These Easy, Sustainable Seafood Recipes Will Transport You to the Beach
Delicious dishes from Santa Monica’s Crudo e Nudo, a sustainable seafood restaurant that serves a menu of exclusively local fish and zippy wines.
Thomas J. Story
At around 11 a.m. every day in Santa Monica, the restaurants lining Main Street just two blocks from the beach start setting up for lunch: The patios built in the pandemic are swept, tables are put out, and the kitchens go into high gear. At Crudo e Nudo, the tiny kitchen is comparatively quiet: Pristine local fish that have been hanging on hooks in a custom refrigerator are broken down in a space as quiet as a high-end sushi bar. The fish is sliced at a counter just three feet wide, where it’s garnished with a splash of delicate sauce, sprinkled with a punchy spice mix, topped with strands of seaweed or local produce, and the new best version of California coastal cuisine is plated to be enjoyed by surfers coming in from their morning sessions, in-the-know locals, and travelers who’ve gotten wind of this gem by the sea.
Thomas J. Story
Chef Brian Bornemann has come up with the perfect metaphor for this restaurant he co-owns with partner Leena Culhane: The restaurants he’s run in the past (the iconic Michael’s, the innovative Tasting Kitchen) are yachts with big prices and big ambitions. Crudo e Nudo is a dinghy. And in the few years it’s been open, it’s proven itself to be an exceptionally seaworthy one. It has been steadily and increasingly profitable, it’s a famously excellent place to work (several marriages have come out of its workforce), and it continues to become more refined as a dining experience (gone are the counter-only service and compostable plates; candles and waiters in the evening and a bigger wine list and menu have arrived). It’s a “less turns into more” model that is sustainable in more ways than one. Not only are those low-labor, high-flavor dishes high-profit-margin, they also are truly local. No fish on the menu is ever from anywhere but Southern California. Crudo e Nudo has spawned a sister restaurant up the street, Isla, which applies the same model to wood-fired food.
Thomas J. Story
When it’s in full swing, Crudo e Nudo is a vibe, thanks in no small part to the efforts of co-owner Culhane, who runs the front of the house and serves as the restaurant’s creative director. The decor is a true Santa Monica surf shack, with shelves lined with seashells, mermaid art, and cans of tinned fish. It doesn’t channel another location, as many restaurants tend to: no reference to the Italian coast or other dreamy places far away.
Thomas J. Story
As those surfers, locals, and tourists settle in, chilled natty wine is splashed into low glasses, Boy Genius plays on the sound system, and the plates of artfully assembled seafood come out, and diners tuck in at tables set up on the streetside patio in the sun. Halibut is elevated by the fruity umami combination of white miso and good olive oil; striped bass is punched up with spicy za’atar. A farmers’ market plate is studded with seedy dukkah and robed in black garlic hummus. And it must be pointed out that the vegetables come from the legendary Santa Monica farmers’ market.
Thomas J. Story
On the following pages we’ve got these delicious dishes and more. The trick to these recipes is sourcing impeccable seafood and dialing in your technique. The result is our kind of health food: It sustains the planet, and it sustains the soul.
Taste the Santa Monica Seashore at Home
Halibut Crudo
Californian or Pacific halibut is a special species. While East Coast and Alaskan halibut are great cooked, they are terrible as sashimi, but our local variety is a wonder when fresh and sliced. Ask your fishmonger for halibut from the Channel Islands, or try the fish markets in Ventura, Santa Barbara, or elsewhere up the coast. (Some of the best we have had was caught under the Golden Gate Bridge by our friend Bailey!) Ask them to loin the halibut and give you the bones from the same fish, or do it yourself with a sharp knife. White soy sauce has all the flavor of soy sauce without the dark color and is available in specialty food stores and online. You can also use shirodashi, which is white soy combined with dashi.
Abalone Sashimi Crudo
For sustainability’s sake, never eat wild abalone from the West Coast. The Cultured Abalone Farm in Santa Barbara cultivates exceptional farmed abalone.
Striped Bass Crudo
Firm-fleshed striped bass can stand up to the punchy Middle Eastern spice blend za’atar, which you can readily purchase online. But for the full-on Crudo e Nudo effect, mix up a batch of your own za’atar, which gets extra sweetness from fennel pollen and smoky Piment d’Ville pepper from Mendocino, California’s Booneville Barn Collective.
Market Mezze
This dish always features quality olives and a variety of market veggies that are either pickled, fermented, or raw, served with our black garlic hummus and pistachio dukkah. There are no real rules here! Buy cute veggies and cut them into beautiful bite-size pieces that retain the shape of the vegetable yet are small.
Clams + Fresh Tomato
While this dish is exceptional when using peak season tomatoes, which need virtually no cooking to maximize their inherently deep and balanced flavor, you may need to boost the flavor of off-season tomatoes with extra salt or a hit of sherry vinegar or lemon.
