A Windy City restaurant is putting the Midwest’s most hated fish-on a dish! Diners at the Lockwood Restaurant inside downtown Chicago’s famed Palmer House Hilton Hotel now have the opportunity to try an “Asian Carp Ceviche”, or a cleverly named “Carp-accio.” A few months ago, the Asian Carp was a topic of heated discussion throughout the region, amid fears that the invasive species would enter the Great Lakes, and subsequently destroy it’s ecosystem.
Chef Phillip Foss says the Asian Carp doesn’t deserve the bad reputation it has gained in the United States, and he hopes to raise awareness about the species by putting it on his menu. Foss says he has already changed many opinions of this misunderstood fish, and he doesn’t do it by talking- he does it by treating his customers’ taste buds. His experiment has also been a treat when the check comes-he has been offering the Asian Carp dishes free of charge to start out, since otherwise nobody chooses to eat it when they have more familiar fish selections, like halibut, as alternatives.
While the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive so far, Foss is considering a name change, from “Asian Carp,” to “Shanghai Bass,” to appeal to a broader audience.
I was in the kitchen with Lockwood Restaurant’s Chef Phillip Foss and Chef James Tolan, check out the video below.