
DATE: Wednesday, March 26, 1997             TAG: 9703250057

SECTION: FLAVOR                  PAGE: F1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY RUTH FANTASIA, FLAVOR EDITOR 

                                            LENGTH:  150 lines

CHEF'S CHALLENGEPREPARE A COMPLETE SEAFOOD DINNER FOR A FAMILY OF FOUR, SPENDING NO MORE THAN$12? CAN CHEF JIMMY SNEED OF RICHMOND'S THE FROG AND THE REDNECK RESTURANT DO IT? READ ON...

JIMMY SNEED was waving his thick arms in the air, bellowing the virtues of seafood.

``No wonder you think seafood is expensive,'' said the chef-owner of The Frog and the Redneck restaurant in Richmond. ``Flounder is one of the highest-priced fish out there. It's overharvested, people are comfortable with it. There's a great demand for it. . .''

Seemed I had hit a nerve.

We were having a panel discussion about consumer buying habits at a meeting of the Virginia Seafood Commission. Seated to my left was a representative of the grocery industry. To my right was Sneed.

``There is plenty of inexpensive fish in the markets,'' he went on. ``There's rockfish and bluefish and monkfish and . . . ''

This man's living in a wholesale world, I thought.

``OK,'' I said. ``You cook dinner for a family of four on $3 a serving, about what I'd spend on pork chops or chicken breasts. And I'll write about it.''

The hook was baited. Sneed swallowed it.

E-mail flew from Norfolk to Richmond. The rules were simple.

The entree had to use a Virginia seafood product.

He must make a dinner for four at a cost of no more than $12, including the fish, vegetables and bread but not including pantry staples.

Ingredients must be purchased at retail stores.

Sneed got to pick the day. The newspaper got to pay the bills. That being the case, he'd make three dinners, not one.

I arrive at the restaurant on the appointed day just as Sneed is getting ready to do a cooking demonstration for about 50 students from Middlesex High School. ``This is French class, right?'' he says.

``Oui.''

Sneed does the demo in French.

That's the thing about Sneed, you're never quite sure what's going to come next.

In 1973 Sneed went to Paris to study at the Sorbonne. He landed a job at Le Cordon Bleu cooking school translating for the American and Japanese students. There he discovered a fondness for cooking. A year later, he came back to the states and wangled himself a place in Jean-Louis Palladin's Watergate kitchen in Washington, D.C. ``It would've been nice if he hadn't screamed at me all night, every night,'' Sneed says.

After years of learning the trade from the famous Palladin, Sneed opened Windows on Urbanna Creek in - where else? - Urbanna. After four successful years, Sneed closed Windows and with partner Adam Steely opened The Frog and the Redneck in Richmond.

There are two things you never want to buy on sale,'' Sneed says as we begin shopping, ``seafood and skydiving lessons.''

I've got $50 in my wallet as we enter Carytown Seafood in Richmond. (I don't think he can meet the challenge and I'm not going to be caught short.) Sneed walks past the display case to a storage area at the back of the store and asks for rockfish.

``Don't have any,'' says Woody Holtzclaw, wholesale manager. ``Only about 20 percent of the order came in. It's the weather.''

``How about blue? Got any blue?''

``Yeah, got a couple out front.''

We follow Sneed to the display case.

``There's a rock. Thought you didn't have any rock?'' Sneed says.

Holtzclaw pulls the large rockfish out of the case and Sneed checks the gills. Not red enough. No sale.

You've got some monkfish tails here,'' says Sneed. ``How much?''

``Two-ninety-nine (a pound).''

``That's good.''

``Is that retail?'' I ask.

``Retail?'' says Holtzclaw.

``Oh yeah,'' Sneed says. ``I forgot, she's buying. We have to use retail prices.''

``Then it's $5.99.''

Sneed moans but we leave Carytown with a large $12 bluefish and $5.52 in monkfish tails.

A short distance away, P.T. Hastings Gourmet Seafood smells like Renuzit.

``Rock is $2.99 a pound? Last week they were 99 cents,'' Sneed rages at the man behind the counter.

``No, they weren't.''

``Yes they were. Not last week. The week before. On a Friday.''

``Oh, on a Friday. Yup, you're right,'' says the man thumbing through a stack of newspaper ads.

``Fish costs two dollars more on Tuesday?''

``Yeah. We run sales Fridays and Saturdays. I can't sell it at that price every day.''

``Can we come back Friday?'' Sneed asks me.

``No,'' I reply. ``Welcome to my retail world.''

``I'll take a pound of scallops and a dozen clams,'' Sneed says. ``And the rock.''

Sneed has spent $37.95. I'm feeling smug.

"Buying fish that was caught this morning is so easy (on the wholesale market) that I take it for granted,'' Sneed says as he drives past several supermarkets to Butch's Produce, a little store in the old tobacco warehouse district. Four men are sitting inside, smoking cigarettes and playing poker.

Sneed paces the store looking at the produce. Finally, he picks out an onion, a zucchini or two, a yellow squash and an old-looking bag of carrots.

``Supermarkets are beginning to look better all the time,'' he growls.

I pay the bill - $2.23.

We drive up the street to a gravel lot where several pastel-painted trucks are parked.

Sneed dials the phone number painted on the trucks from his car phone.

``Loving's Produce.''

``Yeah. Do you sell retail?''

``Sure do.''

``Great. Thank you.''

Sneed whips his four-wheel-drive into the lot.

``Someone once asked Mr. Loving why his trucks were painted different colors,'' says Sneed. ``He told them he wanted people to know he had more than one truck.''

Two red and two yellow bell peppers, two pounds of fresh collards, two large Yukon Gold potatoes, a bunch of chives, and a pound of carrots with bright green tops.

Sneed has four bags of groceries when we return to the restaurant. I've got $5.88 left.

The rockfish and bluefish are cleaned and fileted while Sneed steams the clams and scallops. Chef de cuisine Jeffery Prettyman makes the chowder sauce and prepares a skillet for blackening.

Within minutes Sneed and Prettyman have made Chesapeake Chowder and blackened bluefish with yellow-pepper sauce. There's mustard linguine and ratatouille on the side. Cost for four servings - $10.92.

There are 12 servings of bluefish left over. We reasoned they could go into the freezer and calculated the cost per serving based on yield. Though the bluefish was one of largest purchases ($11.64), at 75 cents each, it's the least expensive per serving.

Next up, sauteed rockfish with capers and tomatoes, collards and and Redneck Risotto (grits). Cost for four - $11.40.

Finally, monkfish tails on mesclune with a vinaigrette and olive and saffron pasta. Four servings - $12.

Sneed had spent nearly all of my $50, but with it he created three meals, each to serve four people, and could've done three more out of the bluefish.

``Next time,'' he said, ``I'm just going to buy worms and take you down to the river.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photos]

TAMARA VONINSKI

The Virginian-Pilot

"These are two things you never want to buy on sale: seafood and

skydiving lessons," says Sneed. But "there is plenty of inexpensive

fish in the markets."

One of chef Sneed's dishes: Monkfish tails on mesclune with a

vinaigrette.