July 27, 2007
All The King's Ceviche
Every morning, Bobby Fish parks his busted up maroon Dodge van at the edge of a Hess Express parking lot on West 207th Street. He unloads his signs and opens his Coors Light umbrella. “Bobby Fish,” the signs proclaim, “El Rey Del Ceviche.” People call him the King- it's not just his own posterboard. The King pulls a few lawn chairs out of his van and sets them on the sidewalk. Behind him, a Harlem River breezes makes plastic bags fly through the air or snag on the barbed wire coil running the perimeter of the nearby subway yards fence. Finally, Bobby Fish sets up a folding table and cutting board; he readies his cooler near the tailgate for a day’s work. Amidst all the Tupperwared fresh neon juices carted around in bicycle baskets, kids with $1 Poland Spring waters running into traffic at stoplights, and the spiral-peeled oranges in ziploc bags claptrap is Bobby Fish with the most improbable summer street food of all: the King’s cooler is filled with clams. El Rey Del Ceviche is one of the very last raw bar street vendors in New York- $1 a piece for iced, medium sized cherrystone clams on the half shell. With minimal condiments (hot sauce, lime), a few bushels, and a perpetual smile, he manages to stay busy all day.
Clams aside, El Rey Del Ceviche has a limited menu: shrimp or "lobster tail" ceviche. Give the King $10 and he reaches into a huge, ice-filled Igloo cooler sitting in the back of his van (which also houses a makeshift prep kitchen), selecting a pint of ceviche. He rips off the lid and hands it to you, sawing up a hunk of lime for garnish, offering a squeeze of Brand X hot sauce from a squeeze bottle filled with the stuff. The shrimp and lobster ceviche are both marinated in the same mix of tomato, white onion, and peppery citrus brine, and as far as roadside ceviche goes, they’re actually pretty good. Of the two choices, you’d do better to go with the shrimp; subsequent, CSI chef lab forensics of the lobster tail ceviche revealed a healthy proportion of sea legs among some haphazard pieces of previously frozen claw and knuckle lobster meat. Back at the King’s de facto Inwood headquarters, we go for the obvious, and ask him how he got his name. “I’ve been doing this for 25 years,” he says. He holds a clam knife in one hand, brandishes a butcher’s cimiter in the other, and poses for a picture. “But,” he adds, “really we are all king. Everyone is king.”
Bobby Fish
El Rey Del Ceviche
207th Street (near 9th Avenue)
Inwood
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Raw clams on the street? I wouldn't even eat raw clams at Coney Island. Anyone else here ever try this guy?
I agree #1. Buying roadside fruit, maybe. Roadside raw fish? Scary. But maybe I'm being too paranoid/wussy. Anyone have a real experience?
This reminds me of the Alton Brown Episode of Good Eats when his "cousin" is selling roadside shrimp. "Oh, those spots? Thems are leopard shrimp."
Is there a vegan option?
I would never, ever eat raw food from a guy on the street... unless I suddenly had a death wish.
Gothamist, are you trying to get this guy in trouble? I mean, surely this can't be legal and sanctioned by the city?
why would anyone eat clams or oysters? they are natural filters that absorb harmful and poisonous substances in the water. You are basically eating death.
Hell to the no.
#5, Cause they taste good, as do all filter feeders. You could say the same for all shellfish. Are you Kosher?
Have fun at Jamba Juice you SOB's.
#5 must like their food in pill form. I bet they don't like to think of chicken breasts as coming from a live chicken and can't make the connection between a steak and a cow. Your own liver is a filter that absorbs harmful and poisonous substances -- yet it resides in your body and typically won't kill you. Biology's fascinating, isn't it?
The safest seafood is the freshest; thus the busiest fishmonger -- whether at a storefront, a fine restaurant or a dude on the street -- will always sell the freshest (safest) fish. If the post is accurate, bet your ass I'll line up for cherrystones -- at $1 a piece that's a steal in this day and age.
What of bunch of fussy, over-pampered by civilization and development, first world prima donnas. Yeah, please don't try this. Your Purell covered bodies would rot at the first contact with some otherwise harmless bacteria.
Oh and he's been doing this for 25 years.
I've alway wondered, what the heck did the would-be germophobes fear so maniacally before Louis Pasteur taught us about bacteria and germs? Was it a case of ignorance is bliss?
where does he get the fish?
why can't Jews eat shellfish?
Also lol at the tough urban eaters with iron stomachs. *rolls eyes*
I bet you guys remember when drunk irish sailors selled salted cat meat out of rotting whiskey barrels - and you liked it!
uh sorry larry but not cat meat,
dog meat, the best meat.
I've eaten in worse places than this...
Adding to [14] Caviar was fed to pigs,and only poor people ate smoked salmon...
#13, because they are considered unclean, just like pigs. Sort of the "you are what you eat" adage.
*rolls eyes*
ha ha ha...you toolbox.
is it worth going all the way up to porchmonkeyland to get this stuff?
good enough reason.
There are porches in wash hts? guess you could see them from your burning crosses front yard.
207 street is north of Washington Heights.
I'll eat shit for $1.00
Remember those fake ads for bad idea jeans on saturday night live a few years back?
HeII, I don't know when I'll get the chance to eat raw shellfish from an unlicensed street vendor selling it OUT OF A COOLER from his car which also serves as a makeshift kitchen.
I know someone who needs a cornea transplant. If I can have your corneas if you die, I'll buy you all of the shellfish you can eat from this guy.
#9 - seriously, how many cherrystone clams can you eat to make this worth your while? They're only $1.65 at the Grand Central Oyster Bar. So if you eat 10, that $6.50 is worth risking food poisoning over. Have a nice time sitting in that lawn chair by the side of the road. Better ask for extra napkins for the ride home, if you know what I mean.
In the words of Tony Bourdain, would you go to a place that advertises "Half-price Sushi"? Some things aren't worth cheaping out for.
uh... if clams are bad, then no amount of clean presentation is going to render them safe. the fact that they're being served at grand central oyster bar as opposed to a roadside stand is irrelevant. almost all food poisoning from clams/oysters results from something being intrinsically wrong, not from the handling. eating raw shellfish is a risk, full stop, but as long as this guy is keeping them cold and fresh there shouldn't be a problem.