It's not shocking, he just can't gesture with his bowl in one hand and chopsticks in the other. Plus its super rude to gesture with one's chopsticks. So down they go.

"I suppose that makes sense, though Manhattan is so close to the water I hadn't considered that." He's making these slicing motions with his hands, as though mapping out how to clean and gut an imaginary fish on the table.

"With the smaller fish like the sanma...er...pacific saury I think? In English? Anyway, they're easier to remove the spine and small bones once cooked. You just have to be thorough."