I’ve just found the best tartar sauce I’ve ever eaten, here in Westchester. A photograph would only prove that tartar sauce is not Instagram friendly—but believe me when I say, the chunks of green olives, bits of roasted red pepper, and sweet pickle relish make you wonder, for the first time, whether tartar sauce could ever make it as a dip.
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My mother turned us onto 35-year-old Highridge Fishery in Yonkers when she served us flounder bought and fried there—they fry the fish while you wait (note that pieces run large). The store, run by the original owner, Frank Siragusa, who grew up catching and selling fish in Sicily, features about 30 types of seafood, including wild-caught shrimp, salmon, sea scallops, and calamari, as well as prepared foods such as clam chowder, seafood salads, poached salmon with dill sauce, stuffed mushrooms, and fresh paella Valenciana every Thursday. Steamed king crab legs as big as my arm were being pulled out of a freezer. A net hanging over the display case holds not only the usual flotsam and jetsam but Christmas ornaments and a trapped Santa. They shuck clams and oysters, make their own gefilte fish, and cook any kind of fish with your choice of sauce (or buy clam sauce and add your own pasta). A 6-item lunch menu ($8 to $10) includes a side and a sauce.
Walk out with lunch or dinner and get it home as soon as you can (no seats—it’s a fish store). An elegant version of coleslaw, the cabbage having almost no discernible coating but full coleslaw flavor, and a small tray of clams oreganata to heat up at home, rounded out our feast.
Highridge Fishery
1791 Central Ave, Yonkers
(914) 337-3775; www.highridgefishery.com
