Wood Mountain Fish: 20 Years of Connecting Boston Fish Pier with the Green Mountains
Ethan Wood has spent most of his life making the trek from Boston to enjoy Vermont’s mountains. At 44, he continues that sacred journey to mecca, only now in a refrigerated truck loaded with the freshest seafood straight from Boston destined for some of Vermont’s top chefs.
Ethan fell in love with the fish business in his early 20s when he started working at a friend’s operation at the renowned Boston Fish Pier. He educated himself relentlessly about all aspects of the business. Yet all the while, he dreamed of finding a way to merge his two passions: seafood and the Green Mountains.
Every time Ethan was in Vermont, he would ask about the favorite local restaurants and started to get to know the chefs and owners. A casual conversation with Keith Paxman, founder of The Common Man restaurant at Sugarbush, changed the course of his life. “I sketched out my vision for Wood Mountain Fish, and Keith got right on board. He gave me the chance I needed, and I owe him everything for that. Eric Warnstedt and Frank Pace also understood me from the get-go. Their unfailing support and loyalty have meant the world to me.”
Collaborating with like-minded people who value the highest quality ingredients and appreciate hard work. Finding the chefs committed to getting the good stuff in their hands ASAP. Learning from growers, fishermen, and chefs. That’s what fuels this affable, bearded fishmonger.
Here’s how it works. Sunday evening, Ethan curates a list of the week’s available pristine seafood, then conveys that information early Monday morning to chefs and markets he works with in Vermont. Ethan and his team fill those orders Tuesday morning, load the truck (known as the Mothership), and race to a rendezvous point near White River Junction to quickly transfer the contents into the waiting trio of smaller refrigerated trucks that whizz off to deliver the goods to chefs across the state. They repeat this routine on Thursday and Friday to ensure that chefs are working with the freshest seafood possible. “It’s like the Cannonball Run of fish,” Ethan jokes. “I couldn’t do this job without my cousin Elana Coppola-Dyer, my right hand and best friend. She lives here in Vermont, and people adore her!”
Ethan acknowledges his same-day service business model is perilous as it revolves around extremely perishable product, but he’s developed reliable systems and backup plans over 20 years. “People trust us. They know I’m a neurotic fishmonger who sweats the details so they don’t have to, and my crew delivers as promised.”
Oysters have become the cornerstone of Wood Mountain Fish. “We have some friends who grow and harvest amazingly sweet, briny, tender oysters. It’s pretty amazing that we have this renewable, edible, living carbon credit—right here in our own backyard.” Wood Mountain Fish also offers local groundfish species including haddock, hake, pollock, monkfish, flounder, and skate.
Ethan encourages people to consume more wild salmon and to embrace less popular fish including spearing (a tasty, teeny whitebait of silverside minnows) along with mackerel, dogfish, whiting, skate, and scup. He rhapsodizes that whole fish shouldn’t be intimidating, and that we should cut our own fillets and use all parts: bones, heads, collars, and cheeks. “Variety is the spice of life, so why are we all eating the same seafood over and over? We all need to self-educate about our seafood choices and support local New England fisheries.”
Ethan Wood clearly relishes the challenge of sourcing the most exquisite seafood and finessing the logistics of timing and delivery. “I was just a guy with an expensive Green Mountain habit, figuring out how to wholesale fish, and everyone here in Vermont was so kind and appreciative,” Ethan reflects. At some point, he’ll be able to slow down and enjoy more time with his family and friends at their home in the Mad River Valley, but for now, Ethan will keep making the Cannonball Run from Boston Fish Pier to ensure the freshest seafood lands on the plates of appreciative Vermont diners.
