Product Feature: The Fish Basket

I'd like to borrow a little of your time to talk about an underrated item on our menu—the Fish Basket.

The Fish Basket exists in a liminal space between our deli/grocery service and the prepared lunch items side of our operation.

It's simple in execution—you select a piece (or several pieces) of fish, we put it in a basket with a side of scallion cream cheese, soda crackers (or your choice of crackers for a small additional charge), and an appropriate amount of utensils—but complex in application.

The Fish Basket is perfect for those on a tight schedule.

The reality of our deli during peak season, or even right around lunch time, is that there is going to be some amount of a wait. When you order a fish basket, it is almost always ready to go by the time you reach the register to pay. If you're craving that Smokehaus fix, but don't have many moments to spare, think of the Fish Basket.

Maybe you'd just like an appetizer while your group waits for their sandwiches. The Fish Basket is an elegant option that features our flagship product. It's about as Smokehaus as it gets.

The Fish Basket is perfect for a wide array of budgets and appetites.

I want candy...

The only limit on your Fish Basket is the fish we have available. Our Atlantic salmon slabs sit around a half-pound on average, Lake Superior whitefish baskets are made with a half-whitefish—somewhere between a half-pound and a pound depending on how big those suckers get—and Lake Superior lake trout chunks average about one-third of a pound.

But our candied Alaskan king salmon, Atlantic salmon tails, ciscos, and sockeye sticks come in much smaller weights, and are fair game for Fish Baskets.

You don't even have to limit your basket to one piece of fish. A chunk of lake trout alongside a small handful of tails and a salmon stick is a quick, easy, and affordable variety basket, perfect for one, but easily adjusted to feed more.

Depending on how you assemble it, a Fish Basket could run you anywhere from $5-30, though they tend to average $10-12.

The Fish Basket will never go out of style.

Whatever reason you're considering a Fish Basket—saving time, getting a quick snack, impressing your guests, or just trying to steadily try all of our options— the combination of our smoked fish and scallion cream cheese on top of a soda cracker is a winner. It's sweet and savory, with just the right amount of crunch, and a fundamental flavor combination found throughout our menu.

Product Feature: Beer, cider, and wine. Oh my!

We've added beer, cider, and wine to our menu. It only took us just about twenty-one years to do it—fitting, given the federal minimum age limit for purchasing alcohol.

All of our beer inventory is locally and regionally sourced, seasonally appropriate, and reasonably priced ($10 for Hoops Brewing crowlers, $6 for 16 oz craft beer/cider, $4 for PBR pounders). Whatever you're getting to eat, any of these beers and ciders is going to be a great match.

We've carefully curated a tight selection of four natural wines—organically farmed and crafted without additives—available by the glass and by the bottle, with recorking service available.

Since folks are perennially interested in pairing advice, here's a primer of our suggested pairings for each of the wines. However, beverage pairing is subjective, and any of these will go well with whatever sandwich/salad/salami basket sounds good to you.

Vinho Verde - Vale do Homem, Quintas do Homem, 2017.

This green-hued (hence the name) estate-bottled wine comes from a family-owned winery in northern Portugal and features a blend of Loureiro and Arinto, the two best indigenous grapes of the region.

Light bodied, with citrus and green apple notes and a slight effervescence, it is great alongside the Cold Turkey, Sitka Sushi, Slammin' Gordon, and the NWS Salad, or with our dry-cured pepperoni or Spanish-style chorizo.

$5 BTG / $20 BTB

Rosé - Réserve de la Saurine, Lauduan Chusclan, 2018.

Grown on the gravelly banks of the Ceze River in southern France, this blend of Grenache and Cinsault grapes is light, crisp, and dry, with bright, crushed berry fruit. 

We suggest this wine alongside the savory flavor palates of our flagship Cajun Finn and Silence of the Lambwich sandwiches, as well as our mainstay veggie sandwich, the Fuzzy Bunny. Try it with our smoked ham and porketta as well.

