Getting fresh at Nelson’s Meat + Fish

It’s midmorning at Nelson’s Meat + Fish and a repeat customer is getting a tutorial on salmon from Ethan Gresham, general manager and chef.

He patiently explains the difference between two fillets in the cold case. The type she’s been buying on previous visits has more oil than the other, Gresham says, and since the customer has expressed concern about fat, he suggests the leaner cut, with tips on how to prepare it.

That kind of education is part of the job – and the pleasure – for the crew at Nelson’s, said owner Chris Nelson. His shop is renowned across the Valley for the quality and variety of its offerings – especially fish and seafood.

“That was really the whole genesis for the shop,” he said. “We wanted a place that was very old school, where we could make connections with people.”

Nelson acknowledges that products from his counter can be big-ticket items. “It’s an anomaly in today’s society to have the kind of quality we have, and that’s by intention,” he said. “We are the most expensive option in town for meat and fish because of the lengths we go to procure the quality. We go directly to farmers and harvesters.”

Nelson opened the shop in 2017. “When I opened this place, I thought back to my Grampy, Rip Nelson. Any store that he went into, he knew who they were, and he would spend time having a conversation with them.

“I really missed that aspect of hospitality. It’s so much harder to find it now with the advent of technology. We thought, ‘Let’s try to make a connection with every guest in the place and create a place where people feel like they’re coming home – like they’re in a club.’”

It’s his team that makes that possible, Nelson said. “We’re really blessed in an industry where all you hear about is how hard it is to find great people. Our team is the best thing about Nelson’s. It’s not the fish. It’s not the meat. It’s not ready-to-eat items on the menu. It’s really the entire team.”

Nelson brought 28 years of experience in the hospitality and seafood industries to his new venture. “I started in this business when I was 14, shucking oysters at a bed and breakfast after school. I fell in love with the business right there.”

He later became a chef. “I loved the restaurant industry, but it got to the point that I’d really given a lot of my life to it,” he said. “I had two kids, and I missed a lot of their growing up. My first marriage didn’t make it. It was very challenging.”

Nelson decided to start his own seafood company. “That was one of the first to be shipping from point of harvest direct to chefs all over the country,” he said. “The broker thing had its benefits, but being tied to a desk making 90 phone calls a day was a big change for me. I’m surprised I lasted as long as I did.”

Those contacts have remained to this day, with Nelson in touch with sources all over the globe, sending him their best seasonal catch.

He picked the site of his first shop, at 24th Street and Indian School Road, when the owner of the shop next door, the Wandering Tortoise (WT) Beer Shop & Tap Room, told him about the space. It’s proved to be a successful symbiosis – the WT has the beverages and Nelson’s has the food.

“We’re not a restaurant, but we have great offerings and a lunch menu,” Nelson said. Customers can enjoy daily features that include smoked tri-tip sandwiches, hot buttered crab rolls, shucked oysters ($2 each on Thursdays) and sashimi. On some days, the chefs will be inspired to concoct something extra, so be sure to ask. There’s also takeout every day, while they last, including poke shrimp salad, slaw and cucumber salad.

Washed down with an adult beverage from the Wandering Tortoise next door, it’s a happy symbiosis.

Nelson also developed a wholesale operation, supplying customers throughout the state.

“Chris Bianco was one of our first wholesale customers,” Nelson said. “He bought 3 pounds of wild white shrimp from the sea of Cortez and then posted a picture on Instagram. We went from 21 followers to about 400 in a day.

“Our big thing is that we procure fish directly from point of harvest. We get it here with the least number of hands touching it. That makes a real difference because the more something is handled, the worse it is before it gets to the chef.”

Nelson’s also is the exclusive distributor for Wulf’s Fish in Boston. “Wulf’s has been known for quality for almost 100 years, and we’re very excited that they’re one of our main partners for our wholesale program,” Nelson said.

That’s a large-scale operation, but close to Nelson’s heart is his relationship with small providers like Zach Kotalac, a 10th-generation Nantucket Islander.

“He goes out by himself on a boat and rakes the grass of Nantucket Harbor for Nantucket Bay scallops,” Nelson said. “He gets his quota of eight milk crates, which averages about 30 pounds of scallop meat. He gets back to the dock usually by 10, and they’re on a plane by 3, coming into the desert.”

The season just has ended, so don’t look for those scallops until November, when the season begins again.

A typical day at Nelson’s shop will find the counter brimming with Pacific Coast sanddabs, swordfish from the North Atlantic, live Dungeness crab from Oregon, red snapper from Baja, Faroe Island salmon, wild-caught scorpion fish, branzino from Turkey – a whole world of fish and seafood, along with house-made poke and ceviche. There’s also Wagyu beef from Australia, and chimichurri marinade for skirt steak and other preparations.

Nelson’s also offers aquaculture selections, including barramundi, raised as fry in Australia, then brought to Los Angeles and shipped to Gila Bend, to Desert Springs Barramundi in Gila Bend, where it’s raised to market size.

Customers can find lesser-known varieties, such as Antarctic bluenose butterfish from New Zealand. “I love it more than halibut, and it has the same characteristics and is about $10 less a pound,” Nelson said.

Monkfish is another. Known as the “poor man’s lobster,” an easy preparation is to wrap it in prosciutto, sear until crispy, then finish in the oven. Or simply sear and braise with white wine, tomatoes, olives and capers for a Mediterranean main dish.

Nelson opened his second location, on Scottsdale Road north of Thunderbird Road in 2023 and he is eyeing further expansion. Whatever the future holds, Nelson’s mission remains.

“Our mantra is outstanding service and quality meat plus fish – and service is first for a reason,” Nelson said. “We know it’s an investment when you buy our seafood or meats, and we want people to feel great and not scared about cooking.”

Nelson’s Meat + Fish, 2415 E. Indian School Road, is open 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday. For information, call 602-596-4069 or visit www.meat.fish.

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