Catering trends
Haddock, a mild, slightly sweet and cleanly briny fish caught in the Gulf of Maine, remains a shining star of the region’s fishery. This hotel’s Armory Lounge dresses it up beautifully with a shrimp stuffing, asparagus, lobster beurre monte and capers.
Hotel Indigo Traverse City
Michigan
Great Lakes fish—perch, walleye and whitefish—rarely travel much beyond these vast lakes’ sandy shores, but they rank among our best freshwater filets. At WarehousekiTChen + Café, flaky perch is showcased in both a sandwich on a brioche bun and as fish and chips.
Lotte Hotel Seattle
Washington
Salmon is synonymous with Seattle, and though you can enjoy it throughout the country, nowhere is it fresher or better. Charlotte, the esteemed restaurant at this Phillipe Stark-designed property, serves up a mean doenjang-marinated salmon with green garlic pea puree, Baek kimchi and crispy rice cakes.
Portland Regency Hotel & Spa
Portland, Maine
Haddock, a mild, slightly sweet and cleanly briny fish caught in the Gulf of Maine, remains a shining star of the region’s fishery. This hotel’s Armory Lounge dresses it up beautifully with a shrimp stuffing, asparagus, lobster beurre monte and capers.
Four Seasons Hotel New Orleans
Louisiana
Redfish (red drum) are found in the marshes and inlets near the Big Easy—and have been beloved since the 1980s, coated in Cajun spices and blackened. This classier version at Chemin à la Mer restaurant is paired with Gulf Coast crabmeat, eggplant rice and lemon butter.
When it comes to entrees raised on land, there’s not much in the way of regional flavor—a steak is a steak pretty much anywhere, any time of the year. Ah, but then there are those fortunate locales that edge our lakes, rivers and oceans. Seafood can be both highly seasonal and highly local. Here’s to tucking into a genuine sense of place at water’s edge.
This article appears in the September 2026 issue. You can subscribe to the magazine here.
