By: Jeff

Jeff — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 23:57:14 +0000

Since the previous post about local restaurants selling local seafood I’ve learned some new information. I was told by an employee of Gilligans that they sell too much shrimp to be able to sell local shrimp so they get their shrimp from a distributor of “Wild Caught Domestic Shrimp” that comes from the Gulf of Mexico. Apparently, Gilligans sells about 400,000 pounds of shrimp at its 9 locations throughout the Charleston area, but they don’t buy any of their shrimp locally…they DO NOT USE ANY LOCAL SHRIMP. They claim that their customers would complain about the lack of consistency in the size of the shrimp. So none of their shrimp is local. This is hearsay, of course, but I’ve gone in to the restaurant and asked directly … Please call them and ask them for yourself 843-853-2244. If you get a different answer than I did then please let us all know.
I sold shrimp straight off the boat to 4 restaurants this summer…I offered to sell local shrimp to 24 other restaurants in Mount Pleasant, Isle of Palm, and Sullivan’s Island but they all had their reasons for not buying local shrimp. The 4 restaurants that bought shrimp straight off the boat are The Boathouse on Isle of Palms 843-886-8000, Sullivans Restaurant on Sullivans Island 843-883-3222, Bambu in Mount Pleasant 843-284-8229, and Fishers Sports Pub and Grill, Johns Island, 843-243-0210. These aren’t the only restaurants that sell local seafood, but you really have to ask in a direct manner whether the seafood you might order was caught locally. Ask them what boat it was caught from or what fishhouse it was bought from; in other words, ask the server how he or she knows it is local seafood.

Comments on: Local Restaurants – Local Seafood?

By: Jeff