The day’s finally here! Mermaid’s Garden Market is now open in Prospect Heights “after five years of planning and six years of building.”
You might remember that we featured co-owners Mark Usewicz and Bianca Piccillo (who are also husband and wife) earlier this year in an eponymous article as part of our spring 2013 water issue. Back then, we talked about their first Brooklyn-based effort: the borough’s first community-supported fishery. You know, like a CSA share, but with fish (Edible East End covered Montauk’s CSF, too).
So what makes their new outpost special? It’s the city’s first fully sustainable seafood market — pretty awesome, if you ask us. What do they mean by “sustainable?” When we inquired, Piccillo told us that they base their purchasing decisions off of two highly respected sources: the National Marine Fishery Service‘s quarterly stock status report and information gained from their partnership with the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
Read the full story here and go see the store for yourself at 644 Vanderbilt.
