is extensive, so customers have many other choices.
In November, during the Olympic Gold Medal Plates culinary competition in Vancouver, which raises funds for Canadian athletes across the country throughout the year, Pabst won the gold for his red-urchin appetizer.
"His dish was a bold one involving the challenging flavour of local red sea urchin," said head judge James Chatto, a Toronto food writer.
"Chef Pabst mitigated the pungency by turning the urchin meat into a mousse blended with sweet Qualicum Beach scallop, glazed with a fine ponzu jelly," Chatto wrote in a commentary about the event.
"Beneath the mousse was a crunchy, refreshing salad of chopped wakame seaweed and leek.
Beside it was a cloud of cucumber vichyssoise foam, its ethereal texture in contrast to the distinctive cucumber flavour, and on top of the foam lay a semi-translucent white pearl of sake and yuzu liquid jelly.
A nori crisp, brittle and tissue-thin, provided a different texture."
In February, the café will hold a month-long festival to introduce diners to new flavours and experiences.
Ten per cent of the proceeds will be donated to the Vancouver Aquarium's Ocean Wise sustainable seafood program, of which the café is a founding member.
To learn more about the program, visit http://www.bluewatercafe.net.
