John B. Kelly smiles as he describes his enthusiasm for fishing. To prove his point, he pulls out a treasured heirloom: a 9-pound whitefish fossil.
“I’ve always been into fish and fishing,” he said, admiring the piece. “My uncles took me fishing all the time as a kid and got me hooked. One brought this back from Venezuela.”
Kelly briefly entertained suggestions on how to display it at his new stand, John B. Kelly Seafood Connection, in the Broad Street Market in Harrisburg. The retired educator moved into the space across from Hummer’s Meats in November and has since been cultivating a loyal following.
“We’re seeing a lot of regulars returning,” said Kelly.
The purveyor is often questioned about the provenance of his business, so he provides customers access to his backstory with ready fliers near the cash register. They tell the tale of how Kelly filled a seafood niche here in the midstate, and it all began with a pre-fatherhood, solo trip in 2003.
“I knew I’d be tied up, so I decided to take a lone journey, by myself, with nothing but a canoe, paddle, backpack and fishing and camping equipment,” explained Kelly.
Armed with an atlas, the Halifax resident determined his destination through a less-than-scientific approach.
“I went eeny, meeny, miny, moe,” said Kelly.
Fortuitously, the dart landed in the mid-coast area of Maine, where the Kennebec River dumps into the Atlantic Ocean. The avid outdoorsman allowed himself eight days to explore the area.
“During that time, I met a lot of the local fishermen while paddling my canoe along the rugged coastline in search of striped bass,” he said.
After the life-changing trip, Kelly yearned for Maine whenever he had time to travel. Because he worked at a school, his summers were free, so he scheduled three or four annual trips to the area.
The word spread quickly about the fabulous seafood Kelly was acquiring and soon he found himself lugging more than 600 pounds of lobster back for his friends and family. He realized he was onto something and made the decision to quit his job to sell seafood full time.
“It was the best decision I ever made,” he said.
Cakes & Shooters
Today, Kelly is doing a booming business supplying 18 different farmers markets around the area, with the Broad Street Market as his first storefront. Kelly has enlisted his girlfriend Sue Krankoski, his mother Mary Kelly, and his son John B. “Byrner” Kelly, 11, to lend a hand.
Kelly prides himself on the freshness of his product.
“We source our seafood straight from Maine from commercial fishermen whenever possible and are personal friends with some,” he said. “This is the key to getting the freshest product available. We stay away from FAS,” by which he means “frozen at sea.”
In addition to offering a wide variety of wild-caught, sustainably sourced seafood, ranging from lobsters to haddock, cod, dry scallops, Quahog clams and Jonah crab, Kelly offers crab cakes and fish cakes.
“They are $6 apiece and ready to cook,” he said. “The crab cakes are 80-percent crab and the fish cakes are 90-percent cod, and both are very popular.”
Also popular are soups and chowders and what Kelly calls “shooters,” which are, in essence, samples served in a small cup to be consumed on site, or packaged to go, so people can try before they buy.
For $2, people can savor the sushi shooter, made with fresh tuna, a splash of lemon and topped with wasabi ginger soy sauce made in house. Also offered are smoked salmon shooters, oyster shooters made with lemon juice, house-made cocktail sauce and a spice called “Smoke & Sass,” commissioned especially for J.B. Kelly through Robert Orth in Lemoyne.
“He hand-smokes Mediterranean sea salt with local hickory,” said Kelly. “We tasted four prototypes before deciding on this one.”
Wonderful & Authentic
Kaitlin Fleming heard of J. B. Kelly when browsing the Broad Street Market page on Facebook, so she made the trip on a recent weekend.
“My boyfriend and I switched to a pescatarian diet, and we appreciate the fact that his product is from the dock to the plate,” she said.
The Susquehanna Township resident added that she enjoys the shooters, along with the smoked salmon, wolf fish, cod, haddock and the sushi-grade tuna, which she describes as “difficult to obtain.”
Ken Apperson is also a fan and has a few recommendations, as well.
“The Quahog clams are just fantastic, as is the fresh swordfish, the crab cakes and the cod cakes. The dry sea scallops are wonderful and authentic,” said the Hummelstown man, describing how well dry scallops brown in the pan.
Kelly explains that many supermarket scallops are injected with a solution or frozen and therefore difficult to sear.
Jeanne Cranks learned of J. B. Kelly about two years ago when visiting the Hershey Farmers Market. She recommends the seafood chowder and is impressed with the variety of products.
“I also like the way he wraps the fish in three layers,” she said.
This summer, Kelly is planning to set up operations outside.
“We’ll have nylon mesh bags available and customers can choose mussels, clams, lobster—whatever they want,” he said. “We’ll put their seafood in a nylon bag, then stack and steam it outside to be cooked in their choice of flavor, like lemon pepper, Cajun or beer. People can eat onsite, or take it home in a bag, to save time and mess.”
Kelly is happy to be settled in with a storefront at Harrisburg’s popular market.
“I like the diversity,” he said. “You meet a lot of people here who have a lot of knowledge about seafood, and they share that information. The customers here are very loyal.”
J.B. Kelly Seafood Connection is located in the Broad Street Market in Harrisburg. To learn more, visit www.jbkellyseafoodconnection.com.
