I might very well be the biggest seafood fan you’ve ever met.  I know, I know, I’ve said ad nauseum on this site that I am a loud and proud meat freak but, believe it or not, my first what I thought to be fine dining experience was seafood (Cajun’s Wharf, Little Rock, Ark, circa 1982…let’s move on).  Inspired by this super shellfish experience, while many of my buddies were becoming beer and tong in hand grill masters, I migrated to the fruits de mer.  And as an aspiring home chef trying to impress my then girlfriend now spouse, my very first go to dish was fish.  Grilled, sautéed, basted, blackened, even poached – I cut my teeth in the kitchen learning how to perfectly cook fresh fish. 

My culinary talents have expanded a little since then, but when the snootyfoodies are considering where to go to dinner, we still can’t think of anything much better than a perfectly cooked piece of fresh fish with a great glass of white wine.  Of course since we call a land locked city like Dallas home, we’re eternally looking for a restaurant that consistently delivers truly fresh fish and we have found a few that do it right (and, incidentally, they’re on our site J).  But don’t be fooled my some of these self professed fresh seafood restaurants that bring in their fish a couple of times a week.  I mean, that’s fine if you can get out to dinner one of those nights but who needs another thing to think about before heading out the door to dinner??  Face it, in this day and age there is no excuse for less than fresh fish.  Insert snootyfoodie tip – if it smells like fish, it’s not fresh!

So, let’s talk about Oceanaire.  It’s a chain of 12 sites owned by a holding company that has investments ranging from Hartmann luggage to All Clad cookware to Snapple.  Even though we’re not big on the chain gang, we decided to put Oceanaire on snootyfoodie for a few reasons.  First, each of the chains is pseudo autonomous and chef driven.  Locally, Executive Chef Chad Kelley is listed as Chef/Partner so there is a certain individualistic persona to each restaurant and some freedoms he can take with the menu based on what little fishies show up each day.  To give the enterprise further credibility, the San Diego location, incidentally chef’d by Top Chef alum Brian Malarkey, was voted Restaurant of the Year by the San Diego chapter of the California Restaurant Association.  Okay, enough build up; let’s get the hook in the water (promise, that’s the last wave of sea puns).

How much better is ultra fresh than just your basic garden variety fresh?  Fresh catches on chalkboards have been kindofabigdeal at better restaurants for a decade or more and are mainstays at many, but Oceanaire takes their fanaticism even further with a proclamation of ultra freshness.  First, they fly in their fresh fish every single day from around the world, routinely making more than one trip to the airport each day.  I know, not that uncommon these days.  They print their menus daily based on what fresh fish they received and often run out of a fish as demand eats up supply.  Again, we’ve seen this quite a bit.  So, what does ultra fresh really mean?  Here’s our interpretation.  You source the best purveyors from around the world.  You employ extremely rigid quality measures to make sure the fish is handled a certain way and at a certain temperature from the moment the boat snuggles up to the dock.  You fly in the fish whole so it doesn’t spend any time unnecessarily “aging” at room temperature as its being sliced up by less than expert hands.  The whole fish arrives and you let your culinary team carve it up in a temperature controlled cutting room.  In other words, except for the brief moment from the time the fish is pulled from the boat and packed in ice, ultra fresh means the slab of striped sea bass or king salmon you’re devouring today might have easily been swimming yesterday.  Need more proof these guys are ultra fanatical about being ultra fresh?  How about the fact that they attach the actual shipping labels from the daily shipments to their chalkboard?  That’s right.  They literally have the shipping labels showing the exact time the shipments were received.  Can’t say we’ve ever gotten close enough to read them or verify the tracking codes but we have seen them change them out so we at least know they’re more than a prop.  Big points for the effort regardless.

And where do you stand on oysters?  Are you a no frills, warm water gulf guy or one of those that only eat the cold variety from those places that sound like the Kennedy’s have a summer home there?  We have to confess we resisted the Yankee oysters.  Perhaps it was just the familiarity of what we grew up eating or maybe the fond memories of hours and hours sitting at Acme Oyster in New Orleans eating fresh shucked 25¢ oysters and drinking draft beer.  Either way, we’ve become fans of the cold water guys and, given time and an open mind, we think you will too.  And that’s how they roll at Oceanaire.  You won’t see any gulfys at the raw bar so go ahead and give the northerners a twirl.  Hell, they’re all aphrodisiacs so you really can’t go wrong right?

