No Fish Out of Water

As a teenager, working in a fish market's let alone owning one's was probably the last thing on Dorian Mecir"s mind. â??I had to get a job in high school, she said, â??so I went to the guidance counselor and she told me about a job at the Rosedale Fish Market. I told my mother, â??I know I have to work, but I am not working at a fish market!" She looked at me and said, â??Oh, really? Because you"re starting tomorrow!" I did, and I loved it. Mecir, who now lives with her husband, Stephan, and their two children, began working 26 years ago at the popular Rosedale Fish Market on East 79th Street. Owner Robert Neuman gave her a full-time job while she earned a B.A. in economics through night classes at Queens College. Mecir worked at Rosedale for 20 years until Citarella purchased the market after Neuman"s death. â??People kept calling me at home and saying that they really missed the Rosedale Fish Market, she said. â??The former employees all said that they would come with me if I opened my own store. I opened Dorian"s Seafood Market, and from there on, it"s history. But Dorian"s, at 1580 York Ave. near East 83rd Street, offers more than just fish. Mecir sponsors jazz concerts and art shows in Carl Schurz Park, donates to Hope Lodge, which provides housing for cancer patients and family members, and participates in the pediatric bunny hop at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. On the business side, Mecir makes a point to build and maintain relationships with customers. This includes offering curbside delivery, not charging a delivery fee, offering to cook fish at the market and, perhaps most notably, keeping lists of customers" favorite fish so that she can notify them when they are in season. â??People really enjoy that, Mecir said. â??They like getting that call. It makes their day. Customers clearly appreciate her efforts. â??We really need to thank businesspeople like Dorian, said Betty Cooper Wallerstein, president of the East 79th Street Neighborhood Association. â??She runs the kind of New York City establishment that everyone longs to see. It"s a pleasure to go into the store, not only for the wonderful fish, but also to talk to her. For Mecir, it"s a treat to be one of those New York City establishments. â??I like being part of the very elite food network in New York City, she said. â??People come from all around the world to get these experiences, and I consider myself so lucky to be a part of that.