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FeedGo Fish
Samuels & Son keeps the fresh seafood coming all year long.
Photos by Steve Legato Published October 29, 2009 at 10:35 AM
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Though we’ll likely moan about it later, there’s no denying that good eating is one of the best parts of the holiday season—especially if you’re a seafood lover. From standards like shrimp, mussels, lobster and calamari, to bronzino, caviar, Norwegian sole and other more exotic fare, the selection is never more enticing than it is in December, when spirits—and spending—are high. 
The most visible and reliable seafood resource in the area is Samuels & Son Seafood Co. Its fish tale began in 1929, when Samuel D’Angelo’s grandfather, Guiseppe Ippolito, began pushing a cart loaded with the day’s catch through the streets of Philadelphia. The hours were grueling, but with the support of his wife and children, Ippolito prospered, upgrading to a horse and wagon, and then to a truck. By 1945, his eldest daughter was running a full-scale retail store at 13th and Dickinson streets.
Today, D’Angelo and his kids, Lauren, Sammy and Anthony, run the show. He came into the family’s occupation full time in 1974, after his grandfather retired and moved back to Sicily. With business booming, D’Angelo started his own company to focus on the wholesale side, calling on his father to head up the sales team. 
Today, Samuels & Son is an industry leader, with some 250 employees working to supply more than 2,500 different seafood products to restaurants and other businesses in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. All told, they operate 50 delivery trucks daily, Monday-Saturday, while also handling overnight delivery nationwide. Their selection is second to none, ranging from 350 to 400 species of fish and shellfish.
Samuels & Son’s local market share is about two-thirds, and plenty of suburban restaurateurs owe at least a portion of their success to the company. Chef Carlo deMarco—the culinary muscle behind 333 Belrose in Radnor and Firecreek Restaurant + Bar in Downingtown—makes no bones about his allegiance, gushing about their “pristine products, fair pricing and professional salesmanship.” 
High-profile chef/restaurateur Alison Barshak, whose reputation has been built on seafood, describes Samuels & Son as a tour de force in the industry. “When I was starting out, I learned about fish and seafood from the first sales guy at Samuels & Son. He was high energy and would do anything for a customer,” she says. “He’d really go above and beyond, which is why people like to do business with [them].”
The ever-growing list of local Samuels & Son customers also includes Ardmore Seafood, Sola, Teresa’s Next Door, Restaurant Alba, Creed’s, Merion Golf Club, Blackfish, Bywood Seafood, Philadelphia Lobster & Fish, and the ACME chain, among others. In Center City, big-name chefs Jose Garces, Marc Vetri, Eric Ripert, Georges Perrier, Jason Cichonski and Christian Albin all swear by Samuels’ unparalleled selection and “tell us what you want, and we’ll get it for you” mindset.