On our last visit, the fresh items available included:  Wild Maine Mussels, Hawaiian Ono, U10 Diver Scallops, Washington Dungeness Crab, Live Maine Lobster, Yellowfin Ahi Tuna, Alaskan Halibut, Cape Cod Lemon Sole, Costa Rican Mahi Mahi, Block Island Swordfish, Jumbo Lump Blue Crab, Pacific Jumbo Shrimp, Maine Majestic Salmon, Texas Gulf Flounder, Arkansas Catfish, and Hawaiian Blue Marlin.  Pick any of the above and they’ll prepare it however you want it.  Grilled, broiled, sautéed, blackened, with oil, without, butter, whatever you want.  We realize that’s a really long list of choices and their list is always that lengthy so therein lies the difficult decision making process you can expect at Oceanaire.  I mean, there’s no need to ask the waiter, “what’s fresh”, or “how is the so and so fish”.  It’s all fresh so if you like it, order it.  Don’t know what it is?  Try it!  This place isn’t bringing in any carp from Lake Ray Hubbard so stretch out your sea legs and try a black tip shark, hake, or kompachi.  Wouldn’t it be great if every fine dining decision were that easy?

Be warned on the sides and desserts.  THEY ARE HUGE!  But there are some stellar offerings to share.  The portion of Hashed Brown Potatoes is the size of a football field but has a great crispy top and is nice and fluffy inside.  Get them ala Oceanaire with bacon bits and a spike of Tobassco if you’re really feeling edgy.  The aforementioned fries are the bomb and then there’s nothing fancy about the Green Beans Amandine; they’re just perfectly al dente beans with a drizzle of olive oil, sea salt and a scoop of toasted slivered almonds.  Very clean flavors to coincide with your simply grilled fish or just the thing to make you feel better about the decadent brie stuffed selection.  The desserts all look fantastic but we have to confess we’ve never ordered one.  The chocolate cake is, literally, ¼ of a cake so if you have a table of 6, try one out and drop us a line. 

The wine list is very well done.  First the menu is printed daily based on the fish and the wine list is on the back.  I absolutely love the 1 sheet menus.  Food on the front, wine on the back.  Sure, I’m more than happy to dig through an Encyclopedia Brittanica sized list but it’s awfully convenient to pick your food, flip over the menu, pick your wine and move on.  Count on 25 or so offerings by the glass, some such as the Patz & Hall Dutton Ranch Chardonnay that you rarely see offered by the glass.  There’s an obvious emphasis on whites and both the States and Frenchies are well represented ranging in price from $35-$125.  Pinot Noir makes a good showing with a dozen or so offered but they really score points with us by offering only 5 or so Cabernets.  Hey, we’ve been clear we don’t subscribe to the old school wine rules and they actually do have a steak on the menu.  But, Oceanaire is for those that appreciate (you guessed it) ultra fresh seafood and the way past vast majority of those folks are pouring white with their meal. 

Classy.  That’s the one word that comes to mind when you walk into The Oceanaire.  Their website proclaims the inside to remind one of a 1930’s Ocean Liner.  With no reference point, we can go along with that.  After all, we’ve seen Titanic like 20 times.  But we do have an affinity for restaurants that exude old school, timeless elegance and charm and that’s what we feel when we walk in here.  Harlequin floors, high leather booths and a bar that cranks out classic cocktails like a Harvey Wall Banger, Rusty Nail, Side Car and still calls their whisky pours highballs.  How great is that?  And consistent with the classy milieu, the staff at Oceanaire is top notch.  Well trained.  Professional.  Knowledgeable.  Attentive.

As the only restaurant I know of that touts ultra fresh seafood, it seemed only fair that our standards and expectations were also of the ultra ilk.  Without question you can taste the difference and feel it in your experience at The Oceanaire.  Things here are done just a little better.  It’s a pot of gold for those of us that are F3’s (fresh fish freaks) but is also a treasure for anyone that can appreciate the gems of the sea.