Consider the Lobster Roll: A Commitment to Sustainability Almost Forced One Eatery to 86 Its Best Seller

"Fish are like house guests, they start to stink after three days," jokes Tim Kuklinski, the culinary director at Stoic & Genuine, one of the Crafted Concepts restaurants owned by Beth Gruitch and chef Jennifer Jasinski.

The Union Station eatery has been serving up seafood since 2014, shipping fresh fish in every day, and only sourcing its products from sustainable and ethical fisheries across the U.S., an effort that earned it recognition from the James Beard Foundation as a 2023 Smart Catch Leader.

Stoic & Genuine only purchases seafood from fisheries that are certified by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), a non-profit that encourages sustainable fishing practices and rates fisheries on a color scale from green ("good") to red ("avoid" due to harmful environmental impact).

In September, the MSC rating for the Maine fishery's North Atlantic lobsters, which Stoic & Genuine has long used for its lobster roll, dropped from "good alternative" to "avoid."

"Ahh, shit," says Kuklinski, recalling his reaction when he heard the news. "That is our best-selling dish, and now I was dealing with an internal debate about whether to keep it as a menu item, or to stop in the name of social responsibility." Last November, the team did remove the dish from the menu as they searched for another sustainable lobster fishery.
The reason for the change in ranking is because of the environmental impact fishing gear was causing to the North Atlantic right whale, an endangered species that can become tangled in excess lobster fishing nets. As a result, major retailers such as Whole Foods have dropped the product as well, a move that may be good for conservation efforts, but also has residual impacts on employees of the fishery, their families, and other unaffiliated lobster fishermen.

That fact is one that Kuklinski struggles with. "Put yourself in the fishermen's shoes. Many fishermen are fishing properly in Maine, following the rules and regulations, only to have their customers be taken away and to be villainized by the MSC,"  he says. "Take our industry, for example. We work very hard for very little. If people decided going out to eat was not good anymore, our livelihoods, everything, would be lost. It is a double-edged sword."

But, in order to stay true to Stoic & Genuine's sustainability standards, Kuklinski began searching for an alternative. He was able to find a Canadian lobster fishery that had already received the MSC seal of approval, and hit the mark when it came to flavor and texture. After a seven month hiatus, the lobster roll returned to the menu in June.

For Kuklinski, the importance of responsible sourcing goes beyond the four walls of Stoic & Genuine. "If we don't start doing things better, we are screwed," he says. "Chefs need to be aware of where their food is being sourced from, how it is being grown, and how it is being processed in order to protect both the customer and the planet. ...Being aware is the most important thing, understanding the real-life impacts of your purchases and changing them to better help our planet and environment. That goes for both inside a galley and inside your own home kitchen."

To learn more about the MSC and its ratings, visit msc.org.

Stoic & Genuine is located at 1701 Wynkoop Street and is open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday. For more information, visit stoicandgenuine.com.