Mary Mahoney’s Old French House Restaurant has long been a destination for gumbo and steak, a spot where celebrities dine, that locals adore and that just this month was named among the most beautiful restaurants in the country.
So news that it pleaded guilty on Thursday to mislabeling fish and defrauding customers hit many across the Coast’s seafood restaurants and fishing harbors like a punch.
“I was shocked,” said Darlene Kimball, who has sold seafood for years in the Pass Christian Harbor. “I had no idea this was going on.”
Neither did many others. Court documents unsealed this week show that between 2013 and 2019, Mary Mahoney’s bought seafood from Africa, India and South America through a Biloxi supplier and sold it at the same price as premium Gulf fish.
The restaurant — a Biloxi institution since the 1960s — has pleaded guilty and admitted its fault. And it will soon forfeit $1.35 million to the federal government on one felony charge of conspiring to defraud customers by mislabeling seafood and furthering the conspiracy through wire fraud, according to a plea agreement.
Bobby Mahoney, its beloved owner, faces no felony charges. Co-owner Anthony “Tony” Cvitanovich pleaded guilty and could spend up to three years in prison. The fate of four unnamed co-conspirators in the case is uncertain.
“Disappointed,” said Chad Henson, the area director of Half Shell Oyster House, which serves seafood just one block from Mary Mahoney’s.
“It’s unfortunate for them,” he said. “It’s unfortunate for our business as a whole.”
The mislabeled seafood was a mistake with a certain dish that has since been fixed, lawyers for Mahoney and Cvitanovich said Thursday. The restaurant, they said, is moving on.
In Mary Mahoney’s troubles is a story that has long been personal to the fishermen whose catch defines so much of the Gulf South.
Imports, they say, are killing them.
Across the region, that plea has moved politicians to act. Alabama’s governor signed into law this month a bill that says grocery stores and restaurants must tell customers whether their seafood comes from overseas. Louisiana’s governor also recently signed a bill that requires restaurants to tell diners if they serve imported crawfish or shrimp.
In 2021, Mississippi lawmakers tried to require restaurants to make clear what country their seafood came from or whether it was imported. That bill later died, and was never signed by the governor.
The best practice, Henson said, is to tell customers the truth. “If our guests ask, we disclose,” he said. “People trust us to provide quality products and be honest with them.”
Still, local fishermen say the challenges are relentless. The 2010 oil spill decimated their region. Freshwater intrusion is killing their oysters. “It’s really hard to get fresh Gulf stuff all the time,” Kimball, who tells her customers where her fish comes from, said. “Sometimes, you have to fall back on the imports.”
All of which, fishermen say, signals trouble. Tourists who come to the Coast for fresh seafood and instead get imports may be less excited to return, said Ryan Bradley, the executive director of Mississippi Commercial Fisheries United. Imports are cheaper than local catch, and the more they dominate the Mississippi Coast market, the harder it is for local fishermen to compete, he said. And he said fishermen have long feared restaurants across the Coast have done the same thing as Mary Mahoney’s.
“We’re seeing it over and over again,” he said. “This is a prevalent problem.”
So few fishermen were surprised to hear the news, Bradley said. They were glad, he added, to see one restaurant held accountable.
But “Mary Mahoney’s,” he said, “is the tip of the iceberg.”
Staff Writers Margaret Baker and Anita Lee contributed to this report.
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