Photography by Lauren di Matteo for Edible San Diego
Photography by Lauren di Matteo for Edible San Diego
Photography by Lauren di Matteo for Edible San Diego
Photography by Lauren di Matteo for Edible San Diego
Photography by Lauren di Matteo for Edible San Diego
Photography by Lauren di Matteo for Edible San Diego
Photography by Lauren di Matteo for Edible San Diego
Today, San Diego’s dining scene feels unrecognizable from five, 10, and certainly 30 years ago. Flashy spaces designed for Instagram and influencers feel commonplace, if not inescapable, to anyone eating out. But when The Fishery opened in 1997, that sentence wouldn’t have even made sense to founders Judd and Maryanne Brown.
Back in the ‘90s, Judd’s career as a commercial fisherman led him to launch a wholesale business, Pacific Shellfish. Pacific Shellfish now sells to around 500 different restaurants, markets, and hotels, by their daughter Annemarie’s best estimate. But back then, they got their start showcasing their fish in their own restaurant, which converted an empty wreck of a warehouse at the corner of Cass and Opal Streets into a staple of San Diego seafood.
As Annemarie recalls it, it was Maryanne who brought The Fishery to life. “The Fishery was my mom’s passion,” she says. “She really poured her heart and soul into the place.” It began as—and remains to this day—a restaurant-slash-fish market, with tables for dining and a display case stuffed with fresh catches, like swordfish, the fish that got Judd his start.
Over the decades, The Fishery has earned Michelin nods and plenty of mentions on local best-of lists. Its icon status didn’t happen overnight, though, and not without change. Annemarie laughs and says she wasn’t even considering running the family business—she had other plans. “I was dead set on law school,” she says. But like for so many people, the pandemic pushed her in a different direction. Now, she co-owns The Fishery with her husband, Nick Lorenz, and recently brought on chef Mike Reidy as chef-partner.
Reidy worked as the executive chef at The Fishery from 2020 to 2023, before departing for a yearlong stint at Callie in East Village. Annemarie marks his return as a turning point in the restaurant, one that illuminates a bright future. “We all want the same thing, and we want to keep growing without burning out,” she explains.
As a family business, there’s plenty of family involved—but the two have to be balanced with one another, she says. “I have always believed in a healthy work-life balance, and quality of life really matters,” Annemarie explains. Burnout is too common among hospitality workers, especially post-Covid. “So when [Reidy] came back to us, our conversation was basically like, ‘How can we be the best we can be and be happy doing it, and give our community a place that they can consistently go to year after year?’” Streamlining operations into a sustainable workflow is something Annemarie says remains a work in progress and a dream that requires constant tweaking and attention.
But The Fishery’s goal of sustainability extends beyond operations.
“This might be controversial, but I hate to use the word ‘sustainable’ because I don’t think anything’s truly sustainable, not when we’re involved,” she laughs half-jokingly, referring to the effect of human beings on the planet and in the seas. “But we do our best to be mindful and respectful to the planet.”
Part of those mindful practices include prioritizing small suppliers with whom they have personal relationships, only serving wild-caught fish, and sourcing locally as often as possible. Of course, unpredictability of supply due to factors like migration or algal blooms means they often have to pivot. That’s why The Fishery prints restaurant menus every week rather than every season.
Annemarie says, despite seafood’s fluctuation, they wouldn’t have it any other way. “We’ll never have any other protein.”
Still, she says, for as much as she, Lorenz, and Reidy pay homage to her parents’ original vision, with new owners come new ideas—for the better, she hopes. “We want to keep adapting and growing,” she explains, while assuring me that the heart and soul of The Fishery will always remain the same. Some proposed changes include launching a wine club and building an elevated cocktail program from scratch. “We had been applying for a liquor license for almost, like, 18 years,” she says with a laugh. “Being in Pacific Beach, it was nearly impossible. Somehow, we got it through the lottery in 2020.”
Since then, Eddie Avila III has headed the burgeoning beverage program, which works with the kitchen to reduce waste.
Annemarie says travels to London informed much of the cocktail menu’s growth, along with tweaks in the kitchen that she says remain true to the essence of The Fishery and its history. For example, fish and chips are a no-brainer mainstay on most seafood restaurant menus—including theirs. But after sending Reidy to London a few times for inspiration, he returned with an idea for a lighter, crispier batter that appeals to a wide variety of guests.
That variety is something Annemarie says didn’t exist a few years ago. She’s seen the area develop from a weekend party destination for college students into a bona fide culinary sensation, thanks to nearby places like Wayfarer Bread and Paradisaea. “It’s been pretty amazing to watch and to be a part of that,” she says. Still, some things will never change—like keeping the fish market in the restaurant. “There was a moment we were waffling with removing it and just extending the bar,” she says. “But it almost broke my dad’s heart.”
The seafood case and all its history remain.
The Fishery is open from 11am to 10 pm Wednesdays through Sundays at 5040 Cass Street in Pacific Beach. Find out more at thefishery.com or on Instagram at @sdthefishery.
Originally published in issue 78.
Beth Demmon is a freelance food + drink writer and certified beer judge who especially enjoys writing about (and drinking) local craft beer. She is the author of The Beer Lovers Guide to Cider: American Ciders for Craft Beer Fans to Explore. Find her at @thedelightedbite on Instagram or her portfolio on Contently.
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