The Dish With Max Ritcey of Ritcey East (Fish Tacos, Art, and Helping Those in Need)

Welcome to the first episode of The Dish! This is a new series that I'll be doing with Charlie Breitrose from Watertown News where we'll visit different Watertown restaurants to learn about a signature dish, but we'll also capture some of the stories that make the restaurant and the people behind the food unique.

This episode is with Max Ritcey over at Ritcey East at 208 Waverley Ave here in Watertown. Max walks us through making his fish tacos, an homage and spin on his family's old restaurant fare at Ritcey's Seafood Kitchen. We also hear about Max's love of supporting local artists, memes and taco trucks, and how he got Governor Healey's praise when he stepped up to help those in need when SNAP benefits were cut near the end of 2025. 

Listen to the episode and then head on over to Ritcey East to try out the fish tacos!

Find Ritcey East's hours, menu, and other info online at RitceyEast.com.

You can also listen to my longer interview with Max from last year, where you can learn more about Max and his personal story: www.littlelocalconversations.com/episodes/episode-67-max-ritcey-ritcey-east-owner-and-chef

Read Charlie's article of The Dish on Watertown News

Transcript

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Matt 0:07

Hi there. Welcome to the Little Local Conversations Podcast. I'm your host, Matt Hanna. Every episode I sit down for a conversation to discover the people, places, stories, and ideas of Watertown. This episode is the first one in a new series called The Dish, which I'll be doing in partnership with Charlie Breitrose at Watertown News. We're gonna be going to different restaurants to get the story behind a signature dish or a favorite dish. And we'll also get the dish as in some of the stories behind the person behind the dish and the restaurant as well. So for the first one, Charlie and I visited Max at Ritcey East. And Ritcey East is located over at 208 Waverley Avenue in Watertown, Massachusetts. Max Ritcey is the chef and owner. He's actually been on the podcast before, which is actually one of the most listened to episodes I've put out. Max is fun, Max is great. But today I'm gonna share an episode with you where Max makes his fish tacos for us. Just like in a kitchen, you’re going between different things, making different dishes, we'll cut back and forth between him making the meals for us and the making of the restaurant and the community. So hope you enjoy it. Let me know what you think. Without further ado, let's kick right in. 

Matt 1:11

We are here at Ritcey East, here in Watertown, over on Waverley. We're here with Max Ritcey, who is the owner, chef, whatever you want to call him.

Max 1:22

Social media manager, accountables payable, all around great guy.

Matt 1:25 

Slash, slash, slash, slash. And he's gonna make us a dish today that is one of his signature dishes and give us a little bit of the story behind it. Make it for us here in the kitchen. Yeah, you wanna introduce a little bit about, what's your one minute what's my restaurant? 

Max 1:40

Absolutely. I'm Max Ritcey, owner of Ritcey East in Watertown. So today I'm gonna create the fish tacos. My parents owned a restaurant in Waltham that was a seafood restaurant. Started in 1911 as a fish market. So a lot of people come in here knowing seafood and kind of signifying Ritcey with seafood. So I definitely take a spin on that. We're not all seafood. We do anything that feels good today and maybe not so great tomorrow. So fish tacos, play on my parents, great fish, fresh haddock, lightly breaded, and then I jazz it up with some homemade citrus slaw, chipotle aioli, and then pico de gallo. Really simple, tasty, and can be made a lot of different ways and a lot of allergy safe ways, including celiac safe.

Matt 2:19

Yes, because we got me here, and Charlie Breitrose from Watertown News is here today. So he'll eat the regular dish. And me, my gluten unfriendly person here, I will be trying your allergen-friendly version.

