Chef Wilbur G. Cox Jr. spent a day on a boat with a state bureaucrat who wanted him to put more local seafood on his menu. The excursion has prompted Cox to do that — and more.
"My next [tattoo] sleeve is going to be based all on Maryland seafood," said Wilbur G. Cox Jr., executive sous chef at B&O American Brasserie in Baltimore. "I will get a crab, an Old Bay can, maybe a yellow perch."
Inspiring tattoos might not be that hard in this era of highly inked chefs. The Maryland fisheries official on the boat saved his arm-twisting for a tougher sell: persuading area chefs, despite a down economy and thin restaurant profit margins, to use Chesapeake-region seafood instead of cheaper stuff from around the country and overseas.
"It's not just about price anymore," said Steve Vilnit, who does commercial fisheries outreach and marketing for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. "There's a story that goes with it. And for them to see the story and experience it — they can put a face to their seafood."
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