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Rivertowns in Westchester County farmer's market - Sasha's Seafood — Sasha sells seafood indoors and out

January 4, 2021

By Linda Viertel–

That’s how Sasha Skon, owner, manager and “shemonger” of Sasha’s Seafood greeted her email customers placing orders before her first 2021 pop-up seafood market at the Fit Inn (104 Central Avenue) in Tarrytown. Every first and third Wednesday of the month, from 2:30 to 5 p.m., customers can pick up what they have chosen to order from her virtual shop on her website: sashasseafood.com. And, starting this Wednesday, January 6^th, she will be offering her first full share Sea Society Membership boxes which means she will be taking pre-orders and offering a limited walk-in menu selection as well.

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Tarrytown resident, Sasha Skon, grew up in a third generation fishmonger’s home in New York City, enjoying the freshest fish available from the market. “My step-dad, brother and cousin still bring fresh fish home every day; it’s been part of our identity for generations,” she said. Her step-father, David Samuels, still works at the Fulton Fish Market (starting at midnight!), so Sasha texts him her order from her rivertown customers on Tuesday night. She then picks up all orders from him on Wednesday morning in the Bronx so that her pop-up market offers the freshest seafood possible. It’s a passion for her, having been fortunate enough to live in a family that treasured home-cooking, especially when her two grandmothers, one French and the other Israeli, were in the kitchen.

After living in San Francisco for 14 years, then Los Angeles for a year, she decided to come back to the East Coast to be near her parents and in-laws. When her second child was born, she and her husband Nate, who works for a renewable energy company, began exploring places to live and had heard wonderful things about Tarrytown. Once the Skon family settled into village life, Sasha realized she wanted to bring her focus on sustainability from her California life to her new community. As she says on her website, “I started Sasha’s Seafood for two reasons: to offer access to the best seafood, usually reserved for restaurants, to my community; and to make at-home seafood more fun and approachable.”

With those two precepts in mind, she searched for a way to present her fresh seafood during winter-time and found the ideal venue: the Fit Inn. Owners Molly and Tony Canu one of the TaSH (Tarrytown/Sleepy Hollow Farmers market) sponsors, offered their business location to Sasha. They had all become good friends at the TaSH seasonal market where Sasha sold her seafood. “It was a natural fit personally,” Sasha said,” And, the community connected right away.”

Her comprehensive list of seafood offerings changes seasonally: when sweet, small bay scallops, so delicate and ephemeral, are in season, she provides them. Everything she offers is wild caught except for her salmon, which is farmed in the Faroe Islands. She and her family think it is the finest available. Even Sasha’s shrimp is fresh, not frozen, a total rarity and very hard to find in fish markets. Shell-on fresh shrimp holds the flavor in and keeps the texture from becoming mushy, often a problem with frozen shrimp. Her biggest sellers are salmon, scallops, sea bass (both whole and fillet), halibut and swordfish. Shellfish are offered when available, as will be her Sea Society Memberships, a limited menu of boxed seafood. In the future, Sasha hopes to make chowders and fish marinades.

“She’s been my weekly supplier of incredibly fresh fish the last few months. We’ve had some memorable dinners.” former Mayor, Drew Fixell commented, “She set up a pre-Christmas table on Wednesday at the Fit Inn where we picked up our 3rd week’s pound+ of beautiful glistening wild-caught halibut.” Sasha says that not only were fellow vendors at the TaSH helpful in taking time to set up her space at the market, but that market customers and other residents have responded enthusiastically to her seafood pop-up offerings. She’s grateful to have gotten to know so many parents in her children’s pre-school, the women with whom she is a member of Mothers out Front, and is enjoying connection to more of the community through Sasha’s Seafood.