Wheelhouse Fish Co. has been selling its wild-caught seafood from southeast Alaska at local pop-ups since last fall. Now, founder Shalie Dahl Moore is giving St. Louis a taste of the fishing-boat experience through her upcoming eatery in the food hall at Urban Eats (3301 Meramec), joining All Rolled Up, Tacos La Jefa, and the forthcoming Mr. Souvlaki. (Past microentrepreneurial concepts that Urban Eats helped launch include Mylk & Hummus, Crepes and Treats, Sugarwitch, Perfectly Pastry, and Beignet All Day.)
Dahl Moore grew up in the fishing business, and her passion for wild-caught Alaskan seafood led her to start Wheelhouse Fish Co. to bring sea spot prawns, halibut, salmon, rockfish, and crab to a new market in the Midwest. The upcoming space in the shared kitchen and food incubator at Urban Eats, lets her company expand into prepared seafood dishes. Here’s what to expect when it opens in February.
Find the best food in St. Louis
Subscribe to the St. Louis Dining In and Dining Out newsletters to stay up-to-date on the local restaurant and culinary scene.
The Menu
Dahl Moore was looking for a commissary kitchen to start selling prepared dishes at the farmers’ market booths when the opportunity arose to establish an eatery in Urban Eats’ food hall. It fit right into her long-term plans—but at an accelerated pace. Still, with more than 12 years’ worth of experience cooking on fishing vessels in a galley kitchen, Dahl Moore has plenty of culinary skills to fall back on.
“Everything will be seafood-based, using the fish we’re already selling,” she says. “We’ll have different dishes in three categories: bites, bowls, and plates.”
The signature item will be a salmon bowl that she created and has cooked for years on her family’s Seine fishing vessel. It features teriyaki-sauced salmon on a bed of rice with cabbage slaw, sriracha aioli, and more. She says it was popular when she offered it last summer at a Fourth of July pop-up in her hometown of Petersburg, Alaska.
Other items will include bites such as shrimp cocktail and plates such as salmon skewers, all from recipes that she’s honed over the years on the fishing boat.
Dahl Moore envisions the eatery as another tool for sharing the stories behind the seafood’s sources. “You’re participating in a multi-faceted experience,” she says. “You’re purchasing a product, but you’re talking to the person who harvested the fish or who knows the people who did. You can see videos and photos online of us at work. And you can learn how to cook the fish.”
For a sneak peek before the eatery opens—and a chance to sample the salmon bowls—visit the Third Friday event January 19 at Third Degree Glass Factory.
The Fish
Salmon is the centerpiece of Wheelhouse Fish Co.’s offerings. Customers can choose coho (with a mild, delicate flavor), keta (with a mild flavor and firm pink flesh), or sockeye (with a firm, vibrant red flesh and robust flavor). The hot smoked salmon strips are made from coho, while the smoked tinned variety is made from king salmon. The company also offers Tanner crab, golden king crab, and, occasionally, Dungeness crab.
Dahl Moore says much of the retail offerings are based on seasonality. For example, spot prawns, the largest shrimp species in Alaska, are caught during a short season in May. Salmon season runs from June through August. Halibut and rockfish are harvested from March through November.
Delicate, buttery Pacific halibut is popular for its versatility; it can be grilled, baked, or battered and fried. Wheelhouse Fish Co. sources its halibut from boats that use a sustainable fishing method, hook-and-line gear, to ensure they will have as little environmental impact on the ocean ecosystem as possible.
Being fully informed about the source of her company’s fish is important to Dahl Moore. “We partner with fishermen we know, respect, and trust,” she says. “Everything we’re selling is either frozen at sea or blast-frozen on shore at minus 20 degrees, so it creates a premium-quality product.” Spot prawns, for example, are frozen within 45 minutes of coming out of the water.
Customers will be able to find Wheelhouse Fish Co. at the U City Farmers’ Market and the Tower Grove Farmers’ Market during the upcoming season. Dahl Moore has also applied to sell at other markets in the region.
“St. Louis is such an awesome food city,” she says. “We’re so excited to share what our family does and the story behind the seafood.”
The Team
Dahl Moore moved to St. Louis in 2020, when her husband, Javan Moore, started attending Logan University in Chesterfield. She splits her time between St. Louis and Alaska, so she can participate in the commercial fishing season but also share the bounty of her family’s business “down South,” as Alaskans say.
She initially taught health and physical education in South City, but she eventually decided to pursue a dream that her family members had been talking about for years and open a retail business marketing Alaskan seafood.
“My famliy’s been fishing for generations,” Dahl Moore says. Their first commercial vessel was a gillnet boat called the Whidby, where the whole family—Dahl Moore, her parents, her sister, and their dog—lived for months at a time. When they added a larger seine vessel, called the Rebel Isle, Dahl Moore’s father, Jerry Dahl Jr., informed the then-teenager that she would take over cooking duties from her mom.
At first, it was daunting, says Dahl Moore. “I taught myself how to cook on that boat with an oil stove and groceries we bought on shore,” she says. That was 12 years ago. She now relishes the role of being Rebel Isle’s cook.
