Cor-J Seafood: An Unexpected Hamptons Hotspot
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - In this episode of The Dig, CBS2's Elle McLogan revisits her favorite childhood destination: Cor-J Seafood, a Hampton Bays landmark with nearly 40 years of history.
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"Part of the excitement here is you see the [fish] cutters when you come in," longtime employee Diane David said of the often crowded, action-packed space. "It's kind of like a zoo . . . . People seem to like it."
What does it take to work at Cor-J?
"It takes a certain type of skill to cut a flat fish as opposed to a salmon," David said. "You have to know a lot. You get bombarded with questions. People want to know how to cook things. They want to know where everything's from. . . . And at the end of the day, we do go home smelling like fish."
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"We have a customer base that goes from people who have almost no money, day workers, and then we have people who are multimillionaires who have houses on Dune Road that are worth 100 million dollars," said owner James Coronesi. "And because of that, we can supply people with a huge variety of products."
"Top sellers are sword[fish], tuna, salmon. We sell a huge amount of salmon," Coronesi said.
Some varieties have narrower appeal.
"A lot of people don't like bluefish," David said. "It's very strong. Depending on the size of the bluefish, larger bluefish are eating other fish, so they taste fishy. But when you get a young bluefish right out of the water, it tastes delicious. And I'm telling you, I work here all day long, and you want to eat this fish right out of the tray without even cooking it. It looks so good."
"We have the town dock in the inlet right over the bridge here," David said. "We have steamers. We have clams. We have oysters. We have all different kinds of fish that love cold water. And then we have the gulf stream that comes up on the East Coast in the summertime, where mahi and local tunas are coming, and we're just really lucky here."
Cor-J Seafood
36 Lighthouse Road
Hampton Bays, NY 11946
(631) 728-5186
https://www.corjseafood.com/
What's something few people know about but everybody should? Whatever it is, Elle McLogan is tracking it down on The Dig. Join her hunt for treasures hidden across our area. Follow Elle on Twitter and Instagram.