Max 2:30

Hell yeah, and they taste both equally as delicious. I can promise you that. All right. Here we go. We're doing it. This is it. We get to show you. Also, another little fun fact I'd like to tell people this, you know, you can advise any restaurant to do this. I tried to spread this good word here. This is a reusable mat because lots of kitchens will put plastic wrap down in front of everything. And they put plastic wrap down for the reason that it makes it easier to clean, stuff doesn't stick, and especially on the fry stations where flour can go everywhere. Look at this. Throw it in the dishwasher at the end of the night. I've used this for two years, three years. No plastic wrap needed. No plastic wrap needed here. 

Matt 3:04

Nice. 

Max 3:05

That's my spiel. 

Matt 3:06

Love that sustainability. 

Max 3:07

Yeah, I feel like if people are listening, there's ways, right?

Matt 3:09

Absolutely. So walk us through the steps here of famous fish tacos.

Max 3:14

We cut our fish, same fish, no different style between the fish fry and fish taco. A lot of places we'll do a tilapia, a red fish, or a frozen fish for their taco. I think that's what separates us. We get our fish in twice a week. It stays very fresh. It is quite delicious. It is haddock, always haddock we use. That was kind of a staple of my dad. And there's very few things I don't listen to when it comes to terms with my dad, but always food I listen to hom. So first we're gonna take the fish and we're gonna put it in a milk bath. That takes off any excess acid or anything that might be on there. The milk acid really does help clean up the fish and it's gonna help our flour stick to it. Hopefully, your fish isn't wet going in. Out of the bag, it shouldn't be wet. It's fresh. It's a nice firm fish. So you do little milk liquid to get it wet. 

Max 3:59

We use two different types of fry flour here. A lot of people just use a fry flour general mix that you can buy at clam fry. We don't do that because that's not gluten-free. I am gluten-free and I like to eat my own food, and I feel like it's just as easy to set these out. As many things in the restaurant. It's not necessarily cheaper because I use Bob's Red Mill instead of corn flour. And I mean Bob's Red Mill goes for $46 a bag opposed to my corn flour, which is here, which is $19.99 a bag. And we go through a bag week easily. So, you know, with a lot of things, I think quality matters, and I'm happy to be supporting Bob's Red Mill, a small employee-owned company. 

Max 4:36

So here we are. From the milk, we're going to our first course into our gluten-free Bob's Red Mill flour. Nice little toss here. First course is just really to stick. A lot of people might do like a wet dip method, which is when you have the milk and this in, and you know, tempura does that a lot. I like to do the extra step and just keep the flour separate. So we're gonna take the floured fish, put it right in, milk again. We're gonna lose some of the flour, no big deal. We're gonna put it in our corn flour here. I'm not gonna overload it because I want enough to be able to go right on top. Plenty in order to cover it. If I was just doing regular fried fish right now and not a fish taco, I would definitely add some seasoning into this flour. A little bit of just salt, I think, and pepper at the end. You don't want to burn the pepper. So fish, nothing crazy. I think salt is something nice to add into the flour. 

Max 5:29

Just this way. But this is really cool to show you, just random. All right, so that there. So when my dad sold Ritcey Seafood Kitchen, his buddy at that time, Dickie, took a bunch of stuff, really a lot of stuff he took. So our second year open here, we had a woman come in on a Friday night. She had asked if I was working. And I went out and she explained who she was. She was Dickie's wife, and I remember her. They lived behind the restaurant at Ritcey's. I hadn't seen her in forever, and I was like, no, I definitely remember who you are. And she said, you know, when the restaurant closed, Dickie took a ton of stuff, and most of it I got rid of. But I moved to Canada after he passed away. I moved back to Canada and I took some of the stuff. And this piece was in your father's restaurant. And this is from Paul Shea, who is a well-known local artist from around here. And this apparently was before Paul Shea really had come up. You know, his art has now expanded with time, obviously, like a lot of artists. 

