Besha Rodell Heralds SMYC As a True West Coast Seafood Restaurant

This week, Besha Rodell reviews Santa Monica Yacht Club (SMYC), chef Andrew Kirschner's seafood-centric follow up to Tar & Roses. The LA Weekly critic ushers in the review by discussing the recent propagation of East Coast-inspired seafood restaurants that have popped up across LA. But B. Rod notes that with Los Angeles' proximity to the Pacific Ocean, the West Coast certainly deserves it's own sort of seafood shack.

That restaurant takes form in SMYC, where lobster meat and burrata on toast is served in lieu of lobster rolls. Besha Rodell praises the fish dishes and those that "could have come straight from the Tar & Roses kitchen," and ultimately concludes:

There is a lot that SMYC borrows from Asia, borrows from Mexico, borrows from South America. Yet it all shares a common theme of colorful, bold flavor, an aesthetic that is certainly Kirschner's but also Southern California's. It's breezy and fun and, yes, almost too fashionable, but this chef in this town can get away with overt trendiness. It's a style of seafood restaurant we, as a region, can be proud to call our own. [LAW]

SMYC walks away with three stars.

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