Chef Dennis Littley visits the Homosassa Seafood Festival to interview Darci Knecht, owner of the Wild Sassa Seafood Trailer. The conversation highlights Darci’s signature stone crab chowder, explaining that the stone crab meat is hand‑picked and harvested sustainably by taking only one claw, allowing the crab to regenerate. They discuss the mobile trailer’s role in bringing ultra‑fresh, season‑dependent seafood directly from local fishermen and spearfishers, including stone crab, blue crab, hogfish, grouper, and other reef species. Darci describes the family‑run Shelly’s Seafood Market, the close partnership with local fishers, and the importance of educating customers about unfamiliar fish names. The dialogue touches on the regional identity of Florida’s Nature Coast, the emerging local wine scene, and the community‑focused atmosphere of the festival, emphasizing trust between fishmongers and consumers and the value of supporting small, family‑owned operations.
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Alright, so hi again, I'm Chef Dennis Littley and we're at the Homo Sassa Seafood Festival and I'm here with Darcy.
Hi.
And we're in her, what would you call this?
Wild Sassa Seafood Trailer.
Wild Sassa Seafood Trailer, that's pretty cool.
Yep.
And you're making your legendary stone crab chowder.
That's right.
Among other things. Mm-hmm. This is all stone crab meat?
This is all stone crab meat, hand-picked by me.
Handpicked by Lovely Darcy.
The meat is succulent and sweet. Not a lot of people are familiar with it. They're more familiar with snow crab or king crab, and stone crab is significant to our area. It's mainly only from Florida. It's a sustainable resource, the only sustainable resource in the US. Really? Yep, which not a lot of people know.
Wow, and that's because when they do do fish them, they have to take one claw and leave the other. That's right.
And it regenerates itself over a certain amount of time.
That's wild. Now I know they'll regenerate both, but you're not giving the guy a fighting chance to survive if you take both of his claws.
Exactly.
So it's a good thing you're only taking one.
Exactly.
Come on in.
One minute.
So this is a working sea turtle. You want to say hi? Come on over here and say hi.
This is Shannon. She's here. Hello.
So what are you doing today, Shannon?
I am assisting Darcy with anything that she needs. That's good. And making people smile when they come to the window. Yes, lots of techniques.
I'm sure you do. I'm not even gonna go there because I saw one of the techniques when I walked up. Hello! Happy to see you. Thanks so much. But anyway, let's get back to food. What else are you making today besides your Well, every weekend, which is—
it's a little hard at first for people to understand, but the menu actually does change because when you're involved with seafood, everything is dependent upon the weather, Mother Nature, seasonal, which is really a nice treat for people because you know you're getting something fresh.
Well, you got the dock right here and the boats right here.
Literally. Yeah, we'll turn that camera around for y'all.
Yeah, we'll show them. I'll show them when we go out.
It's straight from the fisherman. It's kind of the concept.
That's great. So what are some of the things you get to choose from that they bring in?
So in season, let's say, oh, stone crab is in season. Um, blue crab, local live blue crab are all year long for this area. We're 6 miles from the Gulf and our family has a fish market as well, Shelly's Seafood Market, and that kind of is how this concept works is because we go hand in hand. They procure seafood from other fishermen in the area as well as themselves. We have boats that go out and they also procure from spearfishermen, which is a real treat. Some very, very fresh, some of the freshest fish you'll ever find.
Now where do they spearfish around here?
The big one that is always on people's minds and in high demand is hogfish. More familiar in the Keys, kind of where it came from. And grouper is king here. We get— there's upwards of 19 different kinds of grouper.
I know. I did get to go out fishing Friday.
Oh, you did?
Yeah, I am by no way an outdoorsman, so it was a unique experience for me. I know you might find that hard to believe.
No, I believe it. With your laptop?
No, I didn't take that. I did take this though. We put that away. But no, I was dressed for the occasion, but I actually looked like a fisherman. And he made me hold— the first time he made me hold the grouper, I caught a grouper. I actually caught a grouper all by myself.
That is so cool.
And he made me hold it, and I'm like, really? You know, I'm a chef, but usually I put gloves on when I handle seafood. I got my fingers in the gills and I'm holding it. Straighten it out, we're gonna drop it! Straighten it out!
Straight from the fisherman. Yeah. Did you fillet it when you get it?
He filleted it for me and they cooked it that night for me, and it was— I had to send it back to the kitchen the kitchen because there was more food than I could eat. I had caught that and it was huge.
Oh really?
Yeah, and also a trout, and they cooked it all up for me, brought me this humongous platter of seafood. I'm like, that's all I can eat, take it back to the kitchen and let everybody eat it. But grouper is great.
Grouper is mild, it's white, it's flaky. I love, um, when we're at the fish market, because we work there as well, um, when we're at the fish market, I really enjoy There's so many different kinds of fish in this area. A lot of small reef fish, a lot of different unique names, so don't ever be scared of the names.
Oh no.
Because like between sheepshead, grunts, and gag, they're just— people get turned off by it because they don't know. You have to educate them and explain. And some, you know, people will come back a week later and go, "That's the best fish I ever had!" Yeah, you gotta try everything. Or trust the people that you the, you know, your fishmonger.
You know, that's a— I'm glad you said that because that's a very good point. I'm always talking about when you buy fish, when you buy meat, when you buy produce, you need to trust the person you're buying it from. You need to develop a relationship, and you're going to start to learn what I like, and I'm going to tell you what I like, and then you're going to point me in the right direction. And that's, that's always the best way to go.
My friend Miles, family-friendly business, can can do that for you too. Absolutely. Instead of like a big corporation, it's a little bit more difficult.
And where you don't always see the same person all the time, you don't know— one guy's really good, then that guy's not there, and you don't know what to do. But this is a family operation.
Yeah, I started especially at the fish market. It's one of the best feelings is not only knowing somebody's name when they come in, but also knowing kind of what they like and being able to say, Guess what? We got in a fish that you're gonna love. I can't wait for you to try it. It's such a cool deal.
That is, and you have some of the best, freshest seafood in the world here.
That's what Florida is known for.
And this is the Nature Coast.
That's right.
You know, I keep going to different coasts, they all have these different names, and I love it.
Especially Holmossassa. Say that 10 times fast. You know, nobody gets that.
I wanted to make sure I pronounced that one correctly. You know, I've been learning all the Indian names. I still haven't quite gotten that one. That one's pretty easy.
Yeah, well, you get it after a while, and people, it's just like Mississippi, you're like, just spell it just like you say it.
But I'm really surprised that my first question when I entered Citrus County was, where's all the citrus? And it's like, oh, everybody asks that, you know, and they explained the whole thing to me. But it's just, well, there's kumquats a little bit further north, and we did see some, yeah, but it's not big. Big, which you would think citrus is planted from front to back.
A lot more berries.
Yeah, blueberries.
A lot of, um, there's so many more, um, wineries, more than I ever had known before.
I didn't hear that at all.
Yep, there's a lot popping up and a lot of different vineyards. So that is kind of a future, um, you know, to look out for.
Yeah. Oh, and we do like our wine.
Wine's a wonderful Maybe afterwards. Yeah, a little chatter and wine. I know.
Be happy. But no, this is just great. I thank you so much for taking time out of your busy day. I know you're getting ready and you have to make—
We have a big festival this weekend. Lots of people come from near and far just for it because, you know, it started from the fishermen. The fishermen actually started it in this town, and this is— it's a small fishing village. On the water. And that's kind of its point. And it's beautiful in Old Florida, and we're happy to be here.
And if you want fresh seafood, let me tell you something, this is the place to be.
That's right, literally.
Literally.
Off the boat. Off the boat.
Well, thank you so much. I really appreciate your time, Darcy. I'll let you get back to work, and have a great day. And I'm going to go out and enjoy some of the seafood festival, and I'll be sure to post more things about it later.