Max 6:34

So it's not only an interestingly beautiful piece, but it holds such a memory. Seeing this piece immediately takes me back. I know exactly where I was hanging in the restaurant. It just holds such powerful feelings. And now, even seeing that it says 1979, I'm sure that this was up in the restaurant since 1979. This was up in Ritcey Seafood. So yeah, it really is beautiful. And that's the type of connections that owning a restaurant creates and is really unique and cool. And it's just so interesting the things that you get to see that generations pass down and that my dad was doing the same thing long before I was. You know, community, local art. It's just a representation of what I do as well. And it's awesome.

Matt 7:14

Do you have an artist upstairs that has taken off since you first got their art?

Max 7:18

Yeah, I mean, I think everyone in their own right that I'm supporting up there is doing extremely well. But I do think Miles Perry, who is the large piece, the ocean, Frank Ocean piece I have up there. I've been watching what he's doing, and he was recently recognized by Mayor Wu. And he just is really doing great things and speaking up about all the right things. And then Johnny in Paris, who does the outback artwork and he does a lot of the clothes you'll see our staff wearing. The Dead Lobster is his company. But he really started, obviously drawing a long time ago, but 2020, during the pandemic, I put out the internet just asking for an artist. He was going through a tough time. He decided that he was just gonna go all in on his art. He just knew that he liked doing it and he had a lot of feelings inside. And he recently lost his parents, and he just really was looking for something. 

Max 8:10

And it's Yum Bunnies that was in Belmont, they're now in Waltham. But Jessa, it's her husband, John. And he came over and looked out back, and I was like, I'm open to whatever, but this is like my vibe. He was like, love to do it, love the space. I'll just take care of it. We have since became friends, and we've had four rounds or five rounds of the out back painted, and he's done all of them. So in the last six years, really, I've got to watch his career develop. He's doing very unique things and he's very cool. That's definitely someone proud to have hanging here. As with everyone, everyone's doing their own thing, very cool. Like, truthfully, there's so many artists upstairs, all do really cool, unique stuff. 

Charlie 8:48

Who does your windows? I know that's the thing that you can see when you're just driving by or walking by. 

Max 8:52

So that's Anya, who's actually a teacher at the middle school. Yeah, she was a regular here for a while, and now she works here once a week on Monday nights. And she said one time, she's like, you know, I can do the windows. So she did, again, this is, is this our third set? Yeah, we had the Jeep at first. We had the Jeep and the Steven over in the drawbridge, then we had the Bob's burgers, now we have this one. Again, very talented. We have a lot of very talented people. And I think that's Watertown as well. I think Watertown draws a lot of artistic people, and that's very cool. 

Max 9:30

So with a deep fryer, it's a lot easier because a deep fryer, the rule is when it floats, it's done. So if you're doing it in a home pan, it's very hard when you only have a quarter of an inch to tell if it's floating or not. Keep your thermometer handy. I check, I have written right over there the temperatures of what people need to know for different things. At home, I keep it inside my cabinet where my plates are. There's just like a little cheat sheet of the temperatures that need to be in there. That's my go-to foolproof way, because I am paranoid when it comes to things being to temp. But the rule is if it floats, it's done. That's what I was taught from my dad and that's definitely what I go by, the fish rule. 

Max 10:06

And as far as the fryers, not at this very moment. We keep one fryer at 350, the other at 375. This is kind of the Bonchon method, and this is what they're known for and their chicken, is that they fry in different temperatures, and it's supposed to make it extra crispy. So we go from a lower temp and we finish in a higher temp. So it allows the inside to cook nicely without drying out, and then the outside for that flash fry finish. And figure when you're putting things in a basket, not necessarily the fish fry, but if you're putting fries in there, anything that's frozen, it's gonna drop the temp immediately. So if you have one basket that's continually running at 375 and the other's kind of fluctuating, you know that that's gonna finish strong and crispy. So at this moment, seeing that most of them are like starting to come up, you see the ends coming up. This is when I drop them into the next fryer. But we're cleaning the fryers after this, so one fry is what we got. So these are just compostable plates that we use as our like fry pad. So anything that comes out of the fryer goes on to here to take any excess spree soft before it goes onto the plate. They're looking good. Everyone's floating. The guy I was worrying about, but you made it. This is a great color. Excellent color. This is what you're looking for. Kind of a golden brown, puffed up nicely. 

