   Brian Malarkey, executive chef and operating partner at Oceanaire Seafood Room, displays Wok Fried Whole Alaskan Dungeness Crab with ginger, garlic and green onions. (photo/alandeckerphoto.com)
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If asked by someone about the Oceanaire Seafood Room, I would start by inviting them to consider what the folks at Ruth’s Chris, Fleming’s and Morton’s steak houses have done with beef. Replace the word “beef” with “seafood” and, voilà, you understand Oceanaire.
The understated entrance to Oceanaire is at the Downtown corner of Fourth Avenue and J Street. With only a small oval-shaped sign and a couple of neon-lit fish in the windows to mark its location, it is easy to miss. Guests enter a small, dark wood and leather-clad lobby that opens up into a couple of short flights of stairs that lead to a surprisingly beautiful main dining room. The room is clubby, without being overly dark — nice for those of us who usually scramble for a pen light or depend on the light of a candle to read the menu. The walls are dark wood, the ceiling is low, the booths are dark burgundy leather, the tables are draped in white linen and waiters are clad in crisp white jackets as they whisk to and fro. The overall experience is warm and intimate.
Although Oceanaire is, but one member of a “collection of unique restaurants,” it, like all of its siblings, is distinctive. Each location is locally managed and has individualized food offerings, since executive chefs are empowered to get creative with the menu.
General Manager/Partner Mike Mitchell, a long-time San Diego resident who began his restaurant career as a teenager at Thee Bungalow, and Executive Chef/Partner Brian Malarkey head up the San Diego store.
Malarkey, a graduate of Le Cordon Bleu in Portland, spent his early years cooking for Michel Richard at Citrus in Los Angeles before getting on board with the Oceanaire folks in 2001.
The menu, printed nightly to reflect only the freshest of seafood, provides innumerable choices. On one visit alone, I considered more than 25 fresh, and when I say fresh, I mean flown-in-that-afternoon fresh, items. I saw caviar, fresh oysters and Grand Shellfish Platters that are so big and beautiful they simply must be marveled at before devouring. Alas I could do no more than marvel as such platters whisked by on their way to others; I already had ordered the appetizers I would sample that evening.
The “Red Chili Rock Shrimp” ($10.95) and the “Maryland Jumbo Lump Crab Cakes” ($12.95) are must-dos. Not that they even sound that pricey, but did I mention that at Oceanaire all of the appetizers, salads and sides are made for two or more (kind of like steak houses). The rock shrimp is lightly breaded, fried and soaked in a red hot, sweet and spicy sauce that’s so good it’s worth eating with a spoon.
About this crab cake, for starters, it really is the size of a hockey puck. It’s all lump crab, bound together with just a bit of mayo, griddled and served with a dollop of housemade tartar sauce. Heavenly.
The “Oregon Crab Louis” ($18.95) is definitely made for table sharing. The greens are ice-cold and crisp, the tomatoes juicy and the housemade Louis dressing is sweet and tangy, just as it should be.
One night I had the “Wok-Fried Whole Alaskan Dungeness Crab” ($34.95). Woked with “the three g’s,” garlic, ginger and green onion, this was an exotic splurge well worth the price. The chef does some of the pre-cracking for you, but get ready to get messy, and oh, by the way, you better take them up on that bib.
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