As chef and owner of Jerry and the Mermaid (469 E. Main St., Riverhead, 855-445-3072), Jerry Dicecco Jr. is a chip off the old block and then some. Started by his father, Jerry Sr., in 1994, Dicecco went to Johnson & Wales for culinary school and spread his wings in the food world as a curious young chef, staging in Europe and, back in the States, going to work for Daniel Boulud’s DB Bistro Moderne in Manhattan. Ultimately, the family business reeled him in and he’s become a passionate advocate for the health of our local waters and the sea creatures that dwell within. What’s Dicecco fishing for these days? We’ve got the answers…
You’ve done consistent work with Cornell Cooperative Extension over the years. How have you collaborated with them to help in their mission to raise awareness about local seafood?
It’s definitely something I’m passionate about. I’ve done many sustainable fish dinners throughout the years, specifically with Cornell Cooperative and some of their counterparts. This year we did their NOAA [National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association] conference dinner, which was a lot of fun. It wasn’t specifically just about utilizing bycatch or underutilized fish, but we kind of turned it into that because a lot of the seafood gets donated from local fishermen. That way we’re not asking them to give us striped bass but it’s like, hey, you’ve got skate? Get us some skate wings, so we’re doing this with a local sustainable fish that’s a bycatch and nobody else really wants. It’s a win-win for everybody.
Why did fish become the focus for you?
I’ve always loved fishing. I’ve always cooked a fair amount of seafood with my business. And a lot of it [was] the push from the local fishermen, where it’s like, hey, try this! With Cornell, when they’ve wanted me to do dinners and showcase different Long Island things, it’s awesome because I can showcase it and then do it in an event. And it’s all different marine conservation and marine biologists and fishermen and different people that will appreciate it and, you know, it’s just kind of fun and new and different for me. I’ve done probably four dinners in the last five years for them, some on a larger scale, some smaller scale, and their conference once a year. I always donate food and do something similar.
You often incorporate bycatch and underutilized fish on your menu at Jerry and the Mermaid. Why do you like to do that?
Because it’s not like, hey, okay, here’s striped bass or fluke or, I don’t know, scallops or flounder. You know, you can just get that anywhere and everywhere. So, I do try to mix some stuff in that’s different.
Do you have to think outside the usual methods to get diners to try it?
Trying to get the “normal” people to want to eat that is not always the easiest thing to go about. It is not a 100% standard on my menu on the daily, mainly because most of that stuff is going to be more of a specialty item and doesn’t necessarily appeal to all audiences. But for example, I had thresher shark this weekend, which is something fun and different that you don’t always see. We do a dogfish chowder utilizing a steak cut of dogfish in it. And people are like, “Oh, I didn’t even know you could eat that. I always throw it back!”
How many Jerrys are there?
My grandfather was Jerry; he passed before I was born. He was not in the restaurant business, but my father was a chef before me and also named Jerry. I’m second generation at my restaurant and we’ve been there 33 years. My son [Jerry] is six years old, so there are three of us. My mermaids are 11 and 13, so they’re the second generation of mermaids for the restaurant.
