San Diego Reader

• Restaurant

Searsucker

• 611 Fifth Avenue, San Diego, CA 92101 | Directions
• 619-233-7327
• http://searsucker.com/

Searsucker’s chef Brian Malarkey became a celeb when he got to the finals on one of those TV chef contests. He didn’t win, but his roguish style and outgoing personality made him famous. At the time, he headed the kitchen at Oceanaire, the Gaslamp branch of a high-end seafood chain. I liked his crab cake and the oyster bar and the simplest fish but wasn’t much impressed with his fancier “creative” seafood dishes. (I remember especially disliking the laughably inauthentic “Cajun-rubbed shrimp,” which brought to mind the image: “Eh, Fontenot! C’mere, let me rub these shrimp on you.”)

At Searsucker, partnering with nightclub entrepreneur James (Stingaree) Brennan, he gets to show what else he can do when he’s free to be Malarkey. An email from a trusted, good-palate reader recommending the restaurant (“much better than Oceanaire”) inspired a visit. [+more]