Arts & Entertainment
"Top Chef" Episode Filmed in Montauk Waters Premieres Wednesday Night
Captains of the Susie E II and the Sea Wife IV said the contestants caught lots of striped bass and porgies.
A segment of Wednesday night's Top Chef episode on Bravo will feature two Montauk fishing boats chartered for an expedition off of Montauk Point in August. Contestants, broken into two teams, were split between the Sea Wife IV and the Susie E II.
Dale Talde, a contestant who fished from the Susie E II, a 48-foot Custom Sportfisherman docked at , said during a phone interview on Tuesday that for him, fishing in Montauk was an amazing experience.
"I think these guys [Montauk fishermen] are the best of the best. The cream of the crop," he said.
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Tom Cusimano, who captains the Sea Wife IV , a 51 foot Custom Carolina that calls the dock its home, said in a phone conversation on Monday, that he was glad to take the contestants out fishing and to be a part of the show. A lot of stripers and porgies were caught, he said, adding that all the contestants did a great job of hooking the fish. "The girls definitely did way better than the guys."
Aboard the Susie E II, Captain Burt Prince said the team on his boat did a fine job of fishing, and they caught a nice amount of striped bass, bluefish, and porgies. He said it was just another day of bass fishing in Montauk. "It was a good experience. I had fun," said Prince.
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Talde said they were almost at their limits on the Susie E II, and he said that he credits the knowledge and talents of Prince and Cusimano to such a great day. "They put us on the fish, and then it was up to us, " he said.
Perhaps that's why the episode is called, "We're Gonna Need a Bigger Boat."
Though he couldn't say much about the premiere of Wednesday's episode, Talde said "Sofrioto" style, a Latin-American tradition, he said, in which the whole fish is cooked, is his favorite way to prepare a stripped bass. He said it's a dish that he learned from his mother, who is of Filipino descent, and it was passed down to him. "If you can do anything whole. . . there's an honor to it," he said.
The recipe, he said, includes cooking down onions, peppers, garlic, and tomatoes until it almost turns into a jam. He suggests serving it with a simple side dish such as tortillas or white rice.
Top Chef airs Wednesdays on Bravo at 10 p.m.
