September 1, 2008 |
Short Order
Alec Brown looks that mako right in the jaw. Photo: Ed Brown
Ed Brown interrupted his family’s long weekend getaway at the beach in Napeague on the Montauk Highway to personally deliver fish for Saturday night’s dinner at Eighty One (now closed) before closing down for Sunday and Monday. “Montauk wild striped bass with local flageolet beans, pepato and tomatoes” the menu boasted. Taking his first time 
off since opening his $3.5 million commitment to the Upper West Side, the chef was headed toward deep water to troll for sharks with his two sons, Alec 12 and Harry 10, when their rented boat ran into a school of stripers. “We had to stop,” Brown reports. “We took in twenty or more – huge, all legal – at least 28 inches.” Then further out at sea the boys snagged a 60 pound mako shark “perfect for grilling on the beach” that night. The boat’s captain helped them land the 250 pound blue water shark seen here long enough to pose. After its "Jaws" moment, it was released. “We don’t take anything we can’t eat,” says Ed, whose schmoozing with local fisherman, squid catchers and scallop draggers will mean direct deliveries for Eighty One.
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