What Is Coastal Cuisine?

(Source: Serea Coastal Cuisine Facebook page)

San Diego Coastal Cuisine

Serea Coastal Cuisine is a sea to table restaurant specializing in coastal cuisine. But what does that mean, exactly?

On the one hand, the term coastal cuisine is pretty self explanatory. It refers to having a primary focus on foods that come from the sea. However, that doesn’t really tell the full story of our careful sourcing, high quality products, and how these things reflect in the finished flavor of our food. In this post, we’ll explain what coastal cuisine means to us, how we maintain our stringent standards, what it all means in terms of your dining experience.

(Source: Serea Coastal Cuisine Facebook page)

what exactly is coastal cuisine?

Coastal cuisine doesn’t refer to a specific type of seafood or recipe. Rather, it’s an overarching approach toward seafood.  

The name of the game is simplicity. That is to say: what can we do to maximize both sustainability and flavor?

One of the key characteristics of coastal cuisine is freshness. When a product is superior, we believe that it doesn’t need to be doctored up very much. Our chefs try to maintain the natural flavor of the seafood in question by preparing it simply, so the vibrant flavors can shine through. Why mess with a good thing?

On the Serea menu, you’ll see all manner of simply prepared dishes featuring the bounty of the sea, from raw and cooked options from fresh whole catch, to seafood towers and composed dishes.

california cuisine is another important influence.

To really understand Serea’s approach to seafood, it’s important to understand not just the idea of coastal cuisine, but to have a grasp on the concept of California cuisine, too.  

California cuisine is like coastal cuisine in that it’s less about a specific recipe or flavor and more about a particular mentality and approach to food.

California cuisine’s hallmarks include fresh ingredients, simple preparations, and an emphasis on sustainable and local ingredients. California cuisine is also characterized by global inspirations, including spices and techniques influenced by cultures including Asian, European, and South American countries.

(Source: Serea Coastal Cuisine Facebook page)

serea: globally inspired coastal cuisine.

At Serea, we want the natural flavor of our carefully sourced, high quality seafood to shine. Yet we also want to offer creative cuisine that delights the senses and offers you a truly memorable dining experience.

To do that, we combine aspects of both coastal cuisine and California cuisine on our menu.

Our chefs approach seafood with a sense of simplicity. So instead of relying on ingredients that overtake the flavor of our seafood, we strive to enhance it with simple and expertly applied spices, cooking techniques, and flavors.

What you’ll find is that the flavor of our cuisine is enlivening and yet the natural flavor of our seafood is not masked in any way.

But don’t worry: simplicity doesn’t mean boring at Serea. Our creative chefs always have a twist on classic preparations that will offer you a novel and new dining experience!

sourcing matters.

To be able to live up to our goals for delivering the highest quality sea to table dining experience in San Diego, it’s of great importance to us at Serea to source the highest quality seafood possible.  

After all, our dishes will only taste as good as the quality of our ingredients!

As such, our seafood is sourced from a variety of highly respected regional and local purveyors, including but not limited to Tuna Harbor Dockside Market, Catalina Offshore Products, and Los Angeles-based Superior Seafoods.

Additionally, we feature products from Baja California’s Pacifico Aquaculture. This is a purveyor known for its innovative, sustainability-first farming program for premium, ocean-raised sea bass.

Of course, while the focus of this article is on coastal cuisine, we’d be remiss if we didn’t add that this attention to sourcing isn’t limited to just seafood. We also take great care with sourcing other foods such as meats, which come from the area’s best ranchers who are known for their flavorful and delicious products.

Conclusion: Ingredients are of the utmost importance at Serea Coastal Cuisine. We are committed to providing the most delicious and high quality coastal cuisine that we can possibly offer to our customers.

Since we are fortunate enough to be located in a region where fresh seafood reigns, we consider it our responsibility to source the best possible ingredients and to treat them with respect and care! We hope that you’ll enjoy the fresh and vibrant flavors that come out of our kitchen.

Have you ever sampled coastal cuisine?