Fresh mackerel and herring in St Louis

[buttery77]

Hello there

looking to get hold of fresh herring and mackerel in St Louis and finding it tricky. Pretty new here so still finding my way around.... any suggestions would be very well received

Thanks!

[p.j.]

It has been very hard to find mackerel or bluefish here in St. Louis for many years. In addition to Bob's Seafood, the Whole Foods on Brentwood has an excellent fish department. But they rarely get mackerel or bluefish. You can ask if they will order it for you. As Lemons said, you might get lucky.
Good luck from a Jersey girl who would love to buy fresh blues or mackerel.

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Bob's Seafood
8660 Olive Blvd, Saint Louis, MO 63132

[lemons]

p.j., please do try Bob's - Saturdays are our usual day to visit, and I'd try that day first. (Also skate!)

[p.j.]

Hi Lemons!
We don't shop on Saturdays, or eat skate. However, we did get some delicious fresh mackerel at Bob's on the day after Thanksgiving. Broiled with just a light dredging in flour and a thin spread of mayonaisse on top. Yum times 2. Lemon wedge on the side.

[alan]

I'm assuming you've already tried Bob's Seafood on Olive. I don't know that they'll have it, but they may be able to direct you to someone who does or else tell you that you can't get it here.

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Bob's Seafood
8660 Olive Blvd, Saint Louis, MO 63132

[lemons]

Herring, never, in my many years experience; mackerel and bluefish, yes, if you're lucky.

[hill food]

if you check out Bob's you may as well check out Seafood City down the street (closer to Hanley)

[neointima]

This is a bit of an old thread, but I wanted to chime in on Seafood City (grocery). We used to buy most of our seafood from this place, since they have live seafood (including frogs, blue crabs, clams, geoduck! etc.), however, we began to notice consistently that there was an odd flavor to the fish (e.g. tilapia, striped bass, catfish), and concluded that it must be their tank management, so being a bit grossed out, we stopped.

I too am a huge lover of mackerel, and they (along with Olive Farmers' Market on the other side of Olive Blvd) carry Boston mackerel as well as pike mackerel, but I had one bad experience with a bad mackerel (1out of 3 purchased that day), and that was the end of that as well. I also had a bad pomfret from Olive, so I've been very wary since. Their stock is probably previously frozen. Part of my concern was that I don't know how quickly they move the 'dead' fish, and how many freeze-thaw cycles some of them have gone through.

Here's a question for the Chow folks: Other than the standard eyes, gills, smell tests of freshness on a fish, how do you assess your (dead) fish for freshness, esp. mackerel? How about if it's been previously frozen (in which case the eyes are no longer helpful)?

Obviously, the 'freshest' fish is still alive at the grocer, and that's pretty much the only thing we buy these days except for an occasional side of steelhead or salmon or snapper from Costco. I do love Bob's (great oysters!), but can never get there when they're open...

I miss my days in Boston, when mackerel was cheap ($2/pound) and plentiful even at Whole Foods!