Matt 11:18

Nice. So what's the next step? 

Max 11:20

We use these little guys here, these tortillas, flour tortillas. And again, if you are like me and you are gluten sensitive, completely up to you. I'm not a doctor, I'm not you. But very low gluten things go in our fryer, the empanadas and the curly fries and the tenders. So those are three items that go in. Our fryer is cleaned quite often. Any actual flour that goes in is gluten-free. So I myself will eat these fried, same thing, kickin’ chicken. I'll eat that fried with a gluten-free bun or with the corn tortillas. Obviously, you always want to notate that because we cook the tortillas separately. We cook them on a pan instead of just right on the griddle where the other bread goes. 

Max 11:58

My favorite part, I think, of the fish taco is the taco truck. Very similar to the cocktails. I generally start with like a concept of what I want and then build around it. Oh, see, we're almost gonna burn a tortilla. This is all it takes. This is literally it's all it takes, talk for one second.

Matt 12:14

Fish tacos were served in these little plastic taco trucks. They're really fun to look at.

Max 12:18

So the truck is really truthfully my favorite part. It looks fun. And I really think it's like a good descriptor of who we are. Just taking something that everyone does and presenting it a little bit differently, with a little whimsy. Also, I love seeing people's faces, grown adults when those come out and they're like, ooh, truck. I don't know if you've seen the video of the queen when she sees the cows come out and she's very happy. That's kind of the adults' thing. So if you haven't seen that, I do suggest looking that up.

Matt 12:45

Maybe you need to paste a meme of that, of her in the driver's seat of the truck. 

Max 12:48

I really think I do. So fish goes in. I do try to layer it with purpose, knowing that I'm putting stuff on top. Given most stuff here is pretty messy. Here we have our citrus slaw, very, very simple. A lot of our ingredients are very simple. We really don't have to outdo ourselves on some stuff. The pico de gallo we make is truly just tomatoes, cilantro, onion, lime juice, jalapeno, salt. Chipotle, we make it in-house. We make this chipotle crema, not gonna give you that secret, die over that. And then the citrus slaw. Again, very simple. It's just salt, fresh lime juice, and red cabbage that we slice really thin. We like to have this marinate for a day. If not, if you're on the fly and we have to use it today, we take a good 10 minutes and we massage it so the citrus will break down the cabbage and really have it be a little bit of a softer texture. 

Max 13:38

The first thing we're gonna put down is the crema. That's our base, it helps everything else stick. I like to go a little heavy because I design things as if I was eating them. Crema there. Again, I'd like to build it kind of more in the middle because as we build on top, more and more is gonna go. Next, pico, get that again, middle, it's gonna come down. And I like them to be able to see the fish on the outside. But it's beautiful looking fish. So, all right, so we got a little cabbage here. There she is. Look at her in all her glory.

Matt 14:08

Back in November of ‘25, when federal SNAP benefits were paused, Max stepped up by offering free meals to anyone who needed them, giving out meals to feed up to 400 people. Got noticed by the governor, and him and his wife, Chelsea, got to have their little moment of fame at the statehouse.

Max 14:24

I think it's like one of those videos that you just make online that's silly and you don't think's gonna go anywhere, but that's the one that goes viral, and you're like, oh, what? Because the way it happened was me just sitting on my couch on a Sunday reading all the stuff, and I was just so upset. I was so sad reading about it. I was just in such a bad mood talking to Chelsea, literally laying on the couch complaining about it. You know, things are going to hell, like this is so awful. Like, what are people gonna do, food insecurity. The day went on and we did stuff, and I came home and I flopped back down on the couch, and I remember still in that same position. Chelsea looked over and she's like, What are you doing? And I was like, I'm making a sign. She's like, for what? I was like, I'm doing free SNAP meals. How? I was like, I don't know. I don't know yet, but I'm gonna do free SNAP meals for people who need them. So I'm building the stairs as I go and I just put it out there and I said, Monday morning, I'm gonna figure it out. 

