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Grand Banks is more than just a hip restaurant. The sustainable restaurant in NYC provides clean water solutions to 350,000 in Nepal and funds 7,627 clean water projects.
Docked along the Hudson River in New York sits the quintessential boat restaurant, Grand Banks. The iconic white and yellow striped tarp covers diners gathering for a drink or a taste of seaweed-salted fries next to platters of oysters. Yet, Grand Banks is more than just a hip oyster bar floating along the harbor. It’s a sustainable seafood restaurant. They offer guests sustainably caught fish and the comfort of knowing that behind the scenes, the staff is working hard to reduce waste, improve drinking water conditions, and preserve marine life.
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Curious about the world of sustainable seafood, The Wellness Feed reached out to the company to learn how they ensure that only the most responsibly-sourced catch of the day makes it onto diners’ plates and their upcoming projects aimed at making New York and its waters cleaner.
How does Grand Banks support marine conservation?
Grand Banks operates in partnership with the 501(c)(3) not-for-profit Maritime Foundation, working to support maritime conservation, education, and preservation. In support of those goals, the Maritime Foundation presents onboard exhibitions about maritime history and curated a lecture series on topics from nautical culture to aquatic sustainability.
What are sustainable initiatives that you’ve taken?
A big initiative for us in 2019 was reducing the number of glass bottles we sent to the recycling bin. We installed water filtration systems on the boat that could produce clean sparkling and still water. Instead of selling customers single-use bottles, we filled reusable bottles with this filtered water and charged a $1/per guest water fee. Proceeds from this fee went to support Charity: Water’s well-building initiatives in Nepal.
What makes sustainable seafood sustainable?
There are many ways that seafood can be sustainable—in general, we try and assess several things when selecting our products: where it was caught (i.e. the distance traveled to arrive at our kitchen), the population health of the species and the fishing or farming practices used. For example, we turn to species like a locally caught fluke or sustainably farmed arctic char.
What at-risk fish species should we avoid?
This is very dependent on where you live; we recommend checking the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch guide for the most up to date listings nationally and locally.
How is the menu adapted to protect endangered fish populations?
Our Executive Chef, Kerry Heffernan, is an avid recreational fisherman and passionate advocate for sustainable fisheries. He is constantly having conversations with our purveyors to gain a better understanding of what species are doing well during any given season.
What are some of the ways that the company preserves waterways?
We have partnered with the Billion Oyster Project for many years to help turn the oyster shells we discard at the restaurant into new “reefs” that young oysters can attach to and grow. Restoring the oyster population in the harbor helps on so many fronts—from fostering a diverse ecosystem to helping with storm resiliency.
Grand Bank’s seaweed-salted french fries are infamous. But, for those who haven’t tried them, what can they expect?
We mix in a bit of crushed, dried seaweed with our regular seasoning salt to give our fries a boost of brine and a bit more depth than you’d get with your run of the mill french fries.
What’s next for Grand Banks?
We are always implementing new sustainability practices as we learn about them. In the bigger picture, our restaurant group is opening two more operations in New York City in order to bring more visitors to the waterfront and hopefully inspire them to become involved in its preservation!