CORTEZ – Mullet has been the staple food of Cortez for more than a century, served at everything from fishing festivals to church cookouts to family dinners.

Finally, the rest of the world is catching on, according to restaurateur Ed Chiles.

Once locally considered the poor man's fish, mullet is gaining popularity around the world, said Chiles, the operator of the Sandbar, BeachHouse and Mar Vista restaurants in Anna Maria, Bradenton Beach and Longboat Key, where he has been serving mullet for about a year, smoked in a dip, broiled and fried.

"Mullet is wild, and it's good for you," Chiles said, adding that its local history makes it interesting to customers. "It's the ultimate sustainable seafood."

Catch statistics are not yet in for this winter's mullet season, but local commercial fishermen say it was the best in many years, despite restrictions – gill nets were banned statewide in 1995, weekends are closed on silver mullet from July 1 to Jan. 31 and there's a 50 fish per person or vessel limit on striped mullet in the Manatee River from Nov. 1 to Jan. 31, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

The season has ended, but Chiles' restaurants will begin serving mullet again when they're fat, in late summer and early fall, he said.

Mullet could easily become the next big thing, like redfish a few years back, Chiles said.

"At one time, I couldn't sell redfish. That won't happen with mullet," which already is popular in Europe and New York, and is selling for $8.95 a pound in Maine, he said.

The longtime popularity of mullet roe, or eggs, in Asia, which can cost up to $300 a pound, may pave the way for the acceptance of inexpensive mullet fillets.

Chiles partners with Seth Cripe, of Anna Maria Fish Co., who makes Cortez Bottarga in Cortez and Lola wine in California, selling the products at his eateries. They also partner with Mote Marine to sell locally-farmed Siberian sturgeon caviar.

Cortez Bottarga is mullet roe caught locally, then pressed and dried with sea salt. Known as poutargue in France and karasumi in Japan, it can be shredded over salads, pasta and even grits, which hearkens back to the way whole mullet has been enjoyed in Cortez since before Anna Maria Island was inhabited.

"It's a heritage product," said Chiles. "It's a fabulous fish."

 

The financial markets have been a much friendlier place for investors in the last few months compared to the extremely volatile times we went through last summer and fall. But rest assured, there will be trying times in our future at some point, just as we have experienced in the past.

For individual investors, it is how we react during these times of stress that goes a long way to determining our long-term results. Of course, predicting trouble in advance is never an exact science, so the choices are to:

• Not react emotionally and ride out periods of volatility;

• Use a disciplined rules-based process to try to control risk by varying your asset allocation over time;

• React on intuition or emotion.

Of course, the last option generally does not work out very well for most, as they tend to get too aggressive after markets have done well and tend to bail out after markets have declined. This is the opposite behavior of the buy low, sell high theory.

I think investors can have more patience and success if they manage their investment portfolio like it was a business. Not all of us have owned or run a business, but it's not hard to imagine the thought process. Let's say, hypothetically, that we owned a successful boutique on Pine Avenue here on Anna Maria Island.

In fact, let's imagine that we were successful enough that two to three times in an average week, investors inquired if we would be willing to sell the business to them for $250,000. After enough offers of $250,000, we could make the assumption that the fair value of our business is about that amount.

Then, for three weeks in a row, we only get one offer each week for $200,000, a 20 percent lower value than previously offered. Would we panic and sell to the low bidder? Probably not. Instead, we would keep working in the business, generating income from it and hopefully building the value in the enterprise so that we would one day sell for an evenhigher amount than the $250,000 offers.

If you think about it, your investment portfolio is a compilation of stocks, bonds and perhaps real estate investment trust and other investments. The value of these investments changes a bit every day, but periodically may drop more than usual based on the level of demand from buyers, just like in the boutique example above. Should we panic and sell our investment portfolio at a lower price? Generally, this would be a bad idea. If you consider your portfolio as a business, which holds ownership in companies and their debt obligations, you may be less likely to be driven to sell after declines.

After all, if the price of IBM's stock drops 20 percent, does it mean it is selling 20 percent less mainframe computers and software? Not likely, and in fact its sales could actually be increasing while the stock price temporarily declines. So, rather than sell at the low price, continue your disciplined approach to running the business and building value to eventually sell when you can get a premium price.

Tom Breiter is president of Breiter Capital Management, Inc., an Anna Maria based investment advisor. He can be reached at 778-1900. Some of the investment concepts highlighted in this column may carry the risk of loss of principal, and investors should determine appropriateness for their personal situation before investing. www.breitercapital.com

Tom Breiter is president of Breiter Capital Management, Inc., an Anna Maria based investment advisor. He can be reached at 778-1900. Some of the investment concepts highlighted in this column may carry the risk of loss of principal, and investors should determine appropriateness for their personal situation before investing. Visit www.breitercapital.com.