$5 BTG / $20 BTB

White - Le P’tit Blanc, Clos du Tue-Boeuf, 2017.

The Loire Valley, where this vineyard is situated, has been a seat of wine production since the 1st century CE. Winemakers in this region are esteemed for their organic, biodynamic and natural winemaking processes. This white features a blend of Sauvignon Blanc with a little Chardonnay, and a complex palate of stone fruit, mineral, and citrus.

This wine is a perfect pair with just about everything we make and retail, but we recommend it especially with the Phoebe, Pork Lion, and Hedonist sandwiches, and alongside our smoked lake trout and salmon. Though it is perhaps a bit too on-the-nose, this wine also highlights the notes of Chardonnay in our Saucisson Sec.

$7 BTG / $30 BTB

Red - La Grume Beaujolais-Villages, or “La Grume”, Domaine de la Grume, 2016.

This soft and versatile red comes from a tiny winery in central France. It's made from 100% Gamay Noir grapes and has a core of blackberry fruit, laced with bright cherry and minerality.

Pair it with buttery, savory sandwiches like the Banh Faux Mi, Squealy Dan and DeWitt-Seitzer. It's truly a delight alongside our country pâté, smoked Berkshire ham, and any of our dry-cured salumi.

$6 BTG / $23 BTB

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Have you tried any of our beers, ciders, or wines alongside our foods? Have any favorite pairings to share? Let us know in the comments, or tag us in a post on your social media. This is all new and exciting for us, and we're dying to hear about your experience!

5 Things: July 12th, 2019

5 Things™ is back from vacation. I had the best steak of my life (please pound your steaks thin and marinate them overnight before you ever consider cooking them), my very first experience with escargot, watched a Chicago-sized storm cloud travel over Chicago from a balcony at the epicenter of the cloudburst, and even got a wicked sunburn at a crowded beach, but didn't manage to churn out a blog. Hopefully you just went about your lives and didn't miss it too much.

Here's a handful of things that I've learned about life at NWS since I've returned.

Andy has stepped into his role as Mail Order director.

I already knew about this one, but you may not have. Shipping our hand-crafted products around the nation is part of the foundation of our business, but the department has been without a leader for a couple months. In practice, perhaps you didn't even notice, due to our staff's ability to fill in the gaps.

We interviewed several candidates within our existing staff, and selected Andy to guide the future of this department. Training in as the director of this massive endeavor—December is one of our most profitable months, and that is in large part due to mail order—is no small, short, or easy task, so we wish Andy the best.

Tyler has evolved into his delivery/pickup assistant manager-form.

Tyler, who once told me he didn't want any responsibility beyond being a good dishwasher—I'm paraphrasing—has now taken on more responsibility, seemingly of his own accord.

The delivery/pickup department, which has been going through its own evolution lately—simultaneously contracting its in-haus delivery hours and range, and expanding its hours and range through third-party delivery services Food Dudes and Bite Squad—welcomes Tyler's affable leadership.

The Fish Schtick.

"Sandwich Lab" may be one of the most-oft repeated phrases in my blogging life. This month's Sandwich Lab special (temporary addition to the sandwich menu) is a curious sandwich called the Fish Schtick.

Assembled on a haus ciabatta roll, it is composed of Traditional Smoked Atlantic Salmon, tomato, cornichon pickle, lettuce, mayo, and lemon pepper. It has a bright, complex, yet cohesive harmony of flavors tied together by the smoky goodness of our salmon.

The Fish Schtick accounts for about 2% of our sandwich sales during its time on the menu, which is nothing to shake a schtick at.

The months ahead will feature a Lake Superior Lake Trout-salad sandwich, and a smoked Andouille sausage, chevre, and green apple sandwich. Stay hungry, because all of these Sandwich Lab specials get you two stamps on your sandwich card. Now that's value!

We have the hardest working production crew in town!

Okay, this may not be strictly true—I didn't do any research—but hear me out: I checked in with our team of roughly five smokers about their life in the basement, and found out that they've been putting in hours—working double shifts, sometimes triples, and the occasional overnight—but that was only after some prying on my part.

Their first answer to my inquiry about life in the basement: "It's pretty chill!"

How's that for a winning attitude? This is the energy we need to take with us into the rest of 2019.

We had a span of 11 days that would have blown my mind when I started at NWS.

And I was on vacation the whole time.

When I began working at our humble deli, there was tangible excitement any time our daily sales were above $5,000. I'm pretty sure $9,000 in sales would have merited a pizza party, popping Champagne corks (or vigorously-shaken LaCroix cans), and maybe even some light screaming.

While I was out of town, our average daily sales were closing in on $10,000, even on days that we closed early, due to holidays and our Sunday hours. For eleven days.

We're really glad you all like us so much.

We love you forever!

See you next time on 5 Things™.

SANDWICH LAB: The Fish Schtick

IN THE DELICATESSEN SCENE, NEVER SHAKING UP YOUR SANDWICH MENU IS CONSIDERED ESPECIALLY HEINOUS. AT NORTHERN WATERS SMOKEHAUS, THE DEDICATED DELI EMPLOYEES WHO INNOVATE ON THE SANDWICH MENU ARE MEMBERS OF AN ELITE SQUAD KNOWN AS THE SANDWICH LAB. THESE ARE THEIR STORIES:

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The Fish Schtick

Remember fish sticks? Breaded some-kind-of-whitefish, fried, frozen, reheated (perhaps in a microwave, or for the more patient among us, in the oven) and dipped in tartar sauce. Simple, delicious, nostalgic.

I sure do. I ate so many of those things in my youth that I had to take an extended break from fish.

Now imagine that experience, but more sophisticated, and with 100-percent less burnout. That’s what we’re channeling with The Fish Schtick.

Mayonnaise, lemon pepper, tomato, cornichon pickles, and lettuce on a Haus ciabatta roll form the flavor-framework of this sandwich, and our brown sugar-brined and perfectly-smoked Traditional Atlantic Salmon fills out the body.

It’s not deep-fried and it doesn’t come from a bag in your freezer, but it still hits like a blast from the past, and that’s the way Harrison (the sandwich’s inventor) planned it.

Beginning on Wednesday, July 3rd and running through Monday, August 5th, the Fish Schtick will be available for your consumption, and I strongly recommend you jump on this opportunity. Not only is this sandwich surprisingly delicious, but each one earns you two stamps on your loyalty card.

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WHAT IS SANDWICH LAB?

AT NORTHERN WATERS SMOKEHAUS, OUR WORK IS PLAYING WITH FOOD. THAT MEANS SOMETIMES, IN THE LINE OF DUTY, WE STUMBLE UPON AN AMAZING COMBINATION OF INGREDIENTS THAT EVOLVES OVER SEVERAL SHIFT-MEALS INTO A NOTEWORTHY NEW SANDWICH. OTHER TIMES WE UNCOVER A MORE EFFICIENT WAY TO BUILD A SANDWICH, OR WE SWAP AN INGREDIENT ON A CURRENT MENU ITEM. SANDWICH LAB IS AN ANNUAL GATHERING OF OUR STAFF TO REFINE OUR SANDWICH-LINE SKILLS, TO COME TO AGREEMENT ON ANY CONTROVERSIES, AND—THE BEST PART—TO INTRODUCE OUR PET SANDWICHES TO THE GREATER SMOKEHAUS COMMUNITY.

NOTABLE SANDWICH LAB FINDINGS FROM PREVIOUS YEARS INCLUDE THE CEDARS’S SECRET, THE PURPLE RANGE, THE PHOEBE, AND THE PORK LION. LAST YEAR’S SANDWICH LAB HAD SO MANY GOOD SANDWICHES THAT WE COULDN’T DECIDE ON JUST ONE OR TWO TO ADD TO THE MENU, SO WE DECIDED TO GIVE THEM ALL A CHANCE TO SHINE, AS MONTH-LONG SPECIALS.