Max 15:10

So then I put it out Sunday night, I think at 8:30 after I finished building the thing. And then 10:30 Monday morning, Brandon Truitt from WBZ called me. I was like, I don't know what I'm doing yet. I really got to get this together. So yeah, I went out and bought a ton of stuff from BJ's and a lot of bulk stuff, eggplant, and just started cooking and gave away a lot more than I thought. And people needed it. I didn't ask questions. 

Charlie 15:34

Did you keep account of like how many dishes, how many meals? 

Max 15:36

Yeah, so oh, I forget the exact number right now. In the Globe article, she mentions it because I had the number, but I think it was 400 meals altogether, 378, maybe. Yeah. 

Charlie 15:44

It's amazing. 

Matt 15:45

Yeah. 

Max 15:46

Yeah, no, it was a lot of meals. The Maura Healey thing really just took off. It was very interesting. In every point, I was just as surprised. I got a text on that Friday before it, at 5:30, but I didn't see the text till 8:30 because I was cooking. And it was from a number I didn't know, and it just said, like, hey Max, this is so-and-so with the governor's office. We'd be honored if you could join us to the State of the Union. Can you please email this address if you'd like to go? And I literally like call my sister, this is definitely fraudulent, right? And she was like, Well, is it a state email address? And I was like, You're the detective, and it is. So yeah, truthfully, they wrote back on Monday. They're like, great, we'll send you some information tomorrow. So then they said, here's the address. We'd love if Chelsea could join you. Please know that you'll be sitting near the first lady, so dress camera appropriate. And, you know, that was it. So we're like, great. 

Max 16:34

We got there, walk through. And I was like, oh my God, this is what it must feel to be a celebrity. Soon as we walk through, someone was like, Mr. Ritcey. And I was like, hey. And Chelsea can't keep anything in. You know, Chelsea has to say exactly what's on her mind. She's like, Did you study our faces? And well, yeah, you're part of my clients to bring upstairs. And Chelsea was like, oh my God, so cool. So of course, you know, everyone's much more serious, and I think a little older, and Chelsea and I are like, hehehe, in the elevator. And as soon as we get in the elevator, we see a Belmont mom. And again, Chelsea, you come into Ritcey’s, don't you? And she was like, oh my God, I didn't even recognize you two. I wasn't in an apron, a suit.

Max 17:14

But we went upstairs and she brought us to the door. Next girl comes and grabs us. She brings us in, then she says, Just so you know, the governor is gonna recognize you this evening. So when she says your name, you just need to stand up. There'll be an applause, take it all in, and then just sit down. I was like, oh, okay, sure. No problem. I was like, oh my God. 

Matt 17:33

You were like on the balcony too. 

Max 17:34

The president of Planned Parenthood next to me, the retired of the Greater Boston Food Bank, then it was the owner of Harpoon. I was like, how am I here? And even the woman who was from Planned Parenthood said to Chelsea, like, oh, is this your first time sitting up here? And Chelsea's like, oh, it's our first time here ever. And she was like, oh, wow, you got up here pretty quick. I was like, I guess. And then again, I thought everyone was going to be recognized. And then when it was only me, the firefighter who helped people from the old age home, and then the trooper who saved the guy from the bridge, I was like, oh my God, thank you all so much. It was very surreal, very, very surreal. And I really think I blacked it out. The only thing I remember doing is I told my mom I'd give her a thumbs up so she knew it was for her. So halfway through, I gave a thumbs up, but you only can see it on the YouTube version. So I had to show my mom. She didn't believe me. I was like, no, it's there, I swear I saw her. But yeah, very surreal and very, very.

