YAM magazine’s Best Restaurant Awards 2024 celebrate Greater Victoria, B.C.’s exciting food scene, judged by an independent panel of chefs and food experts.
BY CINDA CHAVICH | PHOTO BY JEFFREY BOSDET
Producer of the Year: Finest at Sea Quality Seafood
27 Erie Street | finestatsea.com
If you’ve ever ordered the fish at almost any restaurant in Victoria, it likely arrived in the kitchen from Finest at Sea.
Owner Bob Fraumeni opened his seafood wholesaling business in 1984, focusing on wild, sustainable West Coast products. Once a fisherman himself, Fraumeni proudly points to the provenance of the fish he sells, whether the fresh salmon, halibut and crab from the retail fish counter, the value-added Finest at Sea products (such as cold-smoked tuna loins or artisan canned fish), and arguably the finest fish and chips in town, served from their own food truck parked outside the converted Victorian house near Fisherman’s Wharf.
FAS buys from local fishers and has eight of its own boats — including the FV Ocean Pearl, the largest vessel in the B.C. fishing fleet — plying West Coast waters for halibut in Haida Gwaii and tuna off the coast of Vancouver Island. Their fish shop is the place for fresh and frozen seafood, smoked fish and housemade seacuterie, seafood risotto and chowder.
Fraumeni is an industry leader, supporting local chefs, fishers and community causes, including his popular annual sale of donated herring that raises money for kids with cancer.
Since setting up shop in Victoria 40 years ago, FAS has expanded to serve customers in Vancouver and beyond. It’s always all hands on deck at this super seafood supplier, where local community comes first.