Celebrate National Culinary Arts Month with Seafood Chefs Around the Country

Whether you're traveling this summer or just relaxing close to home, you can take a culinary adventure at a local seafood market or restaurant. Treat your tastebuds, support local fisheries and aquaculture farms, and enjoy seasonal seafood at its freshest by exploring local flavors in your seafood dining and shopping selections.

Chef Robert Dumas' Grilled Scallop Skewers

Recipe: Yakitori Scallops with Sesame Miso Sauce

"I love the clean saline flavor of fresh seafood and also enjoy how versatile seafood is. I especially love these scallopskewers because of how sweet Maine scallops are. The sweet flavor of the scallops is perfectly complemented by the savory salty sauce and the char from the grill."

Recipe for Yakitori Scallops with Sesame Miso Sauce

Get to Know Chef Dumas

From growing up in Louisiana to teaching culinary arts in Maine, Chef Robert Dumas has spent his career living and cooking near the ocean. (He's even cooked in the ocean, as a steward on a submarine!) To him, seafood dishes offer a natural opportunity to showcase local ingredients.

During his studies at the New England Culinary Institute, Dumas began connecting that philosophy to its inherent sustainability. "My whole approach to cooking focuses on cooking food that is representative of the season and region in which I am cooking. I believe that this is an easy way to differentiate my cuisine from others and results in using the freshest ingredients with the lowest carbon footprint."

As a chef, Dumas feels he and his peers should be responsible and thoughtful with their ability to influence trends in food. "There is a real opportunity to support our fisheries and aquaculture by highlighting [their] products on menus and in promotions." Dumas knows that access to local seafood can be tricky, but he offers some suggestions. "Chefs can wield their buying power with distributors in an effort to get them to purchase and distribute local seafood," he explains. "And we can work directly with fishery and aquaculture organizations to support workshops, conferences, and trade shows."

Chef Renee Erickson's Summertime Seafood Staple

Recipe: Grand Aioli with Mussels and Sablefish (Black Cod)

"[I've been making this dish] in some form for most of my career. It's a great way to showcase summer and seafood for a party or a decadent dinner with friends."

Recipe for Grand Aioli with Mussels and Sablefish

Get to Know Chef Erickson

Growing up in the Pacific Northwest, Chef Renee Erickson was surrounded by the bounty of seafood the region has to offer. "Clams, Dungeness crab, and salmon … I love it here and it's always been home," she explains. Today, Erickson is co-owner of Sea Creatures Restaurants, a group of restaurants in Seattle that emphasizes using local ingredients. "Showcasing what is so special about [our seafood] is exactly what I should be doing as a chef."

Erickson recognizes that buying locally also supports the sustainability of our eating habits, and the sustainability of our fish stocks. "We should be supporting local fisheries that are taking care of wild stocks and looking for solutions that support their survival, even when that means not harvesting them."

Chef Hajime Sato's Deep Fried Monkfish

Recipe: Monkfish Karaage

"I like that this recipe for monkfishis not too difficult to prepare at home, but it is amazingly flavorful. I hope people will like it as much as I do."

Recipe for Monkfish Karaage

Get to Know Chef Sato

Chef Hajime Sato's culinary journey is deeply rooted in his upbringing in Japan, and watching how his grandmother prepared meals for him. "She didn't do things the easy way. She did things step by step in the traditional manner," explains Sato. "When I ate her food, I felt nourished in so many ways."

After being at the helm of his award-winning Seattle restaurant for 25 years, Sato opened Sozai Restaurant in Clawson, Michigan in 2021. At Sozai, Sato's menu focuses on innovative approaches to sustainable seafood. "When using sustainable seafood, there are always new things to experiment with because I may be working with a less common fish. Discovering what recipes work best with each species can be a lot of work, but it is fascinating as well." This dedication to culinary excellence and sustainability earned him the 2024 James Beard Award for Best Chef: Great Lakes.

Sato advocates for a cooperative approach to promoting sustainability in the culinary community. "Chefs have an obligation to seek out more sustainable options so we can keep eating well for generations to come," says Sato.

He recognizes that chefs can help create a demand for species that might otherwise go to waste. ("Please, send me all your trash fish!" he laughs.) That increased demand will incentivize distributors to make less well-known seafood species available to both restaurants and supermarkets. "[We] can take steps to make these less common sustainable seafood options available and appealing to consumers," says Sato. "We can all thrive when we work together to make a positive impact on the planet."

Chef Jeremy Sewall's Favorite Oyster Appetizer

Recipe: Angels on Horseback

"I have been making this recipe for years, and I love the dish because it is a great way to use oystersas an appetizer. Wrapping anything in bacon usually ends up in something tasty, but the brine from the oyster and the smoke from the bacon really make it delicious."

Recipe for Angels on Horseback

Get to Know Chef Sewall

Seafood has always been a draw for New England Chef Jeremy Sewall, whose family has made a living on the water catching lobsterfor generations. "Being able to bring my family's work together with all my culinary experiences feels like a great accomplishment and a blessed career," shares Sewall. "I get to work with amazing people, in great places, and explore all kinds of cuisines."

Sewall's Row 34 restaurants support the fishermen who are harvesting with best practices by sourcing from local, small vessel fisheries whenever possible. "We have the best managed oceans in the world, from federal, state, and local agencies overseeing the seafood industry," he explains. Sewall encourages people to embrace the adventure of trying new things. "Eating many different species is a responsible approach to seafood. We try to serve a variety of different seafoods and use what is caught locally and seasonally."

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