Hooked to add sustainable fish to Leslieville’s ever-expanding range of food boutiques
Although locally and organically raised meat has become much more common in recent years, the pickings for sustainably caught fish are still pretty slim. That’s about to change with the opening of Hooked, a new sustainable seafood market in Leslieville.
Owner Dan Donovan grew up fishing, and has spent the last decade cooking with gurus of the fresh and local movement, Tobey Nemeth and Jamie Kennedy. “Fish has always been important to me,” he told us. “I grew up in North Bay, and if we weren’t in school, we were fishing for walleye or pickerel.” Now when he goes shopping, he’s consistently disappointed. “I can’t find any fish that I would want to eat. It’s terrible.”
Donovan will stock his beloved pickerel, as well as locally farmed trout, mussels from Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia, east and west coast oysters and lobster. He’ll also be selling prepared dishes and edibles he’s planning smoke and cure in house. There will be a cooking school, where his wife Kristin Donovan (Dish Cooking Studio, Avalon, JK Wine Bar) will be demystifying fish. “I have two goals: first, to get everyone to stop eating farmed salmon and eat farmed trout instead, and to get everyone off tilapia and onto pickerel.”
Donovan hopes to open the shop by March.
Hooked, 888 Queen St. E., hookedinc.ca.
