Q&A With Phil Bardales Of Bardales Seafood – Indianapolis Monthly

HEADING OUT TO scallop or drag for fluke and sea bass have been mainstays of Fort Lauderdale native Phil Bardales’s day by day life as a business fisherman within the south Atlantic. And whereas fishing will at all times be his ardour, the accidents he sustained in a boating accident have grounded Bardales, not less than for now, in Broad Ripple, the place he’s sourcing a number of the freshest seafood and shellfish eating places and native house cooks have ever seen in Indiana. At his eponymous Bardales Seafood on Coil Road, he’s shortly changing into the go-to useful resource for seafood-lovers, not only for his day-boat contemporary cuts of uncommon yellowedge grouper and queen snapper however for his information of sourcing, storing, and cooking the fruits of the ocean. We just lately caught up with him to get some fish tales and to clear the waters concerning the usually complicated world of seafood.

When did you first uncover your love of fishing?

I’m probably not certain how it began. I grew up in Fort Lauderdale, which has loads of fishing assets, however my dad was an avid golfer, not a fisherman. I used to observe the entire fishing exhibits on ESPN, and shortly sufficient my dad and mom have been having to pull me off of the lake or canal throughout the road to return in for dinner. However I had this ardour, and as an alternative of attempting to get me to do one thing much less harmful or extra worthwhile, my dad and mom backed me up one hundred pc. “Maintain fishing,” they mentioned, and that’s simply what I did.

But you didn’t pursue a fishing profession at first?

I figured I ought to get a enterprise diploma, so I enrolled at Valencia Faculty in Orlando. As quickly as I began my courses, I noticed that this was not the trail I needed to take. I wanted to be fishing. So I went right down to Key West and close by Fort Jefferson, the place I lived on a ship for over a yr. It was filled with cockroaches, however I knew that is the place I wanted to be to get my begin. One evening my buddy and I have been at a bar speaking about fishing, when the man sitting subsequent to me mentioned he was in search of a brand new crew member of his boat.

However this wasn’t simply any boat.

No, it was the Hannah Boden, which was docked throughout the harbor from the place I lived. That’s the boat from the The Good Storm. I used to be in awe, however the captain simply mentioned that it was one other boat, and he wanted assist. At first he mentioned he’d be again in 10 days, however then he requested me if I might begin the following day. He might sense my ardour, so he gave one of many different deckhands a $20 invoice and advised him to depart and employed me. That was positively my in to the business fishing trade.

You moved up fairly shortly within the enterprise?

At first we have been fishing for golden crab, however they’re notoriously robust to get, and it’s costly to fish, so we determined to fish for purple crab, which is extra plentiful, as an alternative. We went to Virginia for a bit, however then we went all the best way to New Bedford, Massachusetts, the place I caught with the identical outfit for almost eight years. I went from a greenhorn to a deck boss in a few seasons, then I used to be captain after my fourth yr. I ran my very own boat, the Sea King, for 4 crab seasons till I acquired a much bigger boat known as the Diamond Woman. After a household tragedy, I took a while off and went again to my completely satisfied place, Key West, to regroup.

How did you make it from the Atlantic to landlocked Indiana?

It was an accident, actually, that acquired me right here. Whenever you’re on fishboats, you’re at all times at risk and hurting your self. However I used to be again on a calamari boat off the coast of Virginia, on a 12-day journey. Every thing was going effectively, however then I used to be unclipping a hyperlink to a web. The mate on the boat hauled the hydraulics, however I used to be wrapped within the cable. I heard a loud thump, and two discs popped out of my backbone. I had two herniations. I recovered, but it surely was proper earlier than the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020. About that point, I met my girlfriend, Tabitha, who lived in Indiana. She texted me and requested me if I needed to return reside in Indiana.

That will need to have been a little bit of a tradition shock.

I’d by no means lived away from the ocean, so I had no clue what I used to be going to do. I utilized at Bass Professional Retailers and Cabela’s, however after they requested me learn how to outfit a buyer to fish within the Nice Lakes and I mentioned I didn’t know, they didn’t rent me. There was a snowstorm in early 2020, and I went looking grocery shops for contemporary seafood in Indy. I couldn’t discover something that I used to be in search of. So I acquired this concept to search for a spot to usher in contemporary fish, the stuff that individuals and cooks simply haven’t seen in Indy. I discovered that spot proper throughout from Rene’s Bakery on Coil Road in March of 2020. I knew it might be excellent for retail, however we needed to demolish the within and rebuild it. After which there was a six- to seven-month look ahead to an indoor refrigerated case. In the mean time, I went poking round eating places and asking what they wanted, in addition to exhibiting them some nice contemporary yellowtail snapper that I had. Quickly sufficient, I landed some accounts, together with Tinker Road. I used to be simply so completely satisfied to indicate them what actually contemporary seafood seemed like.

What do most individuals not perceive about “contemporary” seafood?

For one, they don’t perceive that the availability of seafood within the U.S. is simply nowhere close to what we are able to present. We’re nice about sustainability, however that implies that our manufacturing will get restricted at instances, after which it’s exhausting to construct it again up. About 80 to 90 p.c of seafood on this nation is imported. Folks additionally assume that purchasing fish on the coasts is the one approach to get contemporary fish. However what they don’t understand is that usually the boat has been out to sea for as a lot as two weeks. True day-boat fish, which I’m getting, solely stays on the boat for one to 2 days, then there’s a nice community of vehicles that brings it on ice to locations like Chicago. It’s simply as contemporary and even more energizing than what individuals can get on the coasts.

What do you inform somebody who desires to get the most effective seafood potential?

Belief the individual you’re sourcing from. No quantity of wanting on the eyes to verify they’re not cloudy or analyzing the bloodline to see that it’s vivid purple can be certain that the fish was caught on a line or farmed within the open water, and a lot seafood is available in frozen, is handled with carbon dioxide, after which is thawed and bought as contemporary. Tuna steaks, for example, can look very pink, however they’re often beforehand frozen. If you happen to do purchase fish frozen, you should purchase it IQF, or “particular person fast frozen,” so you already know that it’s frozen individually inside hours of the catch. However none of this issues in case your fishmonger can reply your questions on the place the fish comes from, the place it’s caught, and whether or not it’s contemporary or not.

Have you ever tried lake fishing in Indiana, or does that break your coronary heart?

I really just lately acquired a few poles for fishing crappie, and I used to be so proud to catch my first one in a lake. I feel it’s nice that individuals in Indiana fish in lakes, however the secret is not simply to let the fish die within the water on the string whilst you’re fishing. It’s essential to put these fish on ice instantly, however don’t maintain them on ice for greater than an hour or two. I used to be so excited to strive the crappie. I cooked it up with some grouper and snapper I had, and the individuals from right here have been simply floored by what contemporary Caribbean fish tasted like. However I used to be saying how nice the crappie was.