Matt 18:29

Crazy. Well, you earned it. 

Charlie 18:30

Congratulations, yes. 

Max 18:31

Thank you. And it’s really had an interesting ripple effect. We had a woman just come in on Thursday, and I saw her come in, and I said, wherever you're most comfortable. And it was right when we opened. I came back out, and there's a bag, the article clipped in a newspaper, and a card. And Steve’s like this is from table 22. She wanted to bring this for you. Steve’s like do you recognize her? I was like, no, I don't. Chelsea, can you come in and say thank you to this woman with me? We went over and I was like, hey, who are you? She said that she's from Wilmington. She read the article and she cried. She's a very emotional person and she thought it was so sweet. So she wanted to make sure she came out here and supported us. And she brought us a gift of these like linens and stuff, some table runners and stuff. It was like so sweet. So again, you just don't know who it's affecting or if it's brightening someone’s day or something like that. 

Max 19:20

So there's the fish taco in all its glory. And this is definitely in our top three rotating top items every single week. I had a six-year-old from San Diego a couple years ago tell me, flag me down on a Friday night, and tell me it's the best fish taco he's ever had. And then he followed up by saying, I'm from San Diego. And I took that very seriously. And I would make a t-shirt that says that. 

Charlie 19:39

That's a compliment. 

Max 19:40

It is, you know, and that he loves fish tacos. That kid knew what he was talking about. He was very, you know, he's a future food writer for sure.

Charlie 19:47

Nice. This looks great. Thank you.

Max 19:49

Yeah, of course. 

Matt 19:50

This has been the session in the sanctuary. 

Max 19:53

Yeah. This is it. 

Matt 19:54

Is there an end of the day, like a blessing you give to the space before you leave it?

Max 19:58

Yes, I thank the universe. Always. When I leave at the end of the night, I shut off the lights. You know, I double check all the pilots, don't want it to burn down, big thing. Make sure none of the fridges are left open. And then I always just say, thank you, universe, I'll see you tomorrow. And yeah, I give it like a fake kiss and I leave. And I do the same thing in the mornings when it's just me and I flip on the lights. Still standing here, or you know, we still have a guest base. Thank you, universe. Happy to be here.

Charlie 20:24

Thanks, Max. 

Max 20:25

Yeah, for sure. 

Matt 20:26

Thanks, Max, for taking your time to cook us up your dish and for showing us around. Thanks, Charlie, for being here too. Yeah, thanks. 

Max 20:33

Thank you. I appreciate it. 

Matt 20:35

So that's it for The Dish with Max at Ritcey East. Find more information at Ritceyeast.com or on socials at Ritceyeast. R-I-T-C-E-Y-E-A-S-T. Even though Max says this is food that feels good today, or maybe not so great tomorrow, I think from a community viewpoint, definitely a place that makes you feel good today and maybe even better tomorrow. And again, The Dish, this series for the Little Local Conversations Podcast, is in partnership with Charlie Breitrose at Watertown News. So you can check out his article over at watertownmanews.com and get Charlie's side of the story. And if you like the podcast and like to hear more episodes, including Max's first episode, where you can get a long interview with him, you can head on over to LittleLocalConversations.com. 

Matt 21:20

All right, and I want to give a few shout outs here to wrap things up. I want to give a thank you to the Watertown Cultural Council who have given me a grant this year to help support the podcast. So I want to give them the appropriate credit, which is, this program is supported in part by a grant from the Watertown Cultural Council, a local agency, which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency. Find out more about them at WatertownCulturalCouncil.org at MassCulturalCouncil.org. And a couple more shout outs to promotional partners, first the Watertown Business Coalition. Their motto is Community is Our Business. Find out more about them at WatertownBusinessCoalition.com. And lastly, Watertown News, which is a Watertown focused online newspaper. It's a great place to keep up to date with everything going on in the city. Check that out at WatertownMANews.com. So that's it. Until next time, take care.