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Columbia Restaurant Removes Grouper from the Menu In All of Their Restaurants
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| 05/01/2007 |
TAMPA, Fla., May 1, 2007 - - The Columbia Restaurant has removed grouper from the lunch and dinner menus of its six restaurants in Florida. “We are taking a pro-active response to the difficulty in meeting the demand for authentic Florida grouper by taking all grouper items off of our menu,” said Richard Gonzmart, President and 4th generation family member for the Columbia Restaurant Group. “We will offer grouper as a special only if we receive the entire fish from our supplier, not just a fillet; this way ensuring that we know we are serving what we say we’re serving,” he said.
Grouper is a prize catch because diners like its mild flavor and white, flaky meat. Florida is known for grouper because it''s caught in the coastal waters of the Atlantic Ocean, or from the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. In the opinion of Gonzmart, the best grouper comes from the Gulf of Mexico.
Grouper also comes into the state of Florida from all over the world. More than seventy different species of grouper are imported into the United States, including Asian grouper that sells at half the cost of the kind caught in Florida.*1
“On top of that trade, unscrupulous businesses sell cheaper fish under the grouper name”, said Bob Jones, executive director of the Southeastern Fisheries Association, which represents Florida fisheries, importers and exporters.*2
The Florida Attorney General''s Office recently tested fish sold as grouper at 24 restaurants in the Tampa area and found that 17 served a different fish.*3
“We will never compromise our family’s name and reputation by serving our guests any kind of substitute item. If we say it is grouper, it will be grouper caught in Florida,” Gonzmart said.
Gonzmart recently took a grouper sandwich off of The Columbia’s lunch menu and in its place is serving a Mahi Mahi Cubana Sandwich, which is Mahi Mahi seasoned and topped with sautéed onions, mushrooms, green peppers and smothered with cheese on Cuban bread.
He also took Florida grouper off the dinner menu, and is serving a newly created crabmeat dish called Langosta y Jaiba Enchilado, a mildly spicy sauce of Maine lobster meat and blue crabmeat, tomato, onions, green peppers, garlic, oregano, white wine and chili peppers, served over pasta. The Columbia is also working with other fresh fish from Florida and with a variety of fish from around the world for their menus and daily specials.
The Columbia Restaurant was founded in 1905 and celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2005. Locations include the flagship restaurant in Tampa’s Historic Ybor City, St. Armands Circle in Sarasota, the Historic District in St. Augustine, The Pier in St. Petersburg, Sand Key on Clearwater Beach and in Central Florida''s town of Celebration. All Columbia Restaurants are owned and operated by 4th and 5th generation members of the founding family.
Please see www.columbiarestaurant.com for more information.
Sources: *1, *2 and *3 Florida Times-Union --February 13, 2007
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