Porgy Kept Southern Fried

The fish was splayed on the cutting board as though given wings. But with its missing head, the only thing it was flying toward was a vat of hot oil.

Chef Andre Viverretta (pictured) hit each side of the porgy with salt and pepper. Then he grabbed a tub of cornmeal to quickly dredge the fish.

“The secret is in the cornmeal,” said Tyquan Ford, owner and sometimes cook at Whalley Seafood Takeout & Delivery at 117 Whalley Ave. ​“Others tend to coat their fish in flour or crackermeal, but we use cornmeal. It’s like a Southern tradition.”

Ford (pictured) boasted that Whalley Seafood ​“has the best bone-in porgies in town.”

Chef Andre dropped the fish, a species native to New England that the restaurant sources locally, in the oil. In seconds, it was a light golden brown. The fish was crispy on the outside, flaky and white on the inside.

After deftly grabbing two slices of white sandwich bread, Chef Andre slid the hot fish in between. Then he wrapped the sandwich, added a small container of tarter sauce and hot sauce, bagged it up and handed it off to Ford.

Ford said he has always cooked the fish Southern style, even back when he and a partner owned a similar business, Elm City Seafood, on Hamilton Street. His grandmother was from Lake View, S.C. and that’s how she cooked her fish, though he learned the secrets of cooking fried fish from a friend of the family almost a decade ago.

Whalley Seafood has been open on the busy thoroughfare nearly a year and a half. ​“When they say location is everything,” Ford said,” they’re right.” He said the business wasn’t getting enough foot traffic at its previous location on Hamilton Street, so he and his former partner parted ways.

Despite the name on the sign out front, Ford serves up more than seafood on Whalley. In addition to fried fish dishes, you can get fried chicken wings ​“sauced” in a variety of flavors and carry-out hot dogs and hamburgers.

One of Ford’s long standing customers, whom he calls Mrs. Knox (pictured), dropped by Friday to place an order and to fuss at him. Though many of his old customers on Hamilton Street knew that he had moved, Mrs. Knox said she had not got the memo.

“I was all the way over on Dixwell Avenue looking for y’all,” she scolded Ford affectionately. ​“Y’all didn’t tell me.” She left with fish and shrimp.

Ford said he sees his business as creating an opportunity for himself and others. He was incarcerated for five years; when he got out he couldn’t find a job, so he turned to frying fish to make a living. His business is staffed mostly by family members and people like Michael, who at one time was homeless.

“I love it here,” said Michael (pictured in the blue-green T‑shirt). ​“I wake up ready to go to work.”

Ford, who recently was chosen to be one of the local entrepreneurs to participate in the city’s new small business academy, said he wants to take his operation to a bigger stage, possibly starting a sit-down restaurant featuring live music. He’s also open to starting other kinds of businesses including a day care.

When Chef Andre, who has 40 years of cooking experience under his belt, mentioned that he has a side catering business called Hot Peas & Butter Catering, Ford chuckled. ​“Go ahead and plug your business,” he said. ​“If I shine, you shine.”