San Diego Metropolitan Magazine

McCormick & Schmick’s Executive Chef Brian Johnston with Salmon Stuffed with Brie. (photo/alandeckerphoto.com)

Founded more than 30 years ago by Bill McCormick and Doug Schmick, the privately owned McCormick & Schmick’s seafood restaurant chain initially focused on the Pacific Northwest. In the last two decades, the company has expanded nationwide and is now in San Diego, opening last month in the new Omni Hotel adjacent to Petco Park.

Although more than half the company’s 60-plus restaurants reside in buildings included in the National Registry of Historic Places, the San Diego location is anything but traditional. Floor-to-ceiling windows with aluminum mullions make up the entire south-facing wall of the restaurant.

Diners enjoy an expansive view of the city landscape, including the passing trolleys and striking convention center. The restaurant interiors are hues of fall colors (greens and golds) accented with dark wood tables and highlighted by ultra-clean, minimal pendant lamps. The back wall consists of tables partitioned off with fabric, cabana-style. This clever treatment creates a feeling of privacy, breaks up the room and helps with the noise level.

Executive Chef Brian Johnston — formerly of Star of the Sea — was hired just six weeks prior to opening (April 8, same as Petco Park). After a three-week crash training course, he had just a few weeks to hire and train his kitchen staff.

I dined at McCormick and Schmick’s (or “McCormick’s” as it is called in Seattle) less than three weeks after it had opened and the staff already really had its act together. The menu is extensive, which makes training a nightmare. Along with more than 65 regular menu items, diners usually can pick from at least 30 “fresh list” items on the menu each day.

The first two things one notices about this oversized menu is that the prices are very reasonable, and that there is literally something for everyone. Joining plentiful fresh seafood items are sandwiches and entrée salads on the dinner menu as well as an assortment of entrées, including meat and poultry.

Appetizers, which range in price from $5.85 to $12.90, offer a panoply of seafood house favorites. The “Pan Fried Oysters with Tartar Sauce” ($7.90), “Steamed Manila Clams” ($8.85), “Popcorn Shrimp with Horseradish Marmalade” ($9.90), “Salmon Gravlax with Brioche French Toast” ($7.85) and a traditional “Jumbo Prawn Cocktail” ($12.90) are all excellent starters.

The “Triple Decker Salmon Club” ($9.90) is a nice twist on the old standard. The chef uses thin-sliced smoked salmon instead of the usual turkey and ham, and the housemade potato chips that “come with” are fab.

The “Deep Fried Catfish” ($14.90) is one of McCormick’s specialties. Flown in fresh from Louisiana daily, the fish is lolled in a spicy cornmeal batter, flash-fried and topped with a chipotle corn salsa. If you want something a bit more decadent, try the “Atlantic Salmon Stuffed with Crab, Shrimp, Brie and Dill” ($22.95), the most expensive item on the menu (see what I mean about the modest prices?) and well worth it. This dish is definitely not for the light of appetite.

Other than the “Fish and Chips” ($10.90), True Cod beer-battered and deep-fried, you can request most any fish simply grilled, but the chef’s preparations are so interesting and wonderfully executed, it is best to save your calorie counting for home.

McCormick’s is open seven days a week and serves late after ballgames. The bar has flat-screen televisions so you can beat the crowd and watch the last inning while you’re enjoying some of the freshest seafood in town.