For over fifty years now, Mastic Seafood has stood alone – alone as a small brick storefront that’s nestled between Mastic Boulevard and Patchogue Avenue, right on Mastic Road.
Yet, what may look like just a storefront has a lifelong story inside that spans a few generations and is still being written.
Over fifty years ago, this renown seafood store was started by local bay men, hard-working immigrants that knew the bay, rivers, and ocean that surrounds this community, inside and out. Anthony LoCascio’s family migrated to the United States from Sicily and initially settled in Nassau County where they first owned a seafood store. After falling on hard times, they sold and continued to migrate to the East End, where they eventually purchased Mastic Seafood from the original owner. Since then, this business has been passed down from one generation to the next, where it’s still standing and still thriving.
Anthony LoCascio, the current manager and son of the owner, literally grew up in this store. He easily remembers being a five-year-old boy running around in the back while his grandparents and parents worked in the front. He finished high school and went off to college with other career pursuits in mind. But the family business hooked and reeled him back in. He now runs the popular seafood store with pride, passion, dignity, and care.
I walked in at 2:00p.m. on a Monday afternoon for an interview with Anthony. This was supposed to be a break between the morning and evening rush that would allow us some time to chat. When I first opened the door there were three customers waiting on line. When I walked out, there was a line nearly out the door – a line as diverse as the surrounding neighborhood.
“We pride ourselves in not only having the freshest fish around, but also our service and hospitality towards each set of feet that walks in,” said LoCascio. “We know many of our retail and wholesale customers on a first-name basis. We also have a great relationship with our local guys working the bay year-round. That’s why this place is still standing. It’s all about the level of service we maintain.”
Around one side of the storefront is a constant flow of large box trucks and vans pulling in to buy wholesale. These customers, many restaurant owners, pull in traveling anywhere from Montauk to Manhattan. On the opposite side of the structure is local fishermen pulling in to sell off their daily catch to the store. It’s an amazing conveyor belt and full-circle type of operation to watch.
Another amazing distinction of this store is their relationship and far reach with chefs, some that are world-renowned. Mastic Seafood’s Instagram page, especially in the summer months, is inundated with high-end chefs visiting to pick out fish for their dinner parties on Dune Road and the opulent East End communities of Amagansett, East Hampton, Sagaponack, Greenport, and beyond. The fresh fish that sits on a thick bed of ice in this small storefront ends up traveling to some of the most exclusive and prestigious dinner parties and annual events that the East End hosts.
Mastic Seafood also prides themselves in serving the people who live right in the same community where they do business. People also walk, take the bus, or even carpool with family to buy their fish here. Every customer is valued, regardless of where they are coming from or what quantity they plan on purchasing.
“We believe that eating healthy should be affordable for everyone. We’re known to offer retail fish at wholesale prices,” Anthony stated.
While summer is undoubtedly their busiest season and they employ upwards of thirty people this time of year, anyone who has visited or passed by Mastic Seafood on Christmas Eve day knows about their both famous and infamous line. People start lining up on the morning of Christmas Eve to get the freshest fish they can for their dinner. The line usually wraps around the building and down the block into the residential Mastic neighborhood. People from this area, like me, grew up with the awe and nostalgia of their Christmas Eve line that lasts all morning and day, right into the evening hours.
More recently, they have purchased the large plot of land behind their store, cleared it out, and are in the process of expanding their wholesale business.
“We’re tight on space here so we’re planning to expand our wholesale area and capability.”
Mastic Seafood is a long-time staple in this community and ultimately in Suffolk County. With such a long standing and prosperous business, they also believe in supporting local school functions and sports teams that operate right in the same community that they do business in.
While most times, we all run out to cut the red tape for a new business venture, and rightfully so, I’m thankful to be able to highlight and honor this “Oldie but Goodie” for having such a long successful journey.
Mastic Seafood is located at 1051 Mastic Road in Mastic and can be reached at (631) 281-9608.