The Tale Of the 3 Fishermen

Once upon a time, there lived three friends and business colleagues, Gary, Carlos and Jim, who liked to eat well and always enjoyed a bargain. One early spring afternoon after having traveled many miles and traversed treacherous LA streets, the friends met for a late lunch.

"Greetings, greetings!" Gary said, rising as Carlos and Jim approached the patio table. "I hope the sun out here is not too strong for you."

"Not at all," said Carlos, giving his friend a hearty handshake and pat on the back.

"It feels good to be outside!" Jim added.

So the three sat down, opened their menus and quietly looked over their choices for the mid-day meal.

"The angel hair with lox looks good," Jim noted without raising his eyes from the scripted and gilded text, but moving his right ear ever so slightly upward and in Gary's direction. Jim and Carlos, you see, generally ran potential choices past Gary before making any final decisions, Gary being a gourmet cook who liked everything from the simple to the complex -- so long as it was done right -- and who had a knack for deriving from a description if a dish "worked" or not.

"Gayle and I made that just last night," Gary said, also without lifting his eyes from the menu. "It's quite good, especially with our homemade dill gravlax.".

"Gravlax? What's that?" asked Carlos.

"Cured salmon, like lox. Scandinavian, "Gary answered. "My great aunt used to make it all the time. It's really easy. The only trick is in the spices. You've got to balance the flavors just right. Gayle and I have come up with some wonderful varieties -- lemon pepper, barbeque, dill... Dill, that's the traditional Scandinavian. It's great. You just rub the spices onto a nice fresh salmon fillet, cover it up, let it sit weighted in the fridge a day or so, then, voila' you've got the basis for any of a thousand appetizers and main courses.

We make it all the time, especially around the holidays and whenever we're hosting a party."

"You mean that phenomenal stuff at the Lewis' bon voyage, you made that?" Carlos asked.

Gary glanced up and was slightly startled to see both friends skewed forward with their chests pressed flat into their menus, staring intently at him.

"Sure." Gary answered.

"You mean the stuff we pay $21-plus a pound for at the market... you make that yourself -- and it's easy to do?" Jim asked.

"Sure. Been doing it for years."

A smile slowly spread across Jim's face. "Gentlemen, I have an idea."

And so the three friends  who loved to eat well joined together and founded 3 Fishermen to bring delectable, gourmet gravlax into the lives of all people. They packaged their message without the salmon fillet itself to give it a long shelf-life in their clients' homes, and created a gourmet cookbook that not only teaches the world how to select the optimal salmon fillet but also how to transform that simple piece of fish into an endless number of gravlax-based taste sensations.