Restaurant-Sea Rocket Bistro

Sea Rocket Bistro is a new restaurant on the suddenly restaurant filled 30th St. in North Park. I would say it is closer to South Park at 3382 30th, and it took over the former location of the Linkery (which moved up 30th, closer to North Park).

The big lure of Sea Rocket Bistro is that they use only local and sustainable seafood, and local produce. This is a nice trend in newer restaurants that are bringing in diners who also are striving to be a bit greener in their lifestyles.

It is a casual place, but the food is very nicely prepared and served. We both had a drink, with my wife enjoying a rose that really complimented our appetizer and I had a Karl Strauss. We shared the appetizer of grilled sardines. This dish reminded us so much of Greece. Grilled small fish, with a little citrus tang, and served on a small salad with huge lima beans that was really tasty. You get three sardines, and they come right off the bone. Crunchy and perfectly grilled.

Now the meals were really good but not outstanding. The market fish the day we visited were halibut and sea bass (locally caught). My wife ordered the sea bass and it came nice and moist, not dry at all, with a nice citrus drizzle on it. And with fingerling potatoes on the side.

I had the Steamers entree, and did the half-and half option, half a pound of clams and half a pound of mussels. These came in a white wine broth and topped with a diced tomatoes and red onion salsa that did not overpower the dish at all, but complimented it. It also came with some toasted ciabatta, from a local (neighborhood) bakery. This was my only complaint. The ciabatta, toasted, is not absorbent, and you want something to soak up the great broth with, so we had to order a side of fresh bread, and the cost $1.50 extra.

The bill ran about $60 bucks, and it was a very good meal, and one that we could feel good about eating. It seemed a little bit steep for the meals we got, but part of that is because of the efforts to get it local.

I would not go back there next week, but will revisit it in the future. A nice place to go to get local/sustainable seafood.