Like a sturgeon: Junto donates to river-conservation effort

In his last chef's job before opening Junto in Chadds Ford, MacGregor Mann was executive chef at Henry's Fork Lodge in Idaho near Yellowstone National Park.

In that rustic kitchen, he learned about and worked with sustainable fish and a need to preserve America's fisheries.

One of his favorites is sturgeon. Once plentiful on the Delaware, Atlantic sturgeon has been endangered since 2012, the victim of overharvesting and a loss of habitat.

At his BYOB, Mann uses farm-raised white sturgeon from Idaho in his much-praised alderwood-smoked sturgeon with romanesco, fermented celery root, watercress, lemon verbena and white wine emulsion ($30), a dish that just won a Best of Philly award.

Mann may be buying his fish from 2,500 miles away, but he is keeping his conservation effort local. Junto will donate $1 from each sturgeon dish sold to the Delaware Riverkeeper Network. Among other efforts, the group challenges the kills of Atlantic sturgeon that are happening at industrial cooling water intake structures, kills that could be avoided with technological changes that industrial operations refused to make.