A Good Egg
Nov. 5-18, 2008
Perhaps it’s the
squishiness, but
americans have
never embraced caviar with
the same gusto they feel for,
say, raw yellowfin with wasabi.
richard Brauman, owner of
the Little pearl in somerville,
longs to change that. “My
ultimate goal is to produce the
world’s best caviar,” he says.
“to make something so exquisite
it surpasses everything
else that’s come before.”
it’s not a humble ambition, but
Brauman, 33, is something of a
fish-egg obsessive. as a teen, he
spent his free time raising koi
goldfish and “thinking about fish
tanks, and how to raise a better
salmon.” armed with a master’s
degree in aquaculture, an MBa and
a resolute belief in the quality of
domestic caviar, he set out to
conquer the nation’s luxury markets
by buying, distributing and producing
american fish roe. Besides being
fresh, it’s also affordable—an ounce
of american sturgeon costs $26.
imports can cost hundreds.
“We sell our caviar in the first
months after harvest,” he says.
“Most [imported] caviar that’s been
sold here is preserved.” the canned
stuff takes on additional flavors,
often turning overly salty and fishy.
“russians say our caviar tastes like
what they eat at home.”
Brauman can happily rattle off
the flavor points of american
sturgeon versus rainbow trout, or
Missouri paddlefish versus ossetra,
but he waxes especially passionate
about his sustainable fish farming
initiative in Maine. “We’re going
to grow the fish indoors and bloom
the algae and plankton, so the fish
get their ideal food source,” he
says. “the idea is to produce
perfect fish.” Andrew